Chris Beetles Gallery welcomes you to The Illustrators, the largest and most popular annual event worldwide for cartoon and illustration collectors. This extravaganza presents 800 original works for sale by over 85 artists from across three centuries, with prices ranging from £250 to £250,000.

The exhibition surveys the distinguished history of British illustration from the rumbustious caricatures of the Georgian, Thomas Rowlandson, to the charming illustrations of our young contemporary, Rebecca Cobb.

The Nineteenth Century

Highlights from the nineteenth century include a group of vibrant watercolours by William Harvey produced for Ventouillac’s ‘Classiques Français’ (1824), and a remarkable copy of Gilbert Abbott à Beckett’s Comic History of England (1847) bound with 22 of John Leech’s original drawings for its illustrations.

The Golden Age of the Gift Book

The golden age of the Edwardian gift book is represented by Arthur Rackham’s exquisite and imaginative images for J M Barrie’s classic, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906), and impressive examples by his chief rivals, Edmund Dulac and William Heath Robinson. Byam Shaw’s set of drawings for Rider Haggard’s historical novel, Pearl-Maiden (1903), further emphasises the strength of the literary illustration of the age.

Edwardian Caricature

The range of Edwardian caricature is shown through the striking contrast between the bold graphic statements of Nibs and the more spontaneous impressions of Max Beerbohm.

Twentieth-Century Cartoons

The art of the twentieth-century political cartoonist is demonstrated through a special group of images of the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, including those by Bernard Partridge and Sidney Strube, alongside interpretations of other news events by David Low, William Papas and Poy. Furthermore, the exhibition encompasses the breadth of twentieth-century humour from varieties of social comedy by George Belcher and Pont, through the vivid anthropomorphic slapstick of Lawson Wood and the fantastic machinery of Rowland Emett, to the gag cartoons of Larry.

Women Illustrators

There is also a focus on the significant contribution of women artists to twentieth-century illustration, including the sinuous late Pre-Raphaelite drawings of Florence Harrison and the bright, affectionate nursery images of Mabel Lucie Attwell and Margaret Tarrant.

Tom Brown’s School Days

Sets of illustrations by the acknowledged master, E H Shepard, and his able contemporary, Salomon Van Abbé, afford an opportunity to compare two interpretations of Thomas Hughes’s classic novel, Tom Brown’s School Days.

Dylan Thomas

Similarly, works by Paul Cox, Jonah Jones and Norman Neasom provide a range of exciting responses to the work of Dylan Thomas, in celebration of the centenary of his birth.

Ardizzone, Searle, Hoffnung

Other highlights of the later twentieth century include illustrations by Edward Ardizzone for Maurice Gorham’s The Local (1939), by Ronald Searle for the last St Trinian’s book, Souls in Torment (1953), and by Gerard Hoffnung for the magazine article, ‘Up the Garden Path’.

Contemporaries

The exhibition is equally strong at showing that illustration endures as a vigorous and stimulating form of art. Distinguished contemporaries, such as Michael Foreman, with The White Horse of Zennor (2014), appear alongside emerging talents, such as the Australian, Caroline Magerl, with Hasel and Rose (2014). The best of today’s cartoonists – notably Peter Brookes of The Times and Matt of the Daily Telegraph – will also be on display.

The exhibition is accompanied by a 330-page catalogue with over 550 full colour and black & white images. The catalogue is available from the gallery at £20 + p&p.