peter blake - LEVY Galerie

PETER BLAKE
The British painter and illustrator Peter Thomas Blake (b. 1932) attended the
Gravesend Technical College and School of Art from 1946-1951, then transferred
to the Royal College of Art in London, which he left in 1956. His early work was
marked by two major themes: fantastic scenes from the world of the circus, and
naturalistic paintings with autobiographical characteristics. Typical in these
is his dependence on popular images from event posters, which Blake combines
with portraits. Besides circus figures, the painter often depicts children doing
such things as reading comic books. Both types of paintings were groundbreaking
for British Pop Art, stylistically as well as in terms of content. A Leverhulme
bursary allowed Blake to travel through Europe from 1956 until 1957, and to
become acquainted with contemporary artistic trends there. Around 1959, inspired
by reproductions of the works of Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, he began
to paint collage-like images of pop musicians and film stars, and to make
assemblages out of second-hand materials, postcards, and other things. Besides
collage, Blake also applied the design technique of imitation, producing painted
collages, imitation bulletin boards and locker doors, painted oversized postcard
motifs, and painterly adaptations of posters.
He celebrated a great success with his cover design for the Beatles album
‘Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band’ (1967). Blake arranged the group as
if in a poster composition, stylizing them as an icon of the new generation. The
naïve facial expressions and clear, genuine gazes contrasted with their fashionconscious outfits. Restrained individuality revealed itself behind the gaudily
colored, provocative effect of the bold image.
Entertainment and art were separate no more. Pop music, that new folk music by
artists such as the Beatles, corresponded in its levels of expression to high
culture and subculture, to the trivial and the special.
In 1975 Blake became one of the founding members of the “Brotherhood of
Ruralists”. Influenced by the artists association and the rural surroundings of
his home in Wellow on Avon, his pictorial language now changed. The members
hoped that life in the country would give them fresh artistic stimulus and moral
renewal. Like the Pre-Raphaelites they strove for aesthetics to be integrated
into all spheres of life. Blake turned to themes from childhood such as the
world of fairy tales and elves, which he depicted using a realistic painting
style and an old-masterly technique. Peter Blake lives and works in London.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2012
Peter Blake “Blake’s Artists and Other Collages”, Wetterling
Gallery, Stockholm
2009
Lorenzelli Arte, Milan Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris
2008
Collagen und Arbeiten auf Papier 1956-2008, LEVY, Hamburg
2007
Peter Blake: A Retrospective, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool Peter
Blake: A Retrospective, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao,
Bilbao Peter
Blake:
Alphabet,
Rook
Lane
Arts,
Frome
(Wanderausstellung) An Alphabet by Peter Blake, Paul Stolper,
London (Grafik)
LEVY Hamburg | Osterfeldstrasse 6 | D-22529 Hamburg | T.: +49-40-45 91 88
[email protected] | www.levy-galerie.de
2006
Peter Blake An Alphabet, Paul Stolper, London (Grafik) Fine
Art, Design and Antiques Fair, Olympia
Peter Blake: 19752005, Bjorn Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm Peter Blake Prints
and Sculpture, The Harley Gallery, Welbeck
2005
Peter Blake: 1-10 (Collages, Constructions, Drawings&Sculpure)
&
The
Marcel
Duchamp
Paintings,
Waddington
Galleries,
London New Prints by Peter Blake, The Charing X Gallery,
London Peter Blake: Love, Paul Stolper, London (Grafik) With a
Little Help, Spring Fine Art, Design and Antiques Fair, London
2003
Peter Blake, Artiscope (Zaira Mis), Brüssel Peter Blake:
Commercial Art, The London Institute Gallery, London Peter
Blake: Sculpture, The London Institute Gallery, London
2002
Over the Rainbow, Harley Gallery, Welbeck Sir Peter Blake/And
Now We Are 70, Paul Morris Gallery, New York
2001-2006
Alphabet, York College
(Wanderausstellung)
2000
Peter Blake: About Collage, Tate Liverpool
1999
A Cabinet of Curiosities from the Collections of Peter Blake,
Morley Gallery, London
1996-1997
1996-97 Now We Are 64: Peter Blake at the National Gallery,
The National Gallery, London Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
1995
Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris
1993
The Tabernacle Cultural Centre, Machynlleth (Serigrafien)
1992
Govinda Gallery, Washington, D. C. (Skizzen Eric Clapton)
1990
Waddington Galleries, London Wetterling Gallery, Göteborg
1988
Nishimura Gallery, Tokyo
1986-1987
Watermans Art Center, Brentford, Middlesex Turnpike Gallery,
Leigh
1984
Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris
1983
Tate Gallery,
Hannover
1980
Galleria Documenta, Turin (Zeichnungen und Grafik)
1979
Bohun Gallery, Henley-on-Thames (Zeichnungen und Grafik)
1978
Waddington Graphics, London
London
of
Further
and
Higher
(Retrospektive) Kestner
Education
Gesellschaft,
LEVY Hamburg | Osterfeldstrasse 6 | D-22529 Hamburg | T.: +49-40-45 91 88
[email protected] | www.levy-galerie.de
1977
Waddington and Tooth Galleries, London
1974
Natalie Stern Gallery, London (Retrospektive Grafik)
1973-1974
Stedelijk
Museum,
Amsterdam Kunstverein,
Hamburg Gemeentenmuseum, Arnhem Palais des Beaux Arts, Brüssel
1972
Waddington Galleries, London (Aquarelle und Zeichnungen)
1970
Ashgate Gallery, Farnham
1969
Leslie
Waddington
Prints,
London Robert
London City Art Gallery, Bristol
1965
Robert Fraser Gallery, London
1962
Portal Gallery, London
Fraser
Gallery,
LEVY Hamburg | Osterfeldstrasse 6 | D-22529 Hamburg | T.: +49-40-45 91 88
[email protected] | www.levy-galerie.de