Sir Peter Blake is a contemporary artist living and working in London. Known and celebrated for his association with the Pop Art movement and his creation of The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover, Peter Blake's art encompasses painting, sculpture, collages and graphic art.
Sir Peter Blake is a contemporary artist living and working in London. Known and celebrated for his association with the Pop Art movement and his creation of The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover, Peter Blake's art encompasses painting, sculpture, collages and graphic art.
Blake studied at the Gravesend School of Art before attending the Royal College of Art. During Blake’s long career, he has exhibited extensively and has explored various styles and subjects, focusing primarily on themes of idolatry and stardom. In the 1950s he travelled across Europe and studied folk art, which informed a change in style, from classical naturalistic oil paintings to collages containing movie stars, musicians, and pin up girls. In 1969, Blake moved to Somerset and became a founding member of the Brotherhood of Ruralists. This group of artists moved away from both urban life and the ‘new media’ of the 1960s and 1970s, opting instead for traditional skills like painting.
Deemed ‘The Godfather of Pop Art,’ Blake has created a diverse range of collages with various subject matters in popular culture such as film star posters, badges, and postcards. The artist cleverly blends modernity with our society’s infatuation with celebrity cult status and nostalgia. Blake was awarded the title of Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) before receiving a Knighthood in 2002 for his services to the visual arts. In addition to this great honour, he has received the Leverhulme Research Award and the John Moores Junior Award.
Blake loves visiting junk shops, fairgrounds and markets.
We love how Blake infuses popular culture into his collages and his approach to bright colour and stylistic changes.
Blake was featured in Ken Russell's seminal 1962 documentary film 'Pop Goes the Easel'.
Blake designed labels for the famous whiskey brand Macallan.
Blake created a poster for the Evening Standard in March 2020 to spread hope in the early days of the COVID lockdown.
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
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ARTIST FEATURE: PETER BLAKE If you’re a fan of Pop Art or familiar with the art movement, then there’s a good chance you’ll have stumbled across the name Sir Peter Blake CBE. Born in the 1930s, educated at the Royal College of Art and rising to fame at the height of Pop Art in the late 1950s/early 1960s, his contribution to British art cannot be overstated. While much of his work shines a spotlight on pop culture within the form of collage, Blake is also an accomplished painter, and is the man behind some of the most famous album artwork ...
