24 Hour Museum - official guide to UK museums, galleries, exhibitions and heritage
Gateway to Over 3,000 UK museums, galleries and heritage attractions
Skip to navigation

Exhibitions

Pin-Up: The Art of Celebrity at Tate Liverpool

By Katya Mira

26/04/2002

Image

Left: Mick Jagger, 1977, Linda McCartney, © Estate of Linda McCartney.

Art depictions of celebrity culture are currently being shown in a new exhibition at Tate Liverpool until November 24.

This new show celebrates the changes and developments in the cult of the celebrity over the last century.

Image

Right: Marilyn, 1974, James Rosenquist, © James Rosenquist/VAGA, New York/DACS, London 2002.

Pop art and photographs of three different types of celebrity - the pop star, film star and model are on display.

The exhibition looks at the ways our celebrity-obsessed culture has changed and developed over the last century. It raises issues of fan worship, body image and the celebrity as a consumer product.

Image

Left: Pete Townsend, 1977, Linda McCartney, © Estate of Linda McCartney.

David Hockney explores the hysterical young fan base of pop idols like Elvis and Cliff Richard.

In contrast Richard Hamilton uses the Rolling Stones to comment on how the sex, drugs and rock n' roll mentality of the swinging sixties came into conflict with the authorities.

Image

Right: from Marilyn, Andy Warhol, 1967, © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./ARS, NY and DACS, London, 2002.

The first modern celebrity, the film star, is explored in various ways. Michael Andrews and Pauline Boty worked on a large scale to reflect both the vastness of the silver screen and the grandeur of the stars.

In contrast Andy Warhol depicts Marilyn Monroe in the same repetitive way as his work on the mass-produced tins of Campbell soup, introducing the idea of the celebrity as a commodity.

Image

Left: Jimi Hendrix Blue, 1977, Linda McCartney, © Estate of Linda McCartney.

From the wholesome, all-American pin-up girl who lifted the spirits of Second World War servicemen with their smiles, images of the model developed through to Twiggy's waif-look in the sixties and the more moody, self-assured stare of today's supermodels.

Tate Liverpool
Tate Liverpool, Albert Dock, Liverpool, L3 4BB, Merseyside, England

Open: Tues-Sun and Bank Holiday Mondays 10.00-17.50 June, July & August: Mon-Sun (including Bank Holiday Mondays) 10.00 - 17.50
Closed: Closed 25-26 Dec, 1 Jan and Good Fri

Related Articles

Oh Vienna! Gustav Klimt And His World At Tate Liverpool
News In Brief - Week Ending February 10 2008
Week Beginning January 7 2008 Must-See UK Exhibitions Listed On 24 Hour Museum
Damien Hirst Donates Pickled Cow And Other Major Work To Tate
Mr Bear, Mark Wallinger, Wins The 2007 Turner Prize
Turner Prize 2007 - Like A Dead Snail Say Unimpressed Stuckists
The Turner Prize 2007 Exhibition Opens At Tate Liverpool

E-news registration
E-mail story to a friend
Tell us what you think

Wyndham Lewis Energises London's National Portrait Gallery

Bruton Museum - Ernst Blensdorf's Sculptures At Kings School

Italy's Divisionist Painters At London's National Gallery

Natural Selection Given Birthday Display At The Natural History Museum

Darkness Visible - Seamus Murphy's Images Of Afghanistan At Asia House

Sainsbury Centre Celebrates Local Art In Norwich

Atkinson, Brisley And Head At The Fieldgate Gallery London

That's Entertainment - Transition Gallery At The Whitstable Biennial

Mary Wilson And The Story Of The Supremes At The V&A

Viktor And Rolf Bring Their Fashion Dollhouse To The Barbican

Colin Self - Art In The Nuclear Age At Pallant House

Fabric Of Myth, Ancient And Modern, At Compton Verney

Harry Smith Anthology Remixed At CCA,Glasgow

A Victorian Sketch Book At Leamington Spa Art Gallery

Cy Twombly - Cycles And Seasons At Tate Modern

Chinese Treasures Revealed At Lotherton Hall In Yorkshire

Yoshitomo Nara's A To Z Project Opens At BALTIC

Glastonbury Abbey Celebrates The Antiquarian Frederick Bligh Bond

Search this site

Advanced Search
Map Search

Home Page
News Page
Exhibition Page
What's On
Trails Page
Website of the Week
Letters Page
Welsh Home
Graphical Version

Skip to body

Copyright © 24 Hour Museum
Information published here was believed to be correct at the time it was prepared. Welsh language pages developed with CYMAL: Museums Archives and Libraries Wales, funded by the Welsh Assembly Government.

Skip to navigation
Go to top