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 fashion-conscious outfits. Restrained individuality revealed itself behind the gaudily coloured, 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.

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)

2006

Peter Blake An Alphabet, Paul Stolper, London (Grafik)
Fine Art, Design and Antiques Fair, Olympia
Peter Blake: 1975-2005, 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 of Further and Higher Education (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, London (Retrospektive)
Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover

1980

Galleria Documenta, Turin (Zeichnungen und Grafik)

1979

Bohun Gallery, Henley-on-Thames (Zeichnungen und Grafik)

1978

Waddington Graphics, London

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 Fraser Gallery, London
City Art Gallery, Bristol

1965

Robert Fraser Gallery, London

1962

Portal Gallery, London