Category — UK cartoon events

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As you know, we’ve just moved home and that means changing some details of the service we provide.

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Bloghorn for UK cartoon news at http://procartoonists.org

Regular readers will know that Bloghorn is about to move home once more. This will be the third place we have called home since we set out back in 2007. You will be unsurprised to learn we are off to join the portfolio site for the UK Professional Cartoonists Organisation to which @bloghorn belongs.

So gentle reader, please bear with us while we do the necessary nut tightening and deliver the requisite administrative kickings. We will try not to swear.

If this proceeds to plan you shouldn’t notice too much difference.

The Bloghorn is made on behalf of the UK Professional Cartoonists Oranisation by Matthew Buck, Royston Robertson, Alex Hughes and Rob Murray. We welcome submissions and other collaborators to contact us here.

Index on Censorship magazine is hosting an auction of Martin Rowson‘s Stripsearch cartoons tomorrow — Tuesday, November 8 — at 6.30pm at the Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Road, London.

The auction will be hosted by the writer and broadcaster Laurie Taylor and admission is free. Contact jo@indexoncensorship.org if you wish to attend. An exhibition of the cartoons will run from tomorrow until December 2. The venue can be contacted on 020-7324 2570.

An exhibition called One Hundred and One Cartoonists is at the Cartoon Museum in London from Thursday 3 November.

It features cartoons, comics and caricatures from the collection of Luke Gertler, who has been collecting original cartoon artwork for more than 50 years.

On display will be works by H.M. Bateman, Max Beerbohm, Giles, David Low, Donald McGill, Thomas Rowlandson, Ronald Searle, John Tenniel and Dudley D. Watkins, among many others.

Asked what drew him to the cartoons he chose for his collection of more than 800 images, Luke Gertler told the Cartoon Museum newsletter:

“With cartoons, it’s the picture I would buy, rather than the joke. I liked ones with people, with characters, and the style was very important to me. I preferred rather bold colour styles, firm outlines like in John Hassall, for instance. I liked also the cartoonists who drew in wonderful detail, like Thelwell and Heath Robinson.”

One Hundred and One Cartoonists runs until January 29. For more details, visit the Cartoon Museum website.

After much media hoopla, Private Eye: The First 50 Years opened at the Victoria & Albert museum in South Kensington, London, yesterday. The exhibition will run until January 8.

The free exhibition explores the wealth of artistic talent that the magazine has showcased since 1961 and features original artwork for some of the funniest Private Eye cartoons.

Cartoonist Nathan Ariss attended the private view. He writes:

“According to one insider it was ‘the most fun’ the reverent halls had witnessed in decades. Yes, the PE PV at the V&A was AOK, and deemed a rather fine night indeed.

“A [insert collective noun here] of cartoonists were interspersed with some serious marble statues and seriously well-off people and then somewhat embarrassed by a warm and gracious speech from the Editor, [Is this guy after an OBN? – Ed], Ian Hislop, who paid full tribute to the importance that cartoons have played in the magazine’s success.

“I imagine the exhibition will be equally as enjoyable as all the sparkling repartee and champagne on the night itself, but I’m afraid I became somewhat tired and emoticon as the night wore on. Thankfully the exhibition is still on until the new year.”

National Association of Builders Convention by Ken Pyne

Many cartoonists started their careers at the magazine, and they can be seen in this show, including Gerald Scarfe, Ralph Steadman, Willie Rushton, Barry Fantoni, Nick Newman and Michael Heath

There are lots of cartoons in the show by members of the PCO, which runs the Bloghorn, such as Andrew Birch, Wilbur Dawbarn, Neil Dishington, Pete Dredge, Len Hawkins, Martin Honeysett, Tony Husband, Ed McLachlan, Alexander Matthews, Ken Pyne, above, Royston Robertson, Mike Turner, and the PCO patron Bill Tidy.

The cartoons are in themed sections, on politics, royalty and social observation. There are single-panel cartoons, long-running strips and caricatures.

Hislop has chosen 50 of the best front covers, one from every year the magazine has been published. The exhibition also evokes the atmosphere of the magazine’s Soho office, with a recreation of the Editor’s desk, right, and a messy production table.

