Biography
Sir Peter Blake (b. 1932, Dartford, Kent) is a British painter, sculptor, draughtsman and printmaker. He is known as one of the leading figures of British Pop art. Peter Blake studied at Gravesend School of Art before being accepted into the Royal College of Art, London, where he studied alongside other key British Pop artists, David Hockney, R.B. Kitaj, Joe Tilson, Allen Jones, Peter Phillips and Derek Boshier. After graduating from the Royal College of Art in 1956, Blake began to appropriate pop culture icons and advertising imagery to create homages to the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot, Elvis Presley and professional wrestlers. His iconic 1961 ‘Self-portrait with Badges’, in the Tate Collection, shows Blake holding an Elvis album, dressed in American jeans, Converse trainers, and baseball badges; here is the artist as a genuine fan. In other works, he composes assemblages of found objects with humorous allusions to art history and childhood fantasies. In 1967 he designed the iconic album cover for The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in his distinctive style of collage. Blake continues to be associated with the music world by designing album covers. In 1975 Blake co-founded the Brotherhood of Ruralists, a group of artists who moved to Somerset to paint nature.
After completing his National Service with the R.A.F., he received the Leverhulme Research Award to study popular art and travelled through Europe 1956-7. Blake’s first one-man exhibition was held in 1962 at the Portal Gallery, London; solo shows followed at the Robert Fraser Gallery, London (1965) and at Leslie Waddington Prints, London (1969). His first retrospective exhibition was held as early as 1969 at the City Art Gallery, Bristol. Subsequent retrospectives were held in 1973 at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, touring to Hamburg and Brussels and the Tate Gallery in 1983. In 1994 he was made the Third Associate Artist of the National Gallery, London. Peter Blake was elected a member of the Royal Academy in 1981, and was knighted in 2002. In 2007 the Tate Liverpool held a major retrospective of Peter Blake’s work which toured to the Museo de Bellas Artes, Bilbao, Spain in 2008. In 2010, Lund Humphries published Peter Blake: One Man Show, a comprehensive monograph by Marco Livingstone.
Peter Blake lives and works in London. He is represented worldwide by Waddington Custot.
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Works
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Peter Blake, Late Period – Study for 'Party' 3, 2018
watercolour on paper
26 x 18 cm
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Peter Blake, Late Period – ‘Party’ 1 2018, 2018
watercolour and gouache on paper
56.5 x 76.2 cm
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Peter Blake, London: Horse Guards Parade - Horses and Horsemen, 2012
collage on paper
50 x 50 cm
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Peter Blake, M, M , 1997
photographs and enamel paint on board
23 1/4 x 15 1/4 in / 59 x 38.7 cm
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Peter Blake, Ian Dury, 1980
watercolour on paper
9 1/2 x 6 1/8 in / 24.1 x 15.5 cm
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Peter Blake, Tarzan Meets the Jungle Goddess, 1970s-1994
oil on canvas
92.1 x 121.9 cm
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Peter Blake, Fairground Booths, c.1949
watercolour on paper
14 3/4 x 21 1/18 in / 37.5 x 53.5 cm
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Peter Blake, The Twins in their Tea Garden, 1991
oil on board
50 x 40 in / 127 x 101.6 cm
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Peter Blake, Locker, 1959
mixed media
60 x 20 x 26 in / 152.4 x 50.8 x 66 cm
Video
'At Work with Peter Blake' installation
Frieze Masters 5-8 October 2017
Latest
News
Peter Blake in conversation with Kate Bryan
at Waddington Custot
August 12 2021
Out of office!
Gallery Summer Closure
14–30 August 2021
‘Peter Blake: Time Traveller’ Extended
until 9 September 2021
August 5 2021
Waddington Custot at artmonte-carlo 2021
July 13 2021
Peter Blake: Time Traveller
Private View
Tuesday, 22 June 2021
Miniature Peter Blake work to be shown at Pallant House Gallery
May 10 2021
'Peter Blake: Time Traveller' coming soon
Exhibition opening 18 June 2021
May 10 2021
Thank You London: Artwork by Peter Blake projected on iconic landmarks
18 December 2020
Gallery reopens its doors on 2 December
Waddington Custot presents a physical realisation of its ABMB online presentation
November 27 2020
Waddington Custot Participates in Frieze Masters 2020
Presenting a curated selection of works, including pieces by Chu Teh-Chun, Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso
7–16 October 2020
Peter Blake's artwork projected onto National Gallery
May 14 2020
Peter Blake shares artistic message of hope for London
March 25 2020
Inaugural Art Basel Hong Kong online viewing rooms launch in March 2020
18 March 2020
Uncovered works by Peter Blake go on display
'Pop by Design: DANAD Design 1958-1962' opens at One Hoe Street Gallery on Saturday, 8 February 2020
3 February 2020
Waddington Custot supports students to visit Frieze Masters
Frieze Masters 2019
September 25 2019
Peter Blake designs artwork for new album by The Who
September 16 2019
Peter Blake: The Artist’s Studio
Recreation of our Frieze Masters booth at Garth Greenan
April 11 2019
Peter Blake among leading artists marking 70th anniversary of NHS
July 3 2018
Peter Blake commemorative mural
Turnham Green Station
November 22 2017
Peter Blake in conversation Colin Wiggins
Frieze Masters, Regent's Park
Saturday 7 October, 12pm
Be Magnificent: Walthamstow School of Art 1957–1967
William Morris Gallery, London
9 June–10 September 2017
Art Dubai
Madinat Jumeirah, Al Sufouh Road, Dubai
15–18 March
Peter Blake's collage commission
Mandarin Oriental Hotel, London
17 January 2017
Peter Blake: Alphabets Letters & Numbers
De La Warr Pavilion, East Sussex
13 August–27 November 2016
Peter Blake's Grand Tour
The Harley Gallery, Nottinghamshire
20 March–5 June 2016
Peter Blake and Gavin Turk in Conversation (Fully Booked)
Waddington Custot Galleries
December 10 2015
Peter Blake celebrates 800th anniversary of The Lord Mayor's Show
London
14 November 2015
Peter Blake: What Do Artist's Do All Day?
