.jpg?w=1)
拍品专文
Souvenirs for Richard appears to be the earliest example of a series of works that Blake termed Souvenirs. Previously, it has been recognised that in 1968 Blake made his first Souvenir work and Marco Livingstone states '1966 is very early, indeed' (private correspondence, November 2010).
The Souvenirs were, 'intended both as homages and as gifts for fellow artists ... The material for each Souvenir was as thoughtfully chosen as the attributes of the saints in traditional religious pictures, but the import of this selection sometimes becomes apparent only on closer inspection.
For Richard Hamilton, for instance, he pasted onto a sheet of marbled paper a photograph of a large suburban American house, the home of Bing Crosby, who is seen waving from his doorway; Crosby's portrait, based on a still from the 1954 film White Christmas, had recently featured in Hamilton's painting I'm dreaming of a white Christmas (1967-68) and in two related prints published in 1969 and 1971' (see M. Livingstone, Peter Blake One Man Show, Farnham, 2009, pp. 149 - 151). Amongst others Blake also created Souvenirs for David Hockney, Gilbert & George and R. B. Kitaj.
Richard Merkin was a painter and illustrator whose fascination with the 1920s and 1930s defined his art and shaped his identity as a professional dandy. As an artist, he created brightly coloured, cartoonish portraits and narrative scenes of film stars, jazz muscians, sport heroes and writers.
In Souvenirs for Richard Blake makes clever use of a transfer of King Kong, a Donald McGill saucy seaside postcard and an illustration for Laurel and Hardy to define and pay homage to Merkin and his love for the great spirit of the 1920s and 1930s. Merkin met and be-friended Blake in 1966 before appearing on the cover of the Beatles 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band', where he featured in the top row between Fred Astaire and a Vargas Girl - a testament to his outré fashion sense and cool.
The Souvenirs were, 'intended both as homages and as gifts for fellow artists ... The material for each Souvenir was as thoughtfully chosen as the attributes of the saints in traditional religious pictures, but the import of this selection sometimes becomes apparent only on closer inspection.
For Richard Hamilton, for instance, he pasted onto a sheet of marbled paper a photograph of a large suburban American house, the home of Bing Crosby, who is seen waving from his doorway; Crosby's portrait, based on a still from the 1954 film White Christmas, had recently featured in Hamilton's painting I'm dreaming of a white Christmas (1967-68) and in two related prints published in 1969 and 1971' (see M. Livingstone, Peter Blake One Man Show, Farnham, 2009, pp. 149 - 151). Amongst others Blake also created Souvenirs for David Hockney, Gilbert & George and R. B. Kitaj.
Richard Merkin was a painter and illustrator whose fascination with the 1920s and 1930s defined his art and shaped his identity as a professional dandy. As an artist, he created brightly coloured, cartoonish portraits and narrative scenes of film stars, jazz muscians, sport heroes and writers.
In Souvenirs for Richard Blake makes clever use of a transfer of King Kong, a Donald McGill saucy seaside postcard and an illustration for Laurel and Hardy to define and pay homage to Merkin and his love for the great spirit of the 1920s and 1930s. Merkin met and be-friended Blake in 1966 before appearing on the cover of the Beatles 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band', where he featured in the top row between Fred Astaire and a Vargas Girl - a testament to his outré fashion sense and cool.