Venice Fantasies: de luxe edition

Sir Peter Blake’s Venice Fantasies, made in his mid-seventies with the same lightness of touch and fresh eye that has distinguished all his work, are marked by his characteristic wry humour and unerring sense of the absurd.

Fifty years after his first trip to the most magical of Italian cities, Blake returned to Venice in 2007. Subsequently he created this series of affectionate and often frankly preposterous tributes to the city. Taking as his cue the Surrealist collages of Max Ernst and others, he engages in the same sort of time travel and unlikely alliances that marked his celebrated cover design for the Beatles LP Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Teeming with detail, this humorous and highly entertaining collection of pictures show Blake at his imaginative best.

The book also contains whimsical texts by Blake, written in a similarly playful manner. Above all, this is an artwork which highlights the pleasure to be had in such a city as Venice.

The slipcased de luxe edition consisted of 75 signed and numbered copies. Each is accompanied by a signed original silkscreen print by Peter Blake entitled Mickey’s Birthday Party.