Sir Peter Blake CBE RDI RA is a contemporary British artist often referred to as the Godfather of the British Pop Art movement. Alongside David Hockney, Patrick Caulfield and Richard Hamilton, Blake sourced imagery from popular culture to create graphic works which define the era.
Born in 1932 in Dartford, Blake studied at Gravesend and at the Royal College of Art, Kensington. In the 60s and 70s he went on to become a lecturer at Central St Martins and the Royal College, he travelled extensively and exhibited domestically and internationally. He became widely acclaimed for creating the album cover for the Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967,
" I wanted to make an art that was the visual equivalent of Pop Music".
In 1983 Peter Blake was awarded the title of The Commander of the Most Excellent order of the British Empire for his services to british visual arts and in 2002 was awarded a knighthood.
Blake's prolific works have sealed his reputation as one of the most important artists of the 20th Century. His works are in major collections in museums worldwide and include the Tate Gallery, National Gallery, Waddington Custot, San Fransisco Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art in New York, The Arts Council Collection, the China Art Gallery in Beijing, and Museum Moderna Kunst in Vienna, amongst many others.
Peter Blake continues to live and work in Chicwick, London. His works in most recent years have included the album cover for The Who, a 25 meter collage to cover the facade for the Mandarin Orient Hotel in Hyde Park, he has designed fabrics for Stella McCartney and the carpets in the Supreme Court. In 2012 Blake redesigned the statuette for the Brit Awards, and was commissioned to create the front cover portrait of HM The Queen for the Radio Times to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee.