Rosenthal Vase by Eduardo Paolozzi for Tapio Wirkkala

Eduardo Paolozzi (1924 – 2005) was a prolific and inventive Scottish artist most known for his marriage of Surrealism's early principles with brave new elements of popular culture, modern machinery and technology. He was raised in the shadows of World War II in a family deeply affected by the divisive nature of a country involved in conflict, which birthed his lifelong exploration into the many ways humans are influenced by external, uncontrollable forces. This exploration would come to inform a vast and various body of work that vacillated between the darker and lighter consequences of society's advancements and its so-called progress. His collages reflect the way contemporary culture and mass media influenced individual identity. Some of these, with their appropriation of American advertising's look and feel would inspire the future Pop art movement.