Catalogue Raisonné. Cléo from 5 to 7, CR002
The Major Periods
1962 – 1965: Early Pop Paintings
As one of the original wave of Pop artists Gerald Laing produced some of the most significant works of the British Pop movement. His paintings reproduced images of popular heroes such as starlets, film stars, drag racers, astronauts and skydivers. His 1962 portrait of Brigitte Bardot is an iconic work of the period and regularly features in major Pop retrospectives alongside Lincoln Convertible from 1964, a commemoration of the assassination of JFK.
1965 – 1970: Utopian Abstract Sculpture
From 1965 Gerald Laing's painting evolved into abstract sculptures using the techniques and materials of car customisation - lacquering, spray-painting and chrome-plating on metal.
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1970 – 1973: Sculpture In The Landscape
A move from New York to the Highlands of Scotland in 1970 saw Gerald Laing's sculpture respond to the beauty, roughness and power of the surrounding landscape.
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1972 – 2010: Public Sculpture
Public sculptures include the the Bank Station Dragons; the Rugby Sculptures at Twickenham Stadium; the Cricketer at Lords; the Highland Clearances Memorial in Helmsdale, Sutherland and Axis Mundi in Edinburgh.
1973 – 1980: Galina Series
Inspired by the figurative sculpture of the First World War Artillery Memorial at Hyde Park Corner, in 1973 Gerald Laing began to model in clay and cast in bronze. The Galina Series and associated sculptures were his first works from this period.
1982 – 2007: Portrait Heads
Gerald Laing's portrait work includes heads and reliefs of Luciano Pavarotti, Andy Warhol, Paul Getty and Sam Wanamaker.
2002 – 2005: War Paintings
The Iraq war and the publication of images of torture at Abu Ghraib prison drew Gerald Laing back to painting for the first time in over three decades. The War Paintings series sees the starlets and all-American heroes of his early paintings take on new, more sinister roles.
2004 – 2011: New Paintings
Returning to the style and subject matter of his early pop art paintings, Gerald Laing's latest paintings feature media images of contemporary celebrities including Amy Winehouse and Kate Moss.
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Cléo from 5 to 7
CR 002
London
1962
Oil on canvas
25 x 48 inches
Collection of the artist
Citations and Comments
A painting done at home after Lolita Through the Keyhole. Very fine grained dots - the smallest I ever attempted and a conscious effort to reach that extreme. Noteworthy mainly for the fact that because it depicted a girl in a swing, I had special aluminium brackets fabricated on which the whole painting could itself swing. These brackets foreshadowed later application of mechanical interests to art. I did try even to have lightening holes drilled in them, much the same as those found on racing cars, but could not find a technician to do it. Cléo was taken from a poster advertising Agnes Varda’s Cléo from 5 to 7.
, 'Aspen Notebook', unpublished manuscript, 1966- Gerald Laing: Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1963
- Young Contemporaries 63, RBA Galleries, London, 1963
- Paintings of Photographs/Photographs of Paintings, St Martins School of Art, London, 1963
- When Britain Went Pop. British Pop Art: The Early Years, Christie’s King Street, London, 2013
- Gerald Laing 1936–2011: A Retrospective, The Fine Art Society, London, 2016