Peter Blake

b. 1932

Sir Peter Blake is a national icon in the British Pop Art art scene, most famous for his iconic design of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover from 1967. Blake was born in Kent and studied at the Royal College of Art. His work ranges from painting to collage, often mixing both mediums to create a colourful interplay of popular culture and fine art images, synonymous with with Pop Art compositions. Other than designing iconic album covers for British pop bands, some of Blake’s most influential works include On the Balcony (1955–1957), Self Portrait with Badges (1961), The First Real Target? (1961), and his poster for the seminal Live Aid concert in 1985.

Blake was made a Royal Academician in 1981 and was awarded the CBE in 1983. In 1994 he was made the Third Associate Artist of the National Gallery, London, and in 1998 he received an Honorary Doctorate from the Royal College of Art. Blake has exhibited widely with notable solo exhibitions at Portal Gallery, London (1962); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; touring to Gemeentemuseum, Arnhem; Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels (1973-1974); Tate, London (1983); The National Gallery, London (1996); Tate Liverpool, Liverpool (2000); Garth Greenan Gallery, New York (2019); amongst others. Blake’s art is also in the collections of the British Council, London; the Arts Council Collection; the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna; the Royal College of Art, London; the Tate, London; and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; amongst other collections.

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