Will You Be My Valentine, Sir?
- ARTContent: Suzy Sabla
- Feb 14, 2020
- 2 min read
Will You Be My Valentine, Sir?
This week, much of the UK longed for lovers East, North and South; the loneliness and reality of Brexit slowly powdering the sovereign state’s cobblestoned lanes with soot and permeating the land’s lush pastures with sh…excuse me, fertilizer. While 52% of the UK’s inhabitants sought to say goodbye to beautiful Europa by locking the door and throwing away her key, there’s still bound to be that adjustment period, especially at this grim, dreary, rainy, I digress…time of year.
SIR PETER BLAKE, BOY WITH PAINTINGS, 1957-9, OIL AND ENAMELS ON WOOD, PALLANT HOUSE GALLERY, CHICHESTER (ACCEPTED IN LIEU OF INHERITANCE TAX BY HM GOVERNMENT FROM THE ESTATE OF MURIEL WILSON AND ALLOCATED TO PALLANT HOUSE, 2019) © PETER BLAKE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Zeroing in on Britain: when it rains, it pours. And then there’s the silver lining. Shining bright in the heavenly skies and by grace of the Acceptance of Lieu in Scheme — a provision in British tax law under which inheritance tax debts can be written off in exchange for the acquisition of objects of national importance — Britain filled a little hole in its heart with its recent National acquisition of Sir Peter Blake’s Boy with Paintings. Aptly so, the artist’s self-portrait depicts a young Blake, holding a giant Valentine for his schoolmate and British Pop Art trailblazer in her own right, Pauline Boty. While that romance seems never to have seen the light of day, the two artists became friends in 1959 and continued to make strides on Britain’s contemporary art scene, side by side, until Boty’s untimely death in 1966. Find Britain’s new Valentine at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester on a grim, dreary, rainy day this winter, where Boy with Paintings will now be permanently displayed care of the Estate of Muriel Wilson. And while on the topic of Blake’s love affairs, if you make it to the gallery before February 23rd, be sure not to miss Blake’s ex-wife and The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s album cover co-creator Jann Haworth’s exhibition, “Close Up.” Read more about the acquisition here.
To My HEART'S Content:
Six Limited Edition Prints from Peter Blake published by ARTContent. Signed and Numbered by the Artist.
A Romantic at HEART:
SIR PETER BLAKE, VALENTINE, 1959-60, , R.A. ESTIMATE £120,000–180,000 LOT SOLD £287,500, MODERN & POST-WAR BRITISH ART, SOTHEBY'S, NOVEMBER 2019
A Collage Wizard's Love of Rock 'n' Roll:
Keepin' up in Peter Blake style is the artist's cover for The Who's 2019 album “WHO”.
A Love of Elvis:
AEL Artist John Newsom & CEO Frans Wynans at the Elvis Shrine as a part of Peter Blake: The Artist's Studio at Garth Greenan Gallery, NYC, Spring 2019.
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