AN exhibition of work by the 'father of pop art', Richard Hamilton, opens at the Williamson Art Gallery in Birkenhead next week.

Word and Image, Prints 1963-2007 features more than 40 pieces of work from one of the most influential British artists of the twentieth century.

Among his celebrated prints are the Swingeing London '67 series, which served as Hamilton's response to the arrest of his friend and art dealer Robert Fraser, along with Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger, during the notorious police drugs raid on Redlands, the Sussex home of Keith Richards.

The image is based on a newspaper photograph and Hamilton typically produced multiple variants from the same image.

This was the work in which the word 'Pop' first appeared, the term that then lent itself to an international art movement which was defined by Hamilton himself in a now famous letter written in 1957 stating that "Pop Art is: popular, transient, expendable, lowcost, mass-produced, young, witty, sexy, gimmicky, glamorous, and Big Business.”

This exhibition, now touring, explores the themes of protest, portraits, interiors and landscapes, incorporating different versions of the same images and themes, to provide an unparalleled insight into Hamilton’s creative process and his breadth of visual experimentation.

Many techniques are used, and many subjects, including an uncompleted set of prints inspired by James Joyce’s Ulysses.

The exhibtion opens on June 21 and will be on view until August 31.