Papers and drawings of Tom Phillips

Tom Phillips was a painter, graphic artist and musician who saw the fusion of words and imagery as being of central importance. This collection consists of exhibition catalogues, private view cards and postcards for and by the artist, and scores for 'Golden Flower Piece', 'Music for n players', 'Harmonia Praestabilita', 'Twelve Preludes...Wittgenstein Pieces', '4 Pieces for John Tilbury' and 'Irma'. It also includes notes on 'A Humument', a charity appeal and concert programme for Music Now, pieces by Christian Wolff published by the artist, a copy of 'Resurgence' and correspondence.

This is a summary catalogue of the archive. For the full version please visit https://archive.tate.org.uk/advanced.aspx?this=CalmView.Catalog and search using the reference 'TGA 732*'.

Tom Phillips was born in 1937 in London. He was educated at St Catherine's College, Oxford and then Camberwell School of Art. Phillips exhibited with the Young Contemporaries in 1964, and held his first one-man show in 1965 at the Artists International Association Gallery. From 1966 Phillips began to use texts derived from the book 'A Human Document', by W H Mallock, 1892, as a basis for his fusion work. From this he produced a treated book entitled 'A Humument', an opera 'Irma' in 1973, and other by-products. In 1969 he was a prize winner at the John Moores Liverpool Exhibition. Phillips' major works include 'Benches', 1970-71 and 'A Treatise in Colour Harmony', 1975. His musical performances have included those at the Bordeaux Festival, Rome and the Purcell Room. He became a fellow of the Royal Academy in 1988. Phillips also used television as a medium, directing 'Dante's Inferno' in 1990. Tom Phillips died in 2022.