Richard Hamilton b. 1922

Etching, aquatint, collage and photogravure printed in colours, 1968, signed in pencil, numbered 34/70, published by Petersburg Press, London, on wove paper, with full margins, in good condition apart from slight paper discoloration in margins

The two following lots, 319 and 320, reflect the press reports of the arrest of the art dealer Robert Fraser and the rock star Mick Jagger for the possession of classified drugs. The images are taken from a photograph that appeared in the newspaper The Daily Sketch when the two were being driven to court handcuffed to one another.

The title Swingeing London is taken from the judge's declaration that "There are times when a swingeing sentence can act as a deterrent". Hamilton took the term "Swingeing" from the judge's statement and used it for the title of several works in this group.

See Etienne Lullin, Richard Hamilton Prints and Multiples 1939-2002 catalogue Raisonné, Kunst Museum, Winterthur, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 2003, page 88.