Leo 139 1969

Peter Blake made "Leo 139" using collage, a technique with deep roots in early twentieth-century European culture. Blake’s use of a risqué Parisian postcard is interesting. The image speaks to shifting social mores, the rise of mass media, and the consumption of images. Blake’s use of the collaged image implicates it in Britain’s own struggles with social and political change. The figure in the photograph is highly sexualized, but her coy and almost childlike expression complicates any easy reading of the image as simply ‘pornographic.’ Is this intended to challenge social conservatism? Is it a comment on the male gaze? Blake is known for his interest in the ‘everyday’ and the ‘common.’ What does the inclusion of this mass-produced image tell us about Blake’s understanding of British culture and the emergence of a globalized world? Considering sources of imagery and the social conditions of artmaking helps us to understand how artists both participate in and critique existing social norms.