Allen Jones

Dated exhibition at the Royal Academy of work by Allen Jones.

I use the word dated because although I am sure the work had something meaningful to say in 1960s Britain Jones’s style does not seem to have moved on much further since then so the ideas now come across as rather misogynistic. I thought the design of the show was good and I loved the arrangement of the room with the painted steel dancing figures and even the room at the end of trade mark figures. However it’s the works in the show that left me cold. I could have coped if there had been one sympathetic portrait or representation of a woman. I did find one sketch in the last room but as it dated to 1959 I’m not counting it!

I would have also liked to see a bit more on technique. I liked a room representing the shelves of his studio showing some of the marquettes and sketches which are part of the process however I’d like to have known how the sculptures are made, does he have any hand in the manufacturing process etc.

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