July 11, 2012

The Macallan Celebrates Eight Decades with the Godfather of Pop Art

Moray, Scotland – Reported by Elite Traveler, the private jet lifestyle magazine

Sir Peter Blake, considered the “godfather” of British pop art, will be 80 years old and to celebrate this momentous achievement, The Macallan has produced a unique, limited-edition art piece appropriately titled The Macallan and Sir Peter Blake Celebrate Eight Decades.

Blake has a long-standing connection with The Macallan, having designed the label which went on the first 12 bottles of The Macallan 1926, bottled back in 1986. For this project he has teamed up with Art Director David Holmes, the illustrator of the earliest Macallan advertisements and also the creative force behind the brand’s most recent royal commemorative bottles.

Sir Peter Blake is best known for his design of the sleeve for the Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. His paintings from this time included imagery from advertisements, music hall entertainment, and wrestlers, often composed of collaged elements. Blake was included in group exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Arts and had his first solo exhibition in 1960.

The Macallan and Sir Peter Blake Celebrate Eight Decades consists of an oak box, divided in to eight sections, each decade having a backdrop and artifact designed, inspired or chosen by Sir Peter Blake, as well as a miniature of The Macallan distilled in that decade (1930 through to the 2000s), with labels designed by Sir Peter and a small book of illustrations and text about his life.

The wooden box is designed to represent eight decades of their collaboration. The artifacts contained within the incredible box, sourced by Art Director Stuart Newman alongside Blake’s guidance, represent the four elements of water, fire, air and earth, in direct connection to the whiskey-making process. Each carefully selected artifact holds great personal value for Blake, amongst them a replica of one of Blake’s favorite pieces from his collection, a dancing tin duck, as well as many of his paintings.