Sir Peter Blake (b. 1932, Dartford, Kent) is a British painter, sculptor, draughtsman and printmaker. Often referred to as the ‘Father of British Pop Art’, his practice incorporates a range of styles, including folk art and collage. In 1946, Blake enrolled at Gravesend School of Art to study graphic design and began to collect popular art and ephemera. After National Service, in 1953 Blake joined the Royal College of Art, London and studied alongside Robyn Denny, Leon Kosoff, Richard Smith and Joe Tilson. There, elements of popular culture began to enter Blake’s painting, predating American Pop art. Having seen the work of Kurt Schwitters he started to work in collage. After graduating in 1956, Blake won the Leverhulme Research Award and spent a year travelling abroad, the first time he had left the United Kingdom, visiting Holland, Belgium, France, Italy and Spain. Returning to London, Blake continued 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. In 1967 Blake designed the iconic album cover for The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band with his first wife Jann Haworth and continued to be associated with the music world by designing album covers for other bands including The Who and Ian Drury and the Blockheads.
