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This Was Tomorrow:
London 1956 | Geoffrey Holroyd | Santa Barbara

Group 12 "This is Tomorrow" Panel with Geoffrey Holroyd, 2012. Photograph by Volker M. Welter.

After World War II, a generation of young, London-based architects, artists, and writers rethought the art and architecture of a culture fascinated with American consumerism, pop culture, mass communication, and visions of a better tomorrow. In 1956, several of these architects, painters, and sculptors collaborated on This is Tomorrow. This exhibition at London’s Whitechapel Art Gallery presented twelve group exhibits drawn from the everyday, which questioned the tenets of traditional and modernist art.

Recently, Geoffrey Holroyd, formerly of London and now of Santa Barbara, donated to the Museum’s Architecture and Design Collection the artwork that he, Lawrence Alloway, and Toni del Renzio created as Group 12 for the 1956 exhibition. This was Tomorrow explores Group 12’s contribution to the This is Tomorrow exhibition, and the architecture and design works of Geoffrey and June Holroyd.