Joe Tilson was a British artist and fellow of the Royal Academy. He was one of the leading figures associated with the British Pop Art movement in the 1960s and was an enthusiastic proponent of political activism, sexual liberation and social change.

Tilson studied at St. Martin’s School of Art and at the Royal College of Art in the 1950s alongside Peter Blake, Allen Jones, Patrick Caulfield and David Hockney. In 1955 the Royal College awarded Tilson the Rome Prize, taking him to live in Italy for a year, a country from which he has drawn a lifetime of inspiration.

Exhibiting globally since the 1960s, Tilson's work is held in collections including the Tate, London; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Galleria Nazionale d Arte Moderna, Rome; The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon; and Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.