Richard Hamilton b. 1922

Screenprint in colours, 1963, signed and dated in pencil, numbered 35/40, printed by Kelpra Studio, London, published by the artist, on wove paper, with full margins, in good condition apart from a vertical repaired tear at upper right edge of sheet and at left edge of sheet under the elbow, slight paper discoloration, a horizontal printers crease (?) in abdomen, the verso with  handling creases, slight surface dirt, paper discoloration and remains of hinges

This powerful work marks Hamilton’s return to printmaking in the early sixties after a five year hiatus and is the first screenprint produced by the artist. The work is after the painting of the same title executed a year earlier.

Adonis in Y-fronts reflects Hamilton’s technique of exploiting sources drawn from the imagery of mass consumerism. The main source is taken from an advertisement for Potenza Chest expanders found in a bodybuilding magazine, the stripes on the torso from a Lucky Strike advertisement and the figure’s chest from a photograph of Praxitele’s Hermes found in Life Magazine.

See Etienne Lullin, Richard Hamilton Prints and Multiples 1939-2002 catalogue raisonnee, Kunst Museum, Winterthur, Yale Center for British Art, (New Haven, 2003), page 58