Sir Peter Blake CBE RDI RA, Peter Blake: Venice Suite Portfolio, 2009

Venice Suite – collophon sheet

Venice Suite: An Altercation, 2009
'An Altercation' is set in front of San Marco's and shows a ribald array of Venetian characters in various argumentative situations.

Venice Suite: Butterflies, 2009
'Butterflies' is perhaps the most whimsical and charming image of the series; a little girl in a nightdress floats on a beachball in a star-strewn sky over Venice. The sky is full of stars and butterflies.

Venice Suite: Camping I, 2009
'Camping I' is an incongruous composition; the artist contrasts the Rialto bridge with a group of African colonial explorers in the foreground and a giant yurt in the middle ground, and throwing in a glamourous figure from a nineteenth-century fashion illustration for good measure.

Venice Suite: Camping II, 2009
'Camping II' is a mischievous mixture of boy scouts around a campfire and prep school boys sitting on their trunks. This eminently British scene is set in front of the grand Piazza della Paglia bridge.

Venice Suite: Childrens' Games, 2009
'Children's Games' is a charming composition made up of collaged figures of children taken from varying time periods and types of publications. It includes three cheeky ragamuffins sitting on a wall, as well as little girls dancing and boys preparing for a sword fight. Piazza San Marco is transformed into a joyful playground.

Venice Suite: Christ's Entry into Venice, 2009
'Christ's Entry into Venice' is an irreverent and comic imagining. Christ enters Venice on his donkey to the bewilderment of a few people wondering around Piazza San Marco, but most pay his arrival little attention. He is surrounded by the genuflecting biblical figures that one would expect as well as a couple of cossacks and figure that looks suspiciously like Jeeves the butler.

Venice Suite: Collision, 2009
'Collision' features a boating scene in the Venetian Lagoon, with a gondolier trying to avoid a collision between two rowing boats.

Venice Suite: Crash, 2009
'Crash' features World War II bombers flying dangerously low over the Grand Canal, to the bewilderment of a boat-full of argumentative renaissance Venetians. The Rialto Bridge can be seen in the background.

Venice Suite: Crash Landing, 2009
'Crash Landing' shows an aeroplane floating on the Grand Canal, and a man standing on it trying to summon help. In the foreground various characters float around: a couple floating in a life raft, a little sailor boy in a rubber ring, a man being rescued by an albatross, and a tribal raft that just seems to be passing through.

Venice Suite: Dancing, 2009
'Dancing' features a surreal myriad of characters dancing in front of San Marco's.

Venice Suite: Dancing Over Venice, 2009
'Dancing Over Venice features a group of Man Ray-esque dancers float above the promenade. A full moon completes the composition.

Venice Suite: Dredging, 2009
'Dredging' is one of the brightest and most jewel-like of the Venice Suite, filled with beautiful turquoises, ceruleans and aquamarines. The foreground is filled with various vessels, including an aeroplane skimming the surface of the water.

Venice Suite: Exotic Beasts, 2009
Inside the courtyard of the Doge's palace in 'Exotic Beasts' galavants a menagerie of unexpected animals, including a zebra and a rhinoceros. Behind the beasts, a short man chats to a very tall man against a car, and a sea-plane flies overhead.

Venice Suite: Fishing, 2009
As well as a fisherman mid-catch in the foreground, 'Fishing' includes a pair of rowers, a man floating, a gondolier and an Amazonian raft.

Venice Suite: Iceberg I, 2009
'Iceberg I' shows the surreal screnario of a gigantic iceberg cropping up in the middle of the grand canal. In the midst of this icy scene are a ship, a raft-full of very cold figures, and a couple of cherubim wrapping up warm.

Venice Suite: Iceberg II, 2009
'Iceberg II' shows children playing on a flat iceberg that is blocking the grand canal. A steamer is pulled up behind the iceberg, and a wooden rescue boat is approaching to help.

Venice Suite: Penguins, 2009
Some unexpected visitors have appeared in the lagoon of 'Penguins'; these penguins range from man-sized to normal and dominate the composition. Gondolas and other boats pass by in the background.

Venice Suite: Racing, 2009
'Racing' shows two large motor boats racing each other across the grand canal. In the foreground are two smaller wooden boats.

Venice Suite: Single Sculls, 2009
'Regatta' shows the grand canal full of boats, these vary from gondalas and antique sail-boats to a small steamer. The composition is dominated by the sails, which are in beautiful hues of yellow and peach, which compliment the facades of the palazzi.

Venice Suite: Single Sculls, 2009
'Single Sculls' shows two men skulling down the grand canal. There is also a whaling boat in the foreground and a crowd standing on the tow-path. Behind the rowers there are several figures in Edwardian swimwear that appear to be floating precariously on small planks of wood.

Sir Peter Blake CBE RDI RA British, b. 1932

Peter Blake: Venice Suite Portfolio, 2009

silkscreen prints in colours, some with with part glaze, on 400gsm Somerset tub sized paper, housed in museum quality binding box

each of the 20 prints is signed and numbered 16/75 in pencil

Of the 75 copies, 50 were presented as portfolios comprising all 20 images in museum-quality binding boxes.

each sheet 40.7 x 30.5 cm

Edition of 75 plus 8 APs plus 3 HCs

Series: Venice Suite

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Further images

The Venice Suite was inspired by Blake's trip to Venice for the Biennale of 2007. Each piece in the portfolio is a jewel of his trademark collage style. Blake combines...

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