"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

Artwork from the political cartoon collection of Jeffrey Archer is to go on show for the first time, at the Monnow Valley Arts Centre, Herefordshire, from Saturday (September 3).

Image of Power will feature 100 cartoons owned by the writer and former Tory MP who has been collecting cartoons for 25 years. They include this early image of Tony Blair, Has Bambi got teeth?, by Peter Brookes of The Times.

The exhibition, which spans three centuries from Gillray to Scarfe, is being curated by the art collector Chris Beetles. It features images of Churchill, Macmillan, Kennedy, Reagan, Nixon, Thatcher and more.

Lord Archer says on his website: “I continue collecting, as there are still gaps to be filled, but it’s my long-term intention to produce an illustrated book on the collection, and to leave the works to the nation. Mind you, finding a home for them may not prove easy. “

The exhibition will be opened by Lord Archer on Saturday at 3pm and runs until October 30.

Response to printed and digital cartoons is now pretty much instant as this tweet about a drawing by Peter Brookes of The Times shows.

What do people think of this cartoon in the Times?: http://lockerz.com/s/122196367

21st July 2011 10:12 am via EchofonReplyRetweetFavorite

@KathViner

Katharine Viner

Peter’s colleague Morten Morland (a PCO member) had a swift response below

Hilariously ridiculous mini-outrage over Peter's cartoon in The Times today. Twitter seem to think NI bosses are telling him what to draw...

21st July 2011 11:32 am via Twitter for iPadReplyRetweetFavorite

@mortenmorland

Morten Morland

The standard response of editorial cartoonists to feedback like this is

Hello @cathelliott @KathViner It's opinion. You may not share it. Offence tending to be in the eye of the beholder. End of. Surely? Rgds, MB

21st July 2011 10:20 am via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@mattbuck_hack

MattBuckHackCartoons

Or complete silence, but when the controversy crosses the oceans in seconds to other influential commentators…

Good God. Murdoch's troops no bounds RT @KathViner: What do people think of this cartoon in the Times?: http://bit.ly/oPeoYQ

21st July 2011 12:02 pm via EchofonReplyRetweetFavorite

@jeffjarvis

Jeff Jarvis

This speed of interaction between opinion, response and offence  pose, in Bloghorn’s view both a challenge and an opportunity to makers of drawings. What do you think cartoonists should do in the social media era?Answers welcome in the comments.

Updated: 2pm

To ppl insinuating Murdoch's wishes are behind that cartoon - grow up. It's just a bit of Fleet St tribalism, though admittedly ill-advised

21st July 2011 2:02 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@alexwalters

Alex Walters

Further response from the internet

Updated: Wednesday 27th July – The Guardian is reporting a letter from seven UK academics complaining about the publication of this cartoon. Read the story here and please comment below if you would like.

Illustration from The Very Hungry Caterpiller by Eric Carle

Cartoons and illustrations by some of the biggest names in the business are due to go under the hammer next month in support of the House of Illustration. The Sotheby’s auction, to be held on the 16th December, will feature work by Peter Brookes, Gerald Scarfe, Eric Carle (from children’s classic The Very Hungry Caterpiller), Beryl Cooke, Ronald Searle and organiser Quentin Blake, amongst others. Some of the pieces up for grabs can be seen here.

The House of Illustration aiming to be the world’s first centre dedicated to the art of illustration, and has a site earmarked in the Kings Cross regeneration centre in central London.

Blair cartoon from The Times by PCOer Morten Morland

The advent of statistics recording visits to web sites has allowed web publishers to see exactly which pages readers head for. Unsurprisingly, many have embraced this technology to show you – the reader – which pages are most popular.

So, I ask you to go to The Times website. Scroll down. No, you don’t have to get past the Great Pay Wall of Murdoch to do this – no small denomination payments are required. Look at the “Most Read” list of sections which are – as you might guess – the paper’s most popular click-through reads.

Of course, I don’t know when you’re reading this but I bet you that coming in the top three with a bullet will be “Cartoons”. I have checked assiduously for the past several weeks. “Cartoons” has been at or near the top spot for almost all of my visits (many times at Number One).

