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Liberty as 'A Suffolk Child by John Constable, RA'

Print
1976 (printed and published)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The portfolio For John Constable was published by the Bernard Jacobson Gallery in 1976 in an edition of 100, to coincide with the Tate’s major Constable exhibition that year. Bernard Jacobson commissioned 19 artists to contribute a print to the portfolio. Several of the selected artists chose to respond directly to individual works (or series of works) by Constable in the V&A collection. Peter Blake’s piece presents an etching of his daughter Liberty in the pose of Constable’s sketch of a Suffolk child (V&A 600-1888, a study for the painting The Valley Farm) with the source images – postcard of Constable’s sketch, a photograph of Liberty and a tracing of the photograph. Blake (born 1932) was a founder member of the Brotherhood of Ruralists, and as such had an empathy with the work of painters such as Constable. In the 1960s and 70s, he frequently portrayed children and illustrated subjects such as Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’ stories.

Object details

Category
Object type
Titles
  • Liberty as 'A Suffolk Child by John Constable, RA' (assigned by artist)
  • Fro John Constable (series title)
Materials and techniques
Etching on paper with photograph, tracing paper, postcard, and paper clips
Brief description
Peter Blake: Liberty as 'A Suffolk Child by John Constable, RA', 1976. Etching with photograph, postcard etc.
Physical description
Print on paper with collage of postcard, photograph etc.
Dimensions
  • Height: 51cm
  • Width: 33cm
Copy number
56/100
Marks and inscriptions
56/100 Peter Blake (Edition number; signature. All in pencil.)
Summary
The portfolio For John Constable was published by the Bernard Jacobson Gallery in 1976 in an edition of 100, to coincide with the Tate’s major Constable exhibition that year. Bernard Jacobson commissioned 19 artists to contribute a print to the portfolio. Several of the selected artists chose to respond directly to individual works (or series of works) by Constable in the V&A collection. Peter Blake’s piece presents an etching of his daughter Liberty in the pose of Constable’s sketch of a Suffolk child (V&A 600-1888, a study for the painting The Valley Farm) with the source images – postcard of Constable’s sketch, a photograph of Liberty and a tracing of the photograph. Blake (born 1932) was a founder member of the Brotherhood of Ruralists, and as such had an empathy with the work of painters such as Constable. In the 1960s and 70s, he frequently portrayed children and illustrated subjects such as Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’ stories.
Collection
Accession number
E.74-2015

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Record createdJanuary 22, 2015
Record URL
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