Leo 153 1969

Curator: Peter Blake crafted "Leo 153" in 1969 using photography. It presents a compelling interplay between figure and nature, quite striking in its composition. What are your first impressions? Editor: I'm struck by how this image evokes a very particular, almost dreamlike nostalgia. The green monochromatic treatment, and the woman's pose by the tree, seem to reach back to classical myths of nymphs and woodland spirits. There’s a vulnerability there too. Curator: It’s fascinating you mention that classical echo. I immediately considered how Blake engages with the commodification of the female form through photography. His choice of medium, the photographic print, implicates the history of its own making. The production and distribution mechanisms of image culture were certainly central to his practice at the time. Editor: True, the method certainly adds a layer. Still, looking closer, I think there’s something powerful in the figure's direct gaze, how she doesn’t seem objectified so much as...present. It challenges, maybe even subverts, the viewer's expectations. Blake used a certain "language" with poses of his figures in relation to classical iconography to communicate on many different levels. The tree, too, as the tree of life or the classical associations of woods, serves as the image of a threshold, where boundaries blur. Curator: It would be worth examining the specific properties of the photographic process, its chemical composition, the development techniques used, which can speak volumes. Think about the deliberate graininess and the specific tone of green chosen. All that constitutes material decisions. Did this impact accessibility or production? Blake was often making work critical of elitism through both style and material accessibility. Editor: Yes, I see your point, particularly in how the green monotone filter and slightly grainy appearance almost abstract the work; it makes one focus more closely on the details as well as bringing into it symbolism, rather than creating realism. It is a curious balance indeed! It creates almost a mythic world to step into... Well, this image is still thought-provoking to behold and to consider from either perspective! Curator: Absolutely, an enduring demonstration of how photographic means are employed towards an alluring and timeless end.