As I write, I am not chastened by the fact that nestling at number 2 is “Top Ten Chinos”.Well, a chap’s got to look the part while perusing the best of cartoon art online. Standards, you know. (Of course, if you want to actually look at the cartoons, you WILL have to pay at this point).

It’s a subject close to the hearts of us cartoonists. The popularity of The Times’ cartoons is, of course, not unrelated to the fact that they boast two fine cartoonists in Peter Brookes and Morten Morland, together with legend-inna-lifetime Gerald Scarfe at the Sunday title.

But it’s not just that. Readers love cartoons. We know that. It’s such a pity that this simple fact doesn’t prevent culls of cartoonists to cut costs at newspapers facing hard times. It seems counter-intuitive to us. For example the loss of almost all cartoon content from The Observer recently was mourned widely. So Bloghorn says hats off to the wildly good taste of Times readers.

Peter Brookes, political cartoonist for The Times, makes the art of political cartooning look easy. Watch a master at work in this short film. Absorb and weep, dear reader.

Bloghorn notes: As The Times have recently started charging to view its website, to view the above link you will have to register – prices are £2 for a weekly subscription or £1 for a day’s access. However, they are offering a free preview for a limited time – you can sign up here.

The Beauty of Maps: Cartoon Maps – Politics and Satire is part of a season of map-themed documentaries currently running on BBC4, and features Frederick Rose’s famous octopus map of Europe and an interview with Times cartoonist Peter Brookes. Hurry though, the programme is only available on the BBC iPlayer until tomorrow…

A new exhibition devoted to cartoons opens at the Chris Beetles Gallery tomorrow (April 13) and runs until May 1.

The 4th Annual Cartoon Show, at the the gallery in St James’s, London, is a selling exhibition which features more than 20 top artists from the past 100 years of cartooning, plus the following three highlights:

In Memoriam. David Levine’s Caricatures: A celebration of the work of the American caricaturist who died last December. The show features more than 40 pieces, including John Updike, Ezra Pound, and Hemingway.

Larry’s Van Gogh Collection: Cartoons about Vincent Van Gogh and his work by Terence Parkes, aka Larry, above, to coincide with the hit show currently at the Royal Academy. A group of ceramic sculptures by Larry will also be on display.

A Year with Matt: A selection of the best works by Matt Pritchett of the Daily Telegraph from the past year, as well as the latest Matt cartoons from the days leading up to and throughout the show.

Other artists on display include contemporary cartoonists such as Peter Brookes, Tony Husband, John Jensen, Ed McLachlan, Nick Newman, Martin Rowson, Mike Williams and Kipper Williams, alongside artists from the past including H.M. Bateman, Giles and Thelwell.

For more details, visit the Chris Beetles Website.

News reaches Bloghorn of a couple of British cartoonists revealing the tricks of the trade. Firstly there’s The Times‘ Peter Brookes explaining how he’ll be caricaturing the party leaders in the upcoming General Election. On drawing the current Prime Minister:

With Gordon Brown I’ll start with the hair, increasingly grey and much more coiffured these days. Then come the heavy, angry eyebrows above creased eyes, one unsighted because that is the unfortunate reality. The nose is short and stubby, with a flat base. The fleshy-lipped mouth is open in that odd gurning movement he makes with his jaw as he speaks. The ears are large, round and red. There are deep marks on the cheekbones that, with the bags under his eyes, give him that knackered, saturnine look, particularly when I add a blue-grey wash for five o’clock shadow. Sometimes I think I’ve just drawn Nixon.

Secondly, from the other end of the British cartooning spectrum we have Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons demonstrating, with video, how he goes about drawing a character digitally using a Wacom Cintiq tablet and Manga Studio software.

Of course, if you would like to see cartoonists demonstrating their skills in the flesh, we would heartily recommend you head to this years Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival, 22nd to 24th April 2010. But, if you can’t make it in person, we’ll be providing full coverage here on Bloghorn.

Peter Brookes has won Cartoonist of the Year at the British Press Awards. Brookes, who draws the daily comment cartoon for the Times newspaper as well as the Nature Notes feature for the Saturday edition, was presented the award by John Humphries at the Grosvenor House Hotel ceremony yesterday.

Thanks to the Press Gazette for the image above from their slideshow of the event.