Allen Jones

Allen Jones (Southampton, 1937) is a British pop art artist, painter, sculptor and printmaker. He is known for his provocative and erotic works that often explore the relationships between sexuality, the body and popular culture. He is best known for his sculptures from 1969 in which he transformed female figures into furniture.

The sculpture Chair depicts a female figure lying on her back with her legs in the air, and with a black cushion attached around her hips, creating a provocative seat. Another sculpture depicts a figure on all fours, with a glass tabletop on her back. These figures are characterised by a voluptuous bust, leather clothing and black boots. Stanley Kubrick was inspired by these sculptures when designing the interior of the Korova Milk Bar in the cult film A Clockwork Orange.

“I wanted to question the artistic canon and established ideas about what art is and should be,” said Jones. His work was also strongly influenced by the period of physical emancipation, marked by short skirts, bright colours, tight-fitting clothes, a new freedom for women and a gradual liberation from social constraints.

The British artist depicts what many men only dream of, and in doing so has been causing divided opinions for decades, “Feminists see my paintings as a perfect example of the male exploitation of women. But I do not paint women, but icons, idealised images of women as they have always existed in all cultures.” Allen Jones considers himself a feminist.

His works have been exhibited in prestigious institutions such as Tate Britain and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.