Blake was born in Dartford in 1932, in his late teens he studied at Dartford Technical School, where he was on the graphic design course and studied a range of subjects including technical drawing, printing and sign writing. From Dartford he went on to study fine art at the RCA in London.
After finishing his studies he continued at the RCA as a lecturer and taught the generation of British Pop artists in the late fifties.
His early work shows an influence of the Kitchen Sink style, an post war realist movement of the 1950s, this was combined with the influences of popular culture in Blake’s life including pop music, fair grounds, wrestling and advertising.
He was also influenced by the Dada and Surrealist ideas, particularly the work and ideas of Duchamp. Blake was interested in the use of the ready made, ideas of transformation as well as portraying the popular culture of everyday life.
Blake output of work continues today, throughout his career so far he has always produced outstanding work in a variety of media including paintings, prints, three-dimensional objects and commercial graphics such as record sleeves.
Peter Blake is the outstanding artist of late 20th century Britain, his work is all encompassing and extremely innovative. He is deeply revered as an artist not only by his contemporaries but those generations of British painters that came after him, his influence on Pop art is immeasurable and his influence on others such as the Ruralists, the Brit Art of the 1990s and contemporary painters of today is rightly recognised.
