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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Peter Blake: Time Traveller

June 18 – Sept 9, 2021
11-12 Cork St, Mayfair, London W1S 3LT, United Kingdom

Also known as the “Godfather of British Pop Art,” Peter Blake came to prominence in the 1950s, alongside David Hockney and Richard Hamilton. “I wanted to make art that was the visual equivalent of pop music,” he once explained. “When I made a portrait of Elvis I was hoping for an audience of 16-year-old-girl Elvis fans, although that never really worked.” Although Blake never attracted those Elvis fans, he did attract the Beatles, who commissioned him to design their famed album cover for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). Blake’s practice evolved from pop to found-object constructions to digital-print photo collages. He was also knighted. This survey spans seven decades of Sir Peter Blake’s career, and includes his largest canvas work to date, Late Period: Battle, which he started in 1964 and completed three years ago. —E.C.

Peter Blake, “M, M,” 1997. Courtesy of the artist and Waddington Custot.