Sir Peter Blake's Dazzle Ferry Features in Poppies Trail for WW1 Commemorations

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The iconic Poppies: Weeping Window art installation is coming to Liverpool's St George's Hall from Saturday 7 November and a new trail, featuring Sir Peter Blake's Everybody Razzle Dazzle, has been created to highlight Liverpool’s links with the First World War. Entitled Liverpool Remembers, the trail gives a suggested route around the city centre encouraging residents and visitors to learn more about the war and how it changed people's lives.

The trail includes more than 20 locations throughout the city, starting with the poppies display at St George's Hall and ending with the dazzled Mersey Ferry Snowdrop, on board of which is a display about the history of dazzle camouflage and the role that the Mersey Ferries took in the First World War. The trail will also direct people to First World War memorials ranging from the Liverpool Pals Memorial at Lime Street Station, the Unknown Soldier in Exchange Flags and the Maritime Memorials at the Pier Head right through to buildings of historic interest such as Martins Bank on Water Street, Liverpool Town Hall and several of the city’s museums.

The  Weeping Window is from the installation Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red by Paul Cummins Ceramics Limited in conjunction with Historic Royal Palaces. The original poppies concept was created by artist Paul Cummins and installation designed by Tom Piper. It was originally at the Tower of London from August to November 2014 where 888,246 poppies were displayed, one to honour every death in the British and Colonial forces of the First World War.

Sir Peter Blake's dazzle ferry is one of three ships dazzled by contemporary artists to commemorate the role of artists in the development of dazzle painting, a system for camouflaging ships in introduced in early 1917. Also on the Liverpool Waterfront is Induction Chromatique à Double Fréquence pour l’Edmund Gardner Ship / Liverpool. Paris, 2014, created by renowned Franco-Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez. He has dazzled the Edmund Gardner, a historic pilot ship owned and conserved by Merseyside Maritime Museum. 

Sally Tallant, Director of Liverpool Biennial said: “It is great to see another significant artwork supported by 14-18 NOW join the dazzle ship commissions and put a focus on artists’ response to the First World War. Sir Peter Blake and Carlos Cruz Diez’s dazzle ships have been experienced by millions of people already. We are glad that this new trail will open up even more possibilities for the people of Liverpool and beyond to engage with the history behind the works.”

See both dazzle ships on the Poppies trail and learn more about Liverpool and artists' role in the First World War.

Read the guide and download the map

The dazzle ships are commissioned by Liverpool Biennial, 14-18 NOW: the First World War Centenary Art Commissions and Tate Liverpool, in partnership with National Museums Liverpool and Merseytravel.