Pauline Boty: Popping Art in the ‘60s

Mention Pop Art, and many people think of Andy Warhol and perhaps his Campbell Soup painting. Or Roy Lichtenstein and his bold comic book figures. But what about Pauline Boty. Who?

Exactly.

Pauline Boty was one of several extremely talented female pop artists whose works helped to define the Pop Art movement. Although she was later credited with helping start the Pop Art movement in Britain, her name and art remained largely forgotten for almost 30 years after her death.

Pauline’s Early Life

Born in 1938 in a middle-class Surrey family, Boty was the youngest of four siblings, and the only girl. Her stern father ignored her early art endeavors while her mother championed them. Perhaps this was part of the foundation that led Boty to become an early feminist.

Blessed, or cursed, with a beautiful face, she was often called the English Brigette Bardot. The first of the British Pop Artists of the 1960s and, at first, the only female, Pauline delighted in painting women showing off their femininity.

At this point, you may ask what constitutes the Pop Art Movement. Bold colors, repetition, and everyday subjects characterize pop art. It can also incorporate satire.

While Andy Warhol displayed Campbell’s soup, the quintessential American household purchase, Boty painted women in positions of self-assured femininity, freeing them from the everyday household image.

By age 16, Pauline had won a scholarship to the Wimbledon School of Art where she studied lithography, stained glass, and collage. Collage fascinated her the most and became a cornerstone of her Pop Art.

Pauline’s Artistic Career

In 1958 she then went on to study at the Royal College of Art, where four of her pieces were selected for traveling exhibitions. By 1961, she had graduated and held her first showing at a gallery in London. A year later, she was featured in a BBC documentary, Pop Goes the Easel, which launched her into acting.  She could dance, she was beautiful, and her vibrant personality attracted people to her. The acting career paid the bills, but her artwork stayed the focus of her life.

Married at age 26 to British literary agent Clive Goodwin, their flat became a mecca for other young aspiring artists, including musician Bob Dylan.

For the next few years, her art became more political and satirical, focusing on the fact that it was indeed a man’s world.

Pauline then became pregnant (to her husband) in 1965, and during a routine pre-natal exam, cancer was discovered. Refusing an abortion or chemotherapy, she delivered a healthy daughter but died herself five months later at the age of 28.

And then her art, all of it, was stored at her brother’s farm, where it lay in dormancy for 30 years. Thanks to the persistence of art curator David Miller and academic Dr. Sue Tate, Pauline’s art was resurrected and exhibited once again.

Pauline’s Legacy

Since 2023, books have been written on her life, exhibitions of her art have been staged, and documentaries have been aired. One of her latest showings was at the prestigious Tate Gallery in London.

We ask why some artists become revered only after death. I don’t know the answer, but Vincent Van Gogh and Pauline Boty fall into that category.

Rest in peace, Pauline. Your art has been rediscovered and your legacy lives on.

Thank you to blog follower Donna Haarz, who emailed me about Pauline Boty and female Pop Artists. And thank you to Insspirito from Pixabay Images for the pop art woman image. I love finding Strong Women all over the globe. Please sign up on the right-side bar to become a follower!

~ Linda

My novels on Strong Women can be found in bookstores and ordered online:

Cut From Strong Cloth – c. 1865 – Savannah and Philadelphia

Last Curtain Call – c. 1893 – western Maryland coal mines

Counting Crows – c. 1918 – New York City

B-52 DOWN – c. 1964 – western Maryland mountains

Opening Closed Doors – c. 1955 – desegregation in Virginia

Chasing the Tides – c. 1942 and 2022 – women on the home front (Currently in production)

You can learn more about me on my website: www.lindasittig.com