Lolita, 2012
Lolita is signed limited edition digital print with silkscreen glazes by British contemporary artist Tom Phillips.
Phillips combines two of his interests: postcards and literature in Lolita. The image he uses is taken from a postcard; Phillips has used postcards as a source material since the late 1960s, for several years they became the equivalent visual source to Mallock’s A Human Document as a textual source. Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita was published in 1955. The novel was controversial as it deals with the sexual obsession of an older man for a teenage girl (a theme we can see hinted at in Phillips’ postcard imagery), it is also one of the most important and beautiful works of literature of the last century. Phillips borders the postcard with a hand-designed frame which includes the title and author of the book in hand-drawn text. This hand-painted element is imperfect in nature; the edges are blurred and Phillip’s pencil markings can be clearly seen, this contrasts with the machine-made nature of the postcard, making the work personal and also lending the surface texture. Phillips’ choice of subtle, muted pinks, lilacs and greys complements the monochrome nature of the postcard; the feminine qualities of these colours also reflect the eponymous heroine of the novel. This is by no means the first time that Phillips has taken a great work of literature as inspiration or basis for his work, eg. After Henry James.
Size (cm): 40.2 x 56.4
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Specifications
Medium: Giclee, Print
Edition Type: Limited Edition
Edition Size: 75
Size (cm): 40.2 x 56.4
SKU: EG22158
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About the artist
Tom Phillips (1937 – 2022) was a prolific British artist whose work spanned a wide array of formats and mediums, reflecting his diverse interests and intellectual pursuits. His contributions to the arts include figurative and abstract painting, opera as a composer, librettist, and set designer, concrete poetry, sculpture, site-specific art installations (such as mosaics and tapestries), and writing. Beyond creating art, Phillips also played a significant role as a critic, curator, and translator, intertwining these activities with his artistic practice.
Phillips was born in 1937 and grew up in South London, where he spent much of his life and career. He studied at Oxford, where he took classes in drawing and Renaissance iconography. His artistic education continued at Camberwell School of Art, where he was taught by renowned painter Frank Auerbach.
Phillips’s first solo exhibition in London occurred in 1965, and he gained further recognition in the late 1960s for his music-related activities, including his involvement with Cornelius Cardew’s Scratch Orchestra and his own compositions. His influence extended into the realm of music education, where he mentored Brian Eno, who would go on to develop ambient and generative music.
One of Phillips’s most famous and enduring projects is A Humument (1966–2016), an ongoing reworking of a Victorian novel he found in a secondhand bookshop. This project, which involved collage, cut-up techniques, and ornamental writing, transformed the original text into a unique and visually dynamic artwork. A Humument became a central theme throughout Phillips’s career and was celebrated in exhibitions, including a dedicated room at the 2015 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.
Phillips’s varied career also included several commissions for public and private works, including tapestries, street mosaics, and portraits. He created art for prominent institutions like the Imperial War Museum, Westminster Abbey, and Westminster Cathedral, as well as portraits of famous figures such as Samuel Beckett and Iris Murdoch.
In addition to his visual art, Phillips made notable contributions to literature and music. He was awarded the Frances Williams Memorial Prize in 1983 for his illustrated translation of Dante’s Inferno, a work that was also adapted into a TV version with filmmaker Peter Greenaway. Phillips's work continues to be housed in significant collections worldwide, including those at the National Gallery of Australia, the V&A, the Ashmolean Museum, and the Bodleian Library at Oxford.
Phillips’s legacy is defined by his multidisciplinary approach to art, which allowed him to bridge various forms of creative expression, from visual art to music, literature, and beyond.
