Who is John Blanke?

The book of the groundbreaking art exhibition, displayed in the British Library, Met New York and Walker in Liverpool



John Blanke is the first person of African descent in British history for whom we have both an image and a record. He was a Black trumpeter to the courts of Henry VII and Henry VIII.

Yet, despite the wealth of Tudor archives, we have just two images of John Blanke in the Great Tournament Roll of Westminster and court records of him receiving wages and petitioning for a wage increase and gifts

Inspired by this enigmatic figure, Michael Ohajuru invited over 100 artists and historians to imagine John Blanke’s world. Now these images and words – exhibited in the British Museum and the Met in New York, but never displayed on the internet – have been curated in a sumptuous, large art book.

From its startling black and white pages leap out the diverse perspectives of the artists, who with contrasting styles, portray John Blanke variously, among many things, as a trumpeter, a saxophonist, a focused jazz musician, and a stylish trump card.

By turns dazzling and intriguing, these different artistic renditions – along with rap music, poems and prose from historians – create a dazzling permanent embodiment of a noteworthy figure currently marginalised in British history.