Peter Blake: Portraits and People, Waddington Custot Galleries

This winter, come a discover a new side to one of Britain's best known contemporary artists, at the first ever exhibition dedicated solely to the portraits of Sir Peter Blake.

Many of you will know the artist for his iconic 1967 Beatles album cover Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, which is widely considered the best cover of all time. He makes playful, accessible high calorie work, and is dubbed the Godfather of British Pop Art/ Not surprising then, he’s received a CBE, been conferred as a Royal Academician, had two Tate retrospectives. But the term portrait artist is not usually applied to the Peter Blake’s work - that is, until now.

In late November, Cork Street gallery Waddington Custot present Peter Blake: Portraits and People, a group of works selected by the artist, some of which have never before been in public view.

You'll be able to see portraits of Helen Mirren, who sat for two portraits in the 80s, while playing Cleopatra to Alan Rickman's Anthony at the National Theatre. (The production bombed, by the way. Read the reviews for a giggle). Blake's incredible portrait of the late punk overlord Ian Dury will be on display; an incredible piece of work, which perfectly captured Dury's personality, wit and manner.

We're also looking forward to seeing the series of watercolours depicting heavily-tattooed individuals; wonderfully vivid portraits, full of a child-like exuberance at odds with the tough nuts on show. (We particularly love the woman with tattooed breasts, one with Prince Harry's name, the other William's).

The centrepiece of the exhibition will be Elvis Shrine: Portraits, Landscapes or Still Lifes: an wry triptych in the form of an altarpiece, dedicated to Elvis Presley. Twenty years in the making, the panels are made up of assorted memorabilia. Blake's fascination with Presley is well-known. His iconic 1961 Self Portrait with Badges, composed in the manner of Gainsborough's Blue Boy shows him holding an Elvis magazine,

It's perhaps a shame that some of Blake's better known portraits, such as those of Brigitte Bardot and Marilyn Monroe, will be absent from the exhibition. But even so, this'll be a corker of an exhibition: a glimpse of the man behind the zany Pop Art, who's obsessed by people, and capturing in paint their quirks, manners and gestures.

Image: Peter Blake, Tattooed Man 5, 2015,watercolour, 15.1 x 10cm, courtesy the artist and Waddington Custot Galleries.