Adrian Henri

His characterisation of popular culture in verse helped to widen the audience for poetry among 1960s British youth.

Unlike McGough and Patten, Henri turned his back on the trendier London scene, and chose to remain in Liverpool, saying there was nowhere he loved better.

His numerous publications include The Mersey Sound (Penguin, 1967), with McGough and Patten, a best-selling poetry anthology that brought all three of them to wider attention, Collected Poems, 1967–85 (Allison & Busby, 1986), Wish You Were Here (Jonathan Cape, 1990) and Not Fade Away (Bloodaxe Books, 1994).

He was the leading light of a band, the Liverpool Scene, which released four LPs of poetry and music.

In 1986 Henri became the first President of the National Acrylic Painters' Association, a post he held until 1991, after which he became its first Fellow and Patron until his death in 2000.

Total Artist concentrates on Henri's work from the 1960s and 1970s, as well as capturing some of the excitement and dynamics of the art scene in Britain during this time.

Published by Occasional Papers, the Exhibition Research Centre, Liverpool John Moores University and Université Paris Diderot.

Public performances by the band included a (financially unsuccessful) 1969 tour[2] when they opened for Led Zeppelin.