1. Peter Blake
Peter Blake was born in Dartford, Kent 25th June 1932. He is
best known for co-creating the sleeve design for the Beatles
album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. During the late
1950s Blake became one of the best known British Pop
artists. His paintings from this time included imagery from
advertisements, music hall entertainment and wrestlers,
often including collage elements.
On the Balcony (1955–57) is a significant early work which
remains an iconic piece of British Pop Art, showing Blake's
interest in combining images from pop culture with fine art.
The work, which appears to be a collage but is wholly
painted, shows, among other things, a boy on the left of the
composition holding Édouard Manet's The Balcony, badges
and magazines. It was inspired by a painting by Honoré
Sharrer depicting workers holding famous paintings,
Workers and Paintings.
