Sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi Dies at 81

Sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi Dies at 81
Scottish sculptor Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, a pioneer of pop art in Britain, has died aged 81, his family said.

Paolozzi's family said he died Friday morning at a London hospital. He had been confined to a wheelchair since suffering brain damage from a serious illness four years ago.

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, the son of an Italian ice-cream vendor, Paolozzi was interned with his family as an enemy alien in 1940.

He lost his father and other family members in the worst tragedy to befall Scotland's Italian community, the sinking of the Arandora Star off western Ireland in July 1940.

The vessel was torpedoed by a German submarine while taking internees to Canada. Of the 1,600 people aboard, 740 drowned.

Paolozzi was eventually drafted, and after World War II military service, he studied at London's St. Martin's college and Slade School of Art.

After the war he lived in Paris, where he was influenced by surrealist and avant-garde artists. He brought something of surrealism's anarchic energy to work in a variety of media, including sculpture, ceramics and screen printing.

In the 1950s, Paolozzi was an influential member of the London-based Independent Group, forerunner of the English pop art movement, and his use of pop-culture sources such as magazines and advertising foresaw much of 1960s art.