Appropriated Alphabets Portfolio of 12

Year2013

Hand SignedLower Right, Pencil 

Condition Excellent 

Not Framed 

Purchased fromGallery 2013 

Provenance / HistoryPurchased from an independent gallery in Lancaster UK, supplied in folio folder with certificate of authenticity from CGA Galleries 

Story / Additional InfoPortfolio of 12 Limited edition Prints-
45.1 × 46.6 cm
Appropriated Alphabets is a portfolio of twelve Alphabets created or sourced from Blake’s personal collection of printed ephemera. For Example, Appropriated Alphabets 2 is a bus ticket that Peter collected from a trip to Utah, visiting his daughter Liberty. Appropriated Alphabets 3 is compiled from the first letters of various Font names, those that Peter found particularly interesting. In Appropriated Alphabets 5 he has playfully created a stencil of his favourite typeface ‘Stencil’.
His interest in letters and typography began whilst studying Art at Gravesend Technical College (1949-51); Blake was given a thorough grounding in a wide range of crafts including Roman lettering, hand lettering, typography and typesetting. This training has seeped into his work throughout his career with text often being an integral – or the only – element of a piece. The use of ‘found letters’ or commercial lettering in his work is something that Blake adopted in the 1950s; allying himself with decorators, sign painters and commercial artists rather than the fine art establishment: declaring himself a ‘pop’ artist. Blake has created several works based around the alphabet during his career, including his 1991 pop culture alphabet and his 2007 nursery collage alphabet. His interest in the alphabet can be linked to the exploration of childhood innocence and nostalgia that permeates his work. 

Certificate of AuthenticityCGA Galleries 

LID96053

Peter Blake - United Kingdom

Art Brokerage: Sir Peter Blake British Artist: He attended Gravesend School of Art from 1949 to 1951. He carried out his National Service in the RAF (1951-53) going on to study at the Royal College of Art in 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 to 1957. He went on to teach at St Martin's School of Art, London (1960-1962), 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 solo exhibition, held the following year at the Portal Gallery, London. Further solo shows followed at the Robert Fraser Gallery, London (1965) and at Leslie Waddington Prints, London (1969). His first retrospective exhibition was held in 1969 at the City Art Gallery, Bristol. A later retrospective was held at the Tate Gallery, London in 1983, touring to Hanover. Blake's work has also been included in numerous key group exhibitions on an annual basis since 1954. Listings wanted by Art Brokerage.