‘I am intrigued by lettering; I find different typefaces and fonts fascinating. I studied Roman lettering, typography and typesetting at Gravesend School of Art. This training has influenced my work throughout my career and made me question the gap between fine art and commercial art. I started to use found letters and commercial lettering in the 50s and still do today.’

Peter Blake, 2000

The training Peter Blake received at Gravesend Technical College (1949-51) had a strong influence on his work, with text often forming an integral part or even the sole element of his paintings and collages. Having started to use found letters and commercial signage in the 1950s, Blake allied himself with decorators, sign painters and commercial artists rather than the fine art establishment. He even built an exhaustive collection of historical alphabet samplers and incorporated letters from these into his artworks. Blake’s interest in the alphabet and lettering is often related to his enduring interest in childhood innocence, and Victorian and Edwardian graphic illustration; his typographic collages are at once humorous, intriguing and nostalgic.

‘Love’ (2017), is a whimsical sign work made from letters in several styles from different contexts. Vintage in character, the elaborate red and gold 'o' evokes circus or pantomime advertisements. Or could it be the first, illustrated letter from a child’s prized book of fables: ‘Once upon a time’. Either way, it lends the work an air of longing and nostalgia that recalls Blake’s sense of having missed a normal childhood having been evacuated during World War II. The other letters in ‘Love’ more closely resemble signage, and are perhaps pieces from Blake own typographic collection.