What 1947 collage by Eduardo Paolozzi is considered an early precursor to pop art?

Eduardo Paolozzi made the 1947 collage “I was a Rich Man’s Plaything,” an early precursor to Pop Art. The work assembles fragments of American mass culture—advertising, consumer imagery and comic-book material—into a deliberately jarring composition.

Its most famous detail is the word “POP,” appearing in a cloud of smoke from a revolver. This is often identified as the first use of the term in a Pop Art context, years before the movement became widely established in Britain and the United States.

Paolozzi created the collage from material gathered in Paris between 1947 and 1949 as part of his broader “Bunk!” series. In 1952, he presented these collages to the Independent Group in London, whose discussions about advertising, popular media, technology and consumer goods helped lay the groundwork for British Pop Art.

The work is sometimes confused with Richard Hamilton’s “Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing?” from 1956. Hamilton’s collage is a later landmark; Paolozzi’s 1947 work is the earlier precursor named in this question.