Peter Blake attended the Junior Art Department of Gravesend Technical College and School of Art from 1946 - 1949, Gravesend School of Art 1949 - 1951. He was accepted for the royal College of Art 1950, but carried out his National Service so went on to study there from 1953, gaining a First Class Diploma in 1956. Blake received a Leverhulme Research Award to study popular art, taking him to Holland, Belgium, France, Italy and Spain for a year from 1956 - 1957. He taught at St Martin's School of Art 1960-62, Harrow School of Art 1960-63, Walthamstow School of Art 1961-64 and at the Royal College of Art 1964-76.  In 1961, Blake received First Prize in the Junior Section at the John Moores Liverpool Exhibition. This led to his first one-man exhibition, held the following year at the Portal Gallery and subsequently solo shows at the Robert Fraser Gallery1965 and at Leslie Waddington Prints 1969. Since the early '70s, his work has been exhibited regularly in one-man shows throughout the world, including the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, touring throughout Europe 1973-74, Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris 1984, Nishimura Galley, Tokyo 1988 and the Govinda Gallery, Washington D.C. 1992.  His fist retrospective exhibition was held as early as 1969 at the City Art Gallery, Bristol. Subsequent retrospectives were held in 1973, touring to Amsterdam, Hamburg, Brussels and Arnhem and at the Tate Gallery in 1983. Blake’s work has also been included in numerous key group exhibitions on an annual basis since 1954.  In 1985, Blake designed the poster for Live Aid, the world's largest ever multi-national pop concert in aid of famine relief in Africa. Similarly, in 1995 he was commissioned to design of the cover of Paul Weller's album, Stanley Road.  Peter Blake was elected Royal Academician in 1981 and was awarded the CBE in 1983. In 1994 he was made the Third Associate Artist of the National Galley, London, and in 1998 he received an Honorary Doctorate from the Royal College of Art, London. Blake lives and works in London. 

Yellow Hat
Lithograph
1982
edition of 500
19 x 30 inches
£350