Sir Peter Blake CBE RDI RA, British b.1932 - Absolute Beginners, 1964; crayon and pencil on paper, signed, dated and titled lower left 'Peter Blake 1964 Absolute Beginners', 22.1 x 13.9 cm (ARR) Provenance: Galleria Galatea, Turin, no.1638 (label...

Sir Peter Blake CBE RDI RA, British b.1932 - Absolute Beginners, 1964; crayon and pencil on paper, signed, dated and titled lower left 'Peter Blake 1964 Absolute Beginners', 22.1 x 13.9 cm (ARR) Provenance: Galleria Galatea, Turin, no.1638 (label on the reverse of the frame); Luigi Carluccio, Turin (art critic and director of Galleria Galatea); private collection, Scandinavia; Bonhams, London, 20th Century British & Irish Art, 30th May 2012, lot 110; private collection, London, purchased from the above Note: illustrated on the front cover of Colin MacInnes 'Absolute Beginners' (included on the back), the inspiration for the 1986 film by Julien Temple, staring David Bowie, Eddie O'Connel and Patsy Kensit. Peter Blake, who was a central figure in the British Pop Art scene of the 1960s, best-known for co-creating the cover artwork for The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Blake attended the school of art at Gravesend Technical College, followed by the Royal College of Art. His first solo exhibition was held at Robert Fraser Gallery in 1965, with retrospectives of his work held at the Tate (1983) and Tate Liverpool (2008). He has been the subject of further exhibitions at the Holburne Museum in Bath and the National Museum in Cardiff, with his works currently held in the collections of the Tate, the V&A, the Arts Council and the British Council.