Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, R.A. (1924-2005)

Anne Kemp ran the Budokwai Judo club in South Kensington during the 1960s and 70s. It was Britain’s first Judo club and became a mecca for an art and science crowd, including Paolozzi who was a blue belt.

There is a similarly sized bronze version to the present lot which was shown in Paolozzi's 1971 Tate Gallery exhibition (No. 63), as well as a larger version. It was sourced from an American soldier's Vietnam boot, as part of the anti-war iconography which was a leading feature of the 1971 exhibition. It was reproduced on the front cover of the 1971 catalogue, and included as a loose insert or 'boot [k] mark'. It was named after Tim Broadbent, a student assistant who worked on the exhibition and who probably made the original cast for Paolozzi.

R.S.