On a
wet and misty Good Friday I stopped off at the Pier Head to have a look at the
Mersey Ferry Snowdrop and her new paint scheme designed by the Pop Art legend
and Sgt. Pepper's album cover artist Sir Peter Blake.
His
design entitled Everybody Razzle Dazzle was commissioned as part of the
commemorations for the First World War and incorporates his trademark brilliant
colours and vivid patterns in homage to anti-submarine ‘dazzle camouflage’.
An
original "Dazzle" ship
During the First World War, professional artists would paint wild
patterns - "dazzle camouflage" - on British ships to confuse the
enemy, reasoning that such optical art would make it difficult for U-boat
captains to estimate a target’s range, speed and direction. When asked about his latest piece Blake
admitted that he had a great time following in the original dazzle artists’
footsteps.
.JPG)
Snowdrop
the Mersey Ferry chosen for razzle-dazzling was built in Dartmouth by Philip
and Sons and launched under its original name of Woodchurch on the 28 October
1959. Sister ship Mountwood was launched
earlier in July that same year and both were loosely based on the designs of
the Leasowe and Egremont of the Wallasey fleet, although both are 19 feet
longer, 6 feet wider, a foot taller and 153 tonnes heavier than the earlier
vessels.
Mountwood
and Woodchurch were refitted and renamed Royal Iris of the Mersey and Snowdrop,
respectively in 2002 and 2004.
Woodchurch
/ Snowdrop has served the river for nearly sixty years, a testament to the
dedication and care taken by the ferries' staff over the years to keep her in
the condition she can be found today.
The
refitting of the ferries has extended their working lives by approximately
thirty years, and this is steadily increasing with additional repairs that are
carried out on a regular basis.
Sir
Peter Blake
Sir
Peter Thomas Blake, CBE, RDI, RA was born on 25 June 1932 in Dartford, England.
He was educated at the Gravesend Technical College school of Art, and the Royal
College of Art. In the late 1950s, Blake became one of the best known British
pop artists.
His
paintings from this time often incorporated collaged elements including imagery
from advertisements, music hall entertainment and wrestlers
Some of
Blake's work was included in group exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary
Arts and he had his first solo exhibition in 1960. In the 'Young
Contemporaries' exhibition of 1961 he exhibited alongside David Hockney and
R.B. Kitaj. It was here that he was first identified with the emerging British
Pop Art movement whose work was based on modern popular culture (music, film,
literature, TV) and the mass media (advertising), especially as a critical or
ironic comment on the traditional values of fine art. Talking to the Guardian
in November 2014 Blake admitted that the humour in his work had always been a
mixed blessing: It’s what I chose to do,
using graphics and commercial art. To some purists it’s offensive, but I’m a
serious painter, and I think within the art world my painting is respected.
A year
after Beatle Stuart Sutcliffe's Summer Painting was shown as part of the John
Moores exhibition at Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery (and subsequently bought by
Moores for £65), Peter Blake won the 1961 John Moores' junior award for Self
Portrait with Badges.
Talking
about winning what he stresses was very much the "junior" award at
the launch of Everybody Razzle Dazzle Sir Peter admitted: I’m very proud of it. I remember coming up on the train and having a
party in my room at the Adelphi and meeting the Liverpool poets. It was
pre-Beatles, they hadn’t broken yet, but there was a definite vibe in the city
and great music going on.
Blake
came to wider public attention when, along with Pauline Boty, Derek Boshier and
Peter Phillips, he was featured in Ken Russell's "Monitor" film on
pop art, "Pop Goes the Easel", broadcast on BBC television in 1962. I
wonder whether this title would have any influence on the name of the Beatles
own BBC Radio show in 1963?
From
1963 Blake was represented by Robert Fraser, a notable London art dealer
described by Paul McCartney as one of the most influential people on the London
sixties scene. Fraser's close friendship with members of the Beatles and the
Rolling Stones brought Blake into contact with the leading figures of popular
culture and led to the commission for which he would become best known.
In 1967
Blake co-designed the sleeve for the Beatles'
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band with his wife Jann Haworth, the
American-born artist whom he married in 1963 and divorced in 1979.
The
Pepper sleeve has become an iconic work of pop art and much imitated but
remarkably Blake received a £200, one-off fee for the design, with no
subsequent royalties. Blake admitted that when (the album) took off I felt that the visual artist (himself and
Haworth) should have been rewarded like everyone was. But that’s all in the
past. It’s gone. I saw Paul McCartney last night and we hugged; he’s a friend.
Now when people say it’s the greatest cover of all time, I celebrate the fact.
