Babe Rainbow (1968)

Image of a woman wearing a white bikini, a headdress with a rainbow motif, a necklace featuring the Union Jack and 'England', a belt featuring the St George's Cross and 'London', and a belt with various badges including one inscribed with 'In memory of the good old days 1788', one with a face in profile, one with a ship 'RM.S Berencaria', and one in the shape of a flower. Underneath the image are the words 'Babe Rainbow'. The border of the image is a rainbow.

Technique:

Screenprint

Dimensions:

67 x 44 x 2 cm

Credit:

Presented by the Contemporary Art Society, 2007

Ownership history:

Unknown acquisition details; presented by the Contemporary Art Society to Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool, 2007

Relationship:

Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool

Subject:

Pop Art

Commissioned by Dodo Designs in 1968, Babe Rainbow was originally to have been an enamel plaque. As this proved to be impossible, the design was silkscreened onto tin, in an edition of 10,000. Selling at only £1 each it was one of the few genuine multiples available to everyone.

The design was based on a 1967 cover of the French magazine Marie Claire - the girl's facial features in Babe Rainbow are similar to those on the magazine cover, but have been adjusted by referring to other prototypes.

The artist, Peter Blake said: 'Babe Rainbow, a fictitious lady wrestler, is the most recent in a line of wrestlers I have painted. These include Irish Lord X, Doktor K Tortur, Kamikaze and Les Orchidées Noires. She is twenty-three years old and has broken her nose in the ring. She was born in New Cross, London and wrestles mainly in Europe and the USA as there have only been a few contests between lady wrestlers in London. She is the daughter of the notorious Doktor K Tortur.'

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