BBC Documentary
September 7 2015
Peter Blake in conversation with Tim Marlow
Royal Academy
Friday 17 July, 6:30pm
Peter Blake, Claes Oldenburg and Andy Warhol in International Pop
The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
11 April–29 August 2015
In conversation with Peter Blake and Rachel Cooke
Barbican, London
6 March 2015
Peter Blake in Magnificent Obsessions: The Artist as Collector
Barbican, London
12 February – 25 May 2015
A Strong Sweet Smell of Incense
Pace, London
6 February–28 March 2015
Peter Blake’s wood engravings "Side Show"
Paul Stolper Gallery, London
20 November 2014 – 10 January 2015
Pop to Popism
Art Gallery NSW, Sydney
1 November 2014 – 1 March 2015
Peter Blake Participating in The Arts Council’s Grand Tour of the East Midlands
Article in the Guardian.com by Hannah Ellis-Petersen
1 July–1 September 2015
Peter Blake Does Dylan on BBC Four
Under Milk Wood in Pictures
1 June 2014
Sir Peter Blake unveils mural masterpiece
Royal Albert Hall, London
29 April 2014
Peter Blake - Llareggub: Peter Blake illustrates Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood
National Museum Cardiff
23 November 2013 – 16 March 2014
Exhibitions and Art Fairs
Peter Blake: Time Traveller
Exhibition Extended
18 June–9 September 2021
Waddington Custot is pleased to present Peter Blake: Time Traveller, an exhibition dedicated to the groundbreaking exploration of collage by iconic British artist Peter Blake. This comprehensive survey show, which includes a number of important museum loans, investigates the fundamentals of Blake’s practice in collage over a career spanning seven decades, bringing together historic works and never-before-seen pieces. A new monograph, Peter Blake: Collage, which includes a foreword by Blake’s schoolfriend David Hockney, will be published by Thames & Hudson to coincide with the exhibition. Peter Blake: Time Traveller charts the development of Blake’s approach to collage-making, beginning with his layering of subject matter in early painted compositions and experiments with collaged paper after encountering work by Kurt Schwitters in the 1950s. From here, the exhibition travels via Blake’s rise to prominence as the ‘Godfather of British Pop art’ to his current, self-proclaimed Late Period. From his found object constructions to his most recent digital print photo-collages, Blake has broadened the scope of what collage can comprise and what it can communicate. Peter Blake: Time Traveller includes works from Blake’s Alphabet and Museum of Black and White series, as well as pieces made in homage to fellow artists Sonia Delaunay, Kurt Schwitters and Robert Rauschenberg. Clowns, wrestlers and Icons are shown alongside work around souvenirs and holiday postcards.
The artist’s largest canvas work to date, Late Period: Battle, is seen on view for the first time. The piece, measuring 183.4 x 293.5 cm, was started by Blake in 1964 only to be abandoned and left unfinished until the artist turned to collage to complete the work in 2018. Read more
Defining Space
A group exhibition of 20th and 21st century artists
2 December 2020–20 February 2021
Defining Space explores the impact of negative space within the work of 20th and 21st century artists, demonstrating how line and drawing play a crucial role in mapping out imagined spatial configurations. The works in this group presentation demonstrate the translation of drawing into the three-dimensional; towering monumental installations protrude from the walls, and curl up from floors, while the negative space of the picture plane is variously architecturally structured, or revealed through light and shade.
The exhibition includes works by Peter Blake, Enrico Castellani, Michael Craig-Martin, Ian Davenport, Jean Dubuffet, Barry Flanagan, Peter Halley, Hans Hartung, Frank Stella and Bernar Venet among others.