(The Guardian, November 2014)
As well
as designing the sleeve for the Band Aid single Do They Know It's Christmas? in 1984, Sir Peter has gone on to
design album covers for some of my favourite artists including The Who's Faces Dances, Paul Weller's Stanley Road
and the Oasis best-of compilation Stop
The Clocks.
Sir
Peter admits Wherever I go there are men
waiting with square plastic bags full of records for me to sign. They’ll ask
you to sign something and then whip out four albums – Sgt Pepper, Paul Weller.
I know they’ll go straight on to eBay.
Blakes’
Everybody Razzle Dazzle is the third in a series of Dazzle Ships, and was co-commissioned by 14-18 NOW,
Liverpool Biennial and Tate Liverpool, in partnership with Merseytravel and
National Museums Liverpool.
The
organisation 14-18 Now, responsible for five years of art commissions marking
the first world war centenary, estimate that 8 million people have already seen
the other two ships in the series, the Edmund Gardner on Liverpool’s Mann
Island (dazzled by the the Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez), which was
unveiled as part of Liverpool’s 2014 International Biennial, and HMS President,
repainted by the German artist Tobias Rehberger and currently anchored on the
Thames in London. Snowdrop is the only
vessel that will actually go anywhere.
The
commission is undoubtedly the biggest of Blake’s long career, but creating it
was similar to doing a small watercolour, he said. Working on a computer, he
initially planned it all in monochrome but quickly realised it needed colour.
It has to be cheerful: it would have been dour in black and white really. I was
slightly nervous that there might be some diehards who’d think I’d messed it
up, they preferred the old livery. But I was very respectful of it: I checked
things like whether I was okay to change the funnel.
Keeping
things local, Sir Peter's design was expertly applied just over the Mersey in
the Cammell Laird shipyard.
During
World War One Cammell Laird completed work on nine battleships, 60 cruisers,
100 British and 95 United States destroyers, eight submarines, 123 armed
merchant vessels and 107 merchant ships. The Cunard passenger liner Campania
and the Isle of Man Steam Packet Co steamer Ben-My-Chree were also converted at
Cammell Laird into the first seaplane carriers for the Royal Navy.
Interviewed
at the launch Richard Peters, Ship Manager at Cammell Laird said: Cammell Laird is steeped in naval history
and played a key role in the First World War. We feel honoured to help
commemorate the occasion by ‘dazzling’ a Mersey Ferry after we successfully
dazzled the Edmund Gardner last year. The projects provides a meaningful way
for Cammell Laird to reflect on the significant contribution the company made
to the country during the war years. Our painters are also very pleased to be undertaking a design by Peter Blake who has
such a connection with Merseyside through his Beatles work. We are further
proud to support the Liverpool Biennial in its efforts to encourage visitors
and investment to the region.
Seven
ship painters spent 10 days painting the ferry, led by Arthur Hardacre who
admitted it had been a bit like a very big paint-by-numbers exercise: It was no big problem really, it’s all
paint. It is absolutely fantastic and it’s great that visitors to the Mersey
will see such a colourful ship.
Blake
was full of praise for those who had done the hard work: We came up about a month ago when they were still working on it. To see
it today when it’s all beautifully cleaned and polished is terrific. It is a
crazy concept. They’ve done it so beautifully and it looks fantastic. It is
very exciting to see it.
.JPG)
"Snowdrop"
before and after her repainting
The
plan is for Snowdrop to have its Blake livery for two years. During this time
it will carry an exhibition on the Mersey’s maritime history in the First World
War, when two ferries were requisitioned as troop carriers for a raid on
Zeebrugge.
It set
off for its first newly dazzled journey on Thursday with Bill Haley and the
Comets’ Razzle Dazzle playing on a loop. Joining Sir Peter on board for the
launch was Mike McCartney, both enjoying significantly better weather than me (photos of both taken by Andy Teebay for
the Liverpool Echo website)
It’s
certainly an eye-catching design, full of Sir Peter’s trademark patterns and
symbols, although i'm not sure a real “dazzle ship” would have had a target
painted dead centre on the hull!
Sources:
The
first world war anti-submarine gunboat HMS Kildangan, pictured in its dazzle
camouflage in 1918. Photograph: IWM/Getty Images
Web:
http://imgarcade.com/1/peter-blake-artist/
http://thecrookedwell.com/2011/07/14/15th-july-sir-peter-blake-and-his-art-bus-coming-to-the-crooked-well/
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/nov/29/sir-peter-blake-this-much-i-know
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/whats-on/arts-culture-news/razzle-dazzle-mersey-ferry-unveiled-8968150
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