Lawrence Alloway
| Lawrence Alloway | |
|---|---|
| Born |
17 September 1926 London, United Kingdom |
| Died | 2 January 1990 (aged 63) New York City, New York, United States |
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation | Art critic |
Lawrence Alloway (London, 17 September 1926 – New York, 2 January 1990) was an English art critic and curator who worked in the United States from the 1960s. In the 1950s, he was a leading member of the Independent Group in the UK and in the 1960s was an influential writer and curator in the US. He first used the term "mass popular art" in the mid-1950s and used the term "Pop Art" in the 1960s to indicate that art has a basis in the popular culture of its day and takes from it a faith in the power of images. He was married to artist Sylvia Sleigh.
Alloway started writing art reviews for "Art News" in 1953. In his 1954 book Nine Abstract Artists he promoted the Constructivist artists that emerged in Britain after the Second World War: Robert Adams, Terry Frost, Adrian Heath, Anthony Hill, Roger Hilton, Kenneth Martin, Mary Martin, Victor Pasmore and William Scott.
Alloway's theory of art reflecting the concrete materials of modern life gave way to an interest in mass-media and consumerism. Alloway joined the Independent Group in 1952 and lectured on his theory of a circular link between popular cultural low art and high art. From 1955 to 1960 he was Assistant Director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. He organised the exhibition Collages and Objects (1954). In 1956 Alloway contributed to organising the exhibition This Is Tomorrow and reviewing that show, and other works he had seen on a trip to the U.S., in a 1958 article, first used the term "mass popular art".
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