Type=image;ImageID=3976;ImageClass=left;ImageTitle=Colour Her Gone by Pauline Boty;TitleClass=strong;
The Culture Show special, Pop Go The Women, debunks the myth that Pop Art was the preserve of a ground breaking gang of boys, primarily Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Peter Blake, Richard Hamilton and or Tom Wesselman.
However back in the day, the Pop Art scene was full of female artists, tussling with sexuality, violence and consumer culture every bit as much as their male counterparts.
Their work has subsequently been consigned to the margins of history - they started out together, shared the same art dealers and were shown in the same exhibitions, but as the boys' prices skyrocketed, the girls' stayed put. By the end of the 1960s, they had pretty much been erased from the pop narrative.
In the show, presenter Alistair Sooke tracks down the forgotten women artists of pop, including Pauline Boty whose work was shown for the first time in 30 years at Wolverhampton Art Gallery earlier this year.
Corinne Miller, Wolverhampton's Head of Arts, Heritage and Culture, said: "We're really excited that the Culture Show is focusing on the work of female Pop artists like Pauline Boty.
"In Wolverhampton we have built a considerable international reputation for our work on the less well known aspects of British Pop Art and as a result Wolverhampton is increasingly seen as an important place to visit if you are interested in the art of the Pop era.
"The Culture Show filmed a number of interviews among the Boty works at Wolverhampton Art Gallery, and we're hoping that some of our hugely important collection is featured in this weekend's programme."
She added: "We're really proud of the calibre of our Pop Art Collection, which is world-renowned and features works by some of the best artists of the genre. A number of pieces from the collection are currently on show at MS2 in Lodz, Poland's third largest city, and they are not the only parts of our collection that are out on loan as our significant Troubles collection is on display at the Ulster Museum in Belfast."
For more information, including current displays, please visit Type=links;Linkid=3123;Title=Wolverhampton Art Gallery;Target=_blank;.
The Culture Show: Pop Go The Women is on BBC Two at 8.30pm this Saturday (10 May, 2014).
- released: Thursday 8 May, 2014