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Lot Essay
‘For me, Pop Art is often rooted in nostalgia: the nostalgia of old, popular things. And although I’m also continually trying to establish new Pop art, one which stems directly from our own time, I’m always looking back at the sources of the idiom and trying to find the technical forms that will best recapture the authentic feel of folk pop’ - P. Blake
Executed in 1976, Peter Blake’s Funny Way to be a Hero was conceived as the cover for a book of the same title by John Fisher. First published in 1973, this book traces the history of the music hall and the stand-up comedians who performed there. A host of these well-known and beloved British comedians and music hall stars are the subject of Blake’s collage Funny Way to be a Hero, which presents a selection of his own heroes. From Max Miller, the leading theatre comedian of his generation, to the radio comic Arthur Askey, and television performers Morecambe and Wise, Tommy Cooper and Ken Dodd, this work presents a line up of some of the greatest comedic personalities of the 20th Century.
Executed in 1976, Peter Blake’s Funny Way to be a Hero was conceived as the cover for a book of the same title by John Fisher. First published in 1973, this book traces the history of the music hall and the stand-up comedians who performed there. A host of these well-known and beloved British comedians and music hall stars are the subject of Blake’s collage Funny Way to be a Hero, which presents a selection of his own heroes. From Max Miller, the leading theatre comedian of his generation, to the radio comic Arthur Askey, and television performers Morecambe and Wise, Tommy Cooper and Ken Dodd, this work presents a line up of some of the greatest comedic personalities of the 20th Century.