Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, R.A. (b. 1924)

In the mid-1980s Paolozzi used nature and geometric shapes in his treatment of the human figure. He transformed a series of naturalistic self-portraits into figures with abstracted torsos and legs made up of geometric shapes and planes, which turn them into semi-robots. The figures hold in front of them a strange array of objects including a sieve and a sphere drawn from the imagery of genetic engineering. The Artist as Hephaestus, 1987, stands outside an office building in High Holborn, London, and Self-portrait of the Artist with a Strange Machine, 1987, is in the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland (see F. Pearson, Paolozzi, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1999, p. 64).

The present owner is a close personal friend of Sir Eduardo Paolozzi and lots 202-206 were all acquired directly from the artist.