Sir Peter Blake is one of the best-known artists from the Pop Art movement, famous for co-creating the sleeve design for The Beatles album cover Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Born in 1932 in Dartford, Kent, Blake grew up with World War II as a backdrop to his childhood. Initially heading to Gravesend College 1949 – 51, his studies were interrupted by two years of National Service. This meant that on arrival at the Royal College of Art in 1953, Blake – then 21 – was three years older and more experienced than his undergraduates counterparts, carrying with him childhood memories of war. Blake’s artwork, and the work of many of his contemporaries, reflects a collective will to imagine the past into history and concentrate on building a brighter future.
Pop Art sprang almost wholesale from this foment of bright ideals and social change, with Sir Peter Blake as a leading protagonist. Girly Door, Aquarium and Empire State are artworks that best reflect Blake’s Pop Art sensibilities. These originals and prints embody the pop art energy employing themes such as found images, collage, industrial branding and logos and the continuing cross-fertilization of ideas between music and the visual arts.
His paintings, limited edition prints and signed works are highly collectable.
