About the artist
Sir Eduardo Paolozzi was born in March 1924 in Leith, Edinburgh, to Italian parents. Paolozzi is recognised today as one of the pioneers of pop art, with his work reflecting a particular interest in post-war developments in science and technology. Paolozzi worked on a number of public artworks in the 1980s and 1990s, including the mosaics in the London Underground station at Tottenham Court Road and a sculpture for the forecourt of Euston station, both commissioned in the same year as the work for ICAEW.
About the work
The colourful tapestry at Chartered Accountants' Hall, titled 'A perspective on innovation' (1981), was woven, by the Edinburgh Tapestry Company, with a combination of abstract designs and recognisable images from the 1980s against a yellow background. Among the images featured are a satellite, car, clock, laser disc, television, an armadillo, duck and a butterfly. The tapestry also shows a Japanese influence with an image of the Glico running man, a well known landmark in Osaka. The three sections of the tapestry, each measuring 123" by 25", were designed to fit into the vertical bleached oak panels of the Great Hall.
In the artist's own words:
The object of this tapestry is to depict our world of today in a manner using the same bold pictorial style as the Bayeux tapestries in France - to record the images of our time for future years in a proven and permanent material. Here are a series of of carefully chosen images drawn from many sources - sources such as diverse as experience itself from museum showcases to technical handbooks on computers; from explanations of the human anatomy to magazine articles on the sad demise of the South American rainforests.
"Among the many images the following can be seen:
- the divided head of Jesus projected by satellite,
- overlapping motors - for power and speed
- the clock and the motorcar - symbols of mechanization
- the disappearing grasshopper - symbol for many years of industry
- the mechanical duck - always included in our literature on early calculating machines
- a Japanese running athlete - suggesting the internationalisation of British finance
- the wide metrix
These juxtaposed metaphors indicate the complex background of present day and future societies in relation to the role played by the Institute of Chartered Accountants."
