Sir Peter Blake

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Sir Peter Blake won international fame in the 1960s as one of the leading exponents of the British Pop Art Movement. His work is represented in major collections throughout the world with images born from a love affair with the icons and ephemera of popular culture, his influence on the music world can be summarised by the seminal cover art for the Beatles’ ‘Sergeant Pepper’ album.

Born in 1932 in Dartford, England, from 1946 to 1951 he studied at Gravesend Technical College and School of Art and he graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1956. From 1951 to 1953 he served in the Royal Air Force. He studied Folk Art in various European countries with a research award and from 1959 he did collages with pin-up photos, star images, posters, LP covers and other images. Between 1960 and 1962 he taught at St. Martin’s School of Art, London, and from 1962 to 1964 at the Walthamstow School of Art. In 1961 he obtained First Prize in the John Moore Exhibition, Liverpool, for Self-portrait with Badges.

In 1963 he married the artist Jann Haworth and travelled to Los Angeles to do drawings for the Sunday Times. From 1974 to 1976 he taught at the Royal College of Art, London. The City Art Gallery in Bristol gave him his first retrospective. In 1969 he moved to Wellow, Avon, continuing to live there until 1974. In 1973 and 1974 he had retrospectives in Amsterdam, Hamburg, Brussels and Arnheim and was made A.R.A 1974 and R.A in 1981.

In 1969 Blake became a ‘Ruralist’ and left the city to live in the countryside with Jann Howarth, eventually founding ‘The Brotherhood of Ruralists’ in 1975.

He now works from his studio in London and maintains a prolific output of work.

PLEASE NOTE that all prints are un-framed unless stated. All prints can be framed - please contact the gallery for more details.