One of Bernar Venet’s iconic Indeterminate Line sculptures, created in rolled steel, shows the French artist’s approach to conceptualising and configuring space.
Mgarap Bangke, a 2004 wall-based sculpture by Frank Stella, similarly towers in a tangle of industrial materials, which the artist has coerced into curving organic forms. Moulded sections of dark carbon fibre are supported by circular loops of unpainted stainless-steel tubing and geometric rails.
A new painting by Ian Davenport, titled Yellow and Purple (Double), is also displayed, portraying the artist's use of colour as a tool to delineate space through controlled movements of vibrant paint. Read more
Frieze New York
Online Viewing Room
6–15 May 2020
Waddington Custot participates in the inaugural edition of Frieze Viewing Room, showcasing a range of works specifically selected to experience in the digital realm. Preview days takes place on 6 May from 10am EDT / 3pm BST and 7 May from 11am / 4pm BST. The public opening is from 8–15 May, starting at 11am BST / 4pm BST, closing on the 15 May at 7pm BST / 12am BST. This diverse presentation of artworks spans several decades, with pieces connecting through a multitude of points. Read more
Art Basel Hong Kong
Online Viewing Room
20–25 March 2020
Waddington Custot are participating in the inaugural Art Basel Hong Kong Online Viewing Rooms, which open for a limited time extending beyond the fair’s original dates, enabling us to share with you a strong selection of the works of exceptional quality originally destined for the fair.Our presentation includes works by Chu Teh-Chun, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Peter Blake, Ian Davenport, Jean Dubuffet, Barry Flanagan, Hans Hartung, Pierre Soulages and Fabienne Verdier. Read more
Peter Blake
A Life in Drawings and Watercolours
5 July–8 September 2018
Waddington Custot is pleased to present a retrospective survey of drawings by Peter Blake . The exhibition includes work made while a student at the Royal College of Art, London,...
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At Work with Peter Blake
Frieze Masters, Regent’s Park
5–8 October 2017
Waddington Custot will present a tribute to British artist Peter Blake (b.1932) at Frieze Masters 2017, in collaboration with designer Robin Brown and producer Anna Pank. The booth will bring...
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Winter Group Show
1 February–1 March 2016
Waddington Custot is pleased to present a group exhibition of painting and sculpture featuring both British and international artists, including Josef Albers, Patrick Caulfield, John Chamberlain, Ian Davenpor t, Barry...
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Peter Blake
Portraits and People
24 November 2015–30 January 2016
Waddington Custot Galleries are delighted to present Peter Blake: Portraits and People, the first exhibition to focus on the artist’s portraiture. Selected by the artist, the exhibition will feature a...
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Autumn Group Show
8 October–18 November 2015
Waddington Custot Galleries is pleased to present the Autumn Group Show of painting and sculpture by British and international artists. Artists included in this exhibition: Josef Albers, Peter Blake, Patrick...
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Group Show
17 February–31 March 2015
Waddington Custot Galleries is pleased to present a group exhibition of painting and sculpture by British and international artists. Artists included in this exhibition are: Josef Albers, Milton Avery, Peter...
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Pop Imagery
2 October–2 November 2013
Waddington Custot Galleries is pleased to present 'Pop Imagery', an international, group exhibition of painting and sculpture by artists associated with Pop Art and contemporary artists influenced by it. Dating...
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Peter Blake
Rock, Paper, Scissors
21 November–15 December 2012
Waddington Custot Galleries presents 'Rock, Paper, Scissors', the first major retrospective exhibition devoted to Peter Blake in the UK since 2007. The show features almost 50 new and previously unseen...
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Peter Blake
Homage 10 x 5–Blake’s Artists
17 November–23 December 2010
Waddington Galleries is happy to announce Peter Blake’s new one-man exhibition. It is entitled Homage 10 x 5 – Blake’s Artists and consists of fifty works that are a homage...
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Peter Blake
1–10 (Collages, Constructions, Drawings & Sculpture) & The Marcel Duchamp Paintings
19 October–12 November 2005
Peter Blake, one of the leading figures of British Pop Art, exhibits work from two series 1–10 and Marcel Duchamp’s World Tour in his forthcoming exhibition at Waddington Galleries. 1–10...
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Press
Publications
Peter Blake
Collage
At work with Peter Blake
Frieze Masters 2017
Peter Blake
Portraits and People
When Britain Went Pop
British Pop Art: The Early Years
Pop Imagery
2013
Peter Blake
Rock, Paper, Scissors
Peter Blake
10 x 5: Homage to Blake's Artists
Peter Blake: One Man Show
Marco Livingstone
Peter Blake
Tate Liverpool
Sculpture
2007
Peter Blake
1–10 (Collages, Constructions, Drawings & Sculpture) & The Marcel Duchamp Paintings
Paintings, Sculpture and Works on Paper
2004
Peter Blake
Natalie Rudd
United Kingdom United States
2002
Works on Paper
1989