Here’s a round-up of some of the many Private Eye: The First 50 Years features you can currently see on the net:

A behind the scenes look at the production of the Eye, including a video of how a Ken Pyne cartoon progresses from idea to page, can be seen on the V&A site.

The Private Eye blog has a piece on putting the exhibition together.

Fifty years of Private Eye as seen by The Wall Street Journal …

… and by Creative Review.

Ian Hislop takes the BBC’s Will Gompertz on a tour of the exhibition. The site also has political leaders and pundits giving their views of Private Eye

And finally, to coincide with the 50th celebrations, the Chris Beetles Gallery has an online exhibition selling artwork by Private Eye cartoonists.

"Tell me about your Big Society ..."

Hard Times, a new exhibition by the Times cartoonist Peter Brookes, opens at the Chris Beetles Gallery in St James’s, London, today and runs until November 5.

The selling show features more than 120 of Brookes’ most recent editorial cartoons from The Times, and ties in with the launch of his new book, also called Hard Times.

To see the exhibition online, go to www.chrisbeetles.com

The Bloghorn is made on behalf of the UK’s Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation

Another Pair of Underpants, an exhibition of cartoons by Tony Husband, is at Tom’s Chophouse, Cross St, Manchester, until November 10.

It features around 350 pieces — strips, topical gags and sports cartoons — along with a series of large photos of Tony at work by the photographer Wolfgang Webster.

Everything in the exhibition is for sale and the final day will see a charity dinner. Half of the proceeds will go to the Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention Appeal. Prints and originals are for sale, along with books and cartoon placemats.

Tony has been a regular contributor to Private Eye since 1985. He also draws sports cartoons for The Times and the Sunday Express and his cartoons have appeared in many magazines including The Spectator, The Oldie and Playboy.

The exhibition moves to Sam’s Chophouse, 8 South Parade, Leeds, on November 14, where it will run until Christmas. Tony plans to exhibit his cartoons again next year and tells The Bloghorn that the Groucho Club in London has expressed an interest in showing them.

The Bloghorn is made on behalf of the UK’s Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation

An exhibition of Apparently strips from Private Eye, by the cartoonist Mike Barfield, is being held at the City Screen Picturehouse, York.

The free exhibition, of around 100 strips, opens tomorrow (October 5) and runs for a month.

On Sunday 23 October, Mike will be in the gallery from 1pm onwards selling original artwork — along with some of his music CDs. Bloghorn readers may remember that he wrote a World Cup song last year.

Mike will also be available to answer questions on anything you care to ask him, though he’s not hot on languages or geography. Apparently.

The City Screen is at 13-17, Coney Street, York. Call 0871-902 5726. On November 4, Mike will talk about cartoons and writing, and will perform poems and songs at An Evening With Mike Barfield at the Millennium Hall, Helperby, near York. Tickets are £5. Call 01423-360 364

The Bloghorn is made on behalf of the UK’s Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation

An exhibition and sale of work by the cartoonist Simon Pearsall, who draws the regular First Drafts cartoon for Private Eye, opens in London next week.

The Wilderness Years: 1963 – 2011 is at the 3 Bedfordbury gallery, which is at 3 Bedfordbury Court, logically enough, Covent Garden. It starts on Tuesday 4 October and runs for one week.

The National Army Museum may seem like an odd place for a comics exhibition, but what better venue for a retrospective on Commando?

For Commando, ze war is never over, as the pocket-sized comics have featured non-stop bashing of the Boche since 1961. The 50th anniversary has been less heralded than that of Private Eye, but it is a notable one, particularly in the volatile comics market.

Draw Your Weapons: The Art of Commando Comics, held in partnership with the publisher DC Thomson, showcases key artwork and illustrations from the comics’ history. Alongside the artwork there are original artefacts, photographs and films relating to the inspiration behind the comics – the British Army Commandos themselves.

The National Army Museum is in Chelsea, central London, next to the Royal Hospital Chelsea. The free exhibition runs until April 30.

The Bloghorn is made on behalf of the UK’s Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation