Peter Phillips, a founding figure of the British Pop art movement, died on June 23 at age 86. Born in Birmingham in 1939, he studied at London's Royal College of Art alongside David Hockney, Allen Jones, and R.B. Kitaj, and became known for vibrant paintings that incorporated consumer culture imagery, such as his 1961 work *For Men Only — Starring MM and BB*. His career included exhibitions at the Paris Biennale, the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague, and shows in New York alongside Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. In later years he moved to Australia, and his family is raising funds to establish the Peter Phillips Foundation.
Phillips’s death marks the loss of a key originator of British Pop art, a movement that challenged artistic elitism by elevating advertising, comics, and mass entertainment into fine art. His work bridged British and American Pop, and his legacy continues through planned grants and residencies. The news matters because it closes a chapter on a generation that reshaped 20th-century art, and the foundation ensures his influence endures.