A print retrospective for Peter Blake – the ‘Godfather of Pop Art’ – is on display at Enter Gallery on Bond Street in Brighton’s North Laine until Tuesday, July 9. The exhibition opened with the arrival of an Art Bus (featuring the same photo of Marilyn also seen in the newly published book, Fabulous Faces of Classic Hollywood.)
“Who would have thought that an electrician’s son from Kent would go on to become a leading figurehead of the Pop Art movement, as well as one of Britain’s most influential painters, printmakers, sculptors and designers.
Sir Peter Blake’s long and winding artistic career began over eight decades ago, when he walked through the doors of Gravesend Technical College Junior Art School at the age of 14 … After leaving art school, Blake went on to study at the Royal College of Art, studying alongside a cohort comprised of era-defining artists including David Hockney, Bridget Riley, Frank Auerbach and Pauline Boty.
We’ll forgive you for assuming, like the rest of the world, that Pop Art was created by Andy Warhol. The truth is that after Blake left college in 1956, his earliest works were some of the first to explore the idealism of American culture and the advertising of the time.
Alongside this fascination with Americana, Blake has always drawn inspiration from the world he was experiencing, from the performers that entertained him and the tools he used in the kitchen, to the paintings he admired and the literature he consumed.
We believe Blake’s brand of Pop Art has captured the hearts of so many because every piece he makes is infused with a sense of the affection he feels for his specific fixations. It’s undeniable. Blake’s unique blend of modernity and nostalgia has played a huge part in shaping the culture of Great Britain.”
Marilyn appears twice in ‘100 Sources of Pop Art‘ (2007.) The same publicity photo for Clash By Night (1952), is placed third from left in the second row; and second from right in the fourth row, a cropped photo from her brief tenure at Columbia Pictures in 1948. (The full image – possibly by Ed Cronenweth – shows the little-known starlet getting a Rita Hayworth-esque makeover from the studio’s chief hairstylist, Helen Hunt.)
Blake used the same photo for ‘Legends: Marilyn Monroe,’ part of a series focusing on stars who died young, which also featured James Dean and Marilyn’s Misfits co-star, Montgomery Clift.
Marilyn appeared in several of Blake’s classic artworks, including Blake’s cover for The Beatles’ SGT Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1968.) She can be spotted in the middle of the third row, as photographed by Ben Ross in 1953.
A set of twelve prints from Blake’s Replay series includes ‘Replay: Marilyn‘ (2008), featuring a 1946 modelling shot by Bruno Bernard in triplicate.
Marilyn also appears in two prints from the 1991 Alphabet series. ‘I is for Idols‘ features a publicity still from Ladies of the Chorus (1948) on the second row at third from right, while her Some Like It Hot co-star Tony Curtis shows up second from right in the bottom row. (Other Marilyn-related figures include Jayne Mansfield, Montgomery Clift and the Marx Brothers.)
Meanwhile, the Bruno Bernard photo seen in the Replay series made a prior appearance in ‘M is for Marilyn,’ with her sailor’s cap complementing the blue background, topped with a block of black-and-white photos.
‘Replay, Girlie Door‘ looks back to Blake’s seminal ‘Girlie Door‘ (1959.) Both works use a Manfred Kreiner photo of Marilyn in Chicago during her publicity tour for Some Like It Hot, which Blake may have found in LIFE magazine’s April 20 issue from that year.
‘Milk Maids‘ references ‘Self-Portrait With Badges‘ (1961.) Blake’s painting is interpolated with a glamour shot of Marilyn (per Frank Powolny, 1953.)
‘Marilyn’s Door,’ from the 2008 Replay series, can be glimpsed inside the Art Bus. (In Gene Kornman’s 1952 glamour shot, Marilyn sported the red Oleg Cassini gown which she also wore to the Monkey Business premiere in Atlantic City.)
Using a publicity still for Niagara in Warholian triplicate, the elegiac ‘Marilyn Monroe, Black‘ (2009) – shown above, at top left – is based on an earlier work, ‘In Homage to Marilyn Monroe‘ (1990), which featured a doubled Powolny portrait from Let’s Make Love (see above, top right.)
And finally, a publicity still for The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) is set against a gold bark effect background in ‘M.M. 2010‘, part of the Stars series also featuring Brigitte Bardot, The Beatles, Kate Moss, and Elvis Presley.
The Marilyn Report 