Paolozzi's lino elephant sculpture to go on display in Kirkcaldy after makeover

The limited edition artwork, produced for Fife-based Nairn Floors by pop art pioneer Eduardo Paolozzi, received a full makeover that included reattaching its disconnected trunk.

Now the Leith-born artist’s moulded plastic sculpture will be displayed at Kirkcaldy Galleries, close to the factory that commissioned the piece to help promote its products. The Jumbo-shaped case, which is 30cm high and has a detachable back, was produced to hold leaflets and promotional material at tradeshows and in showrooms.

Although 3000 were eventually produced in 1972, and despite the odd one occasionally coming up for private auction, only a few of the elephants are accounted for. One is in New York’s Metropolitan Museum, another is in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and two are held by the cultural charity OnFife, which runs Kirkcaldy Galleries.

The second Fife-based sculpture – thought to be a prototype model – will be displayed next to its companion at Kirkcaldy Galleries during January and February.

Both elephants are also expected to feature in the Flooring the World exhibition, which opens at the Galleries in October and celebrates the story of linoleum production in Fife.

Nairn Floors was at something of a crossroads in 1970 when Paolozzi was approached, having survived the tumultuous 1960s when consumer tastes changed and linoleum sales dipped.

As Nairn diversified, the company looked to consolidate its position by advertising its products to architects. These were coveted clients who could generate bigger sales than the company could secure from individual customers flooring their homes.

OnFife’s linoleum curator Lily Barnes says: “Nairn needed a way to display brochures that was tidy, eye-catching and chic enough to capture the imagination of architects, who it was hoped would then be more likely to use the company’s floors in their designs.”

Bosses who were keen to market the company as ‘modern, exciting and innovative’ thought an elephant would symbolise Nairn’s qualities of strength, intelligence and durability.

Eduardo Paolozzi was recommended for the commission by a design company called Douglas Maxwell Limited, who were aware of the artist’s fascination for industrial objects. Paolozzi, who had recently received an OBE, was a big name in the art world, having held one-man shows at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Tate Gallery, London.

The artist, who died in 2005, said of the commission: “The object was exciting to me as a sculptor. I was aware beforehand of the various technical processes the sculpture would have to undergo … and this opened an entirely new world to me.”

To create the elephants, Paolozzi first produced a maquette – or model – which pattern makers, moulders and a plastics engineer developed into a final design. Each elephant came with a booklet detailing the process, which was modestly described as ‘very complex’.

“The elephants – while strange and unusual to us – were inspiring to Paolozzi,” says Lily Barnes. “They introduced him to new techniques which he would later use in his own work.”

The Flooring the World exhibition is part of a two-year project exploring the history of the Fife linoleum industry.