Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell answers the question ‘What do cartoons mean to you?’ at the recent Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival. He and former Conservative Education Secretary Kenneth Baker have co-curated the Thatcher retrospective exhibition Maggie! Maggie! Maggie! which opens to the public at the Cartoon Museum today.

The UK’s National Cartoon Museum is at 35 Little Russell Street, London WC1A 2HH.

SHREWSBURY UPDATE: Alex Lester, night-time DJ on BBC Radio 2, visited the cartoon festival this year, at the invitation of PCOer Clive Goddard. Here is Alex’s personal account.

Margaret Thatcher caricatured by Charles Griffin

It was 30 years ago today (May 4) that Margaret Thatcher walked through the doors of 10 Downing Street as Prime Minister, quoting the words of St. Francis of Assisi. Opinion is still sharply divided on whether or not she managed to bring harmony where there was discord, or hope where there was despair.

The two contrasting views on the Iron Lady will be represented in an exhibition which opens at the Cartoon Museum in London on Wednesday (May 6) entitled Maggie! Maggie! Maggie! Margaret Thatcher – Mother of the Nation or Monster from the Blue Lagoon.

The exhibition, which runs until July 26, is guest curated by two veterans of the ideological battles of the Thatcher years: Kenneth Baker, who served in the Thatcher cabinet from 1985 until 1990, and Steve Bell, political cartoonist for The Guardian who established his reputation as a fierce satirist during the Thatcher Years. No prizes for guessing which view each curator will be taking.

The exhibition aims to show how Thatcher has been both loved and loathed by politicians, the press and the public. The selection of nearly 100 cartoons by 35 cartoonists from across the political spectrum includes works by Bell himself, Michael Cummings, Stanley Franklin, Nicholas Garland, Les Gibbard, Charles Griffin, Jak, Peter Kennard, Gerald Scarfe, Posy Simmonds and Ralph Steadman.

It chronicles her rise to power, the Falklands war, the miners’ strike, privatisation, the poll tax, Europe, her eventual downfall and her long term impact on both the Conservative and Labour parties.

A fully illustrated 100-page catalogue will be available to accompany the show, it includes contributions by the two curators, along with such diverse types as Lord Carrington, Michael Foot, Geoffrey Howe, Ken Loach, David Owen, David Steel and Norman Tebbit.

The Cartoon Museum, at 35 Little Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London is open Tuesday-Saturday 10.30am to 5.30pm and Sundays 12pm to 5.30pm.

The BBC have a short preview piece available here.

And in the interests of balance, and because you probably can’t turn your computer monitor upside down …

PCOer John Jensen watches a conversation with Posy Simmonds and Steve Bell and finds them to be cartoon chalk and cheese

Posy Simmonds and Steve Bell, both satirists but so different from each other and both so good, were brought together at Kings Place, London; the Guardian’s new glass and glister home.

Posy Simmonds at work, with not a computer to be seen

On stage in front of a full house in a modern theatre there was some amiable bumbling about. Drawings were not easily found, one was left at home. Posy leaning down to scrape sketches and sketchbooks from the floor. It was all comfortingly, mythically English.

Informally chaired by the Guardian art critic William Feaver, the event brought forth snippets of interest: Steve, for example, claimed he can’t invent characters. He must caricature, and fortunately politicians just present themselves. How does he do it? He Googles a lot, takes photos at party conferences, and of anything of interest anywhere, and the whole lot is piped onto CDs: “I’ll show you my family snaps if you like.”

Posy does invent. Brilliantly, of course. No caricatures. She is meticulous and possesses the sharpest eye for detail and ear for dialogue of any living person. Posy is like one of the nurses she sometimes draws in her strips, smiling and saying, “This won’t hurt a bit”, as the needle slips in deep. Her patients awake stunned to find a whole landscape peopled with characters of the artist’s imagination but who remind us of everybody we have ever met and more than a few we would cross the road to avoid.

Excerpt from Tamara Drewe © Posy Simmonds

She uses no computer. Reference material is is stored in Posy’s retentive memory but, as back up, much is filed away. Posy treasures many clothing catalogues so that if shoes from, say, the 70s are wanted they can be found with a simple indoor search. (Just great if you have the space.)

A miniaturist in drawing production, Steve thrashes and whacks about in his same-size-as-printed space using a sharp pen as the bluntest of instruments. His strip “If …” is drawn in the morning and “the Big One”, his political cartoon, during the afternoon.

Guardian Comment cartoon © Steve Bell

He claimed that that day’s deadline [the event was last Monday, April 6] was 7.30pm and he started work on his big political only by 6.30pm. That was pushing it a bit and I suspect is not entirely typical. However, it may help explain the occasional uneven nature of his work. When inspiration flags (not often) it shows, but when (usually) he is on form you can hear the cries of pain all the way from Whitehall. Posy’s work is leisurely, lucky woman, and probably timeless.

Steve’s voice, unsurprisingly, is resonant – good timbre – particularly when giving a maniacal cackle at something which amuses him. Posy, is quiet even when speaking but is also crystal clear. She is slim, was dressed smartly in a black trouser suit, as cool as you please. Red shoes. I don’t remember the colour of Steve’s shoes but his belly is potting nicely,
thank you.

Two great talents together on top of their form on one fine evening. The Guardian’s Kings Place entrance currently sports an exhibition of Posy’s drawings and strips. Go!

Link: Posy Simmonds speaks about Tamara Drewe

Congratulations to Tom Young, our winner of a pair of tickets to see cartoonists Posy Simmonds and Steve Bell give a talk on Monday 6th April at Kings Place in London. Tom’s winning entry was;

Posy Simmonds excels at storytelling because…

…instead of choosing a tired dystopian theme for a graphic novel, she chose Thomas Hardy instead.

Simmonds’s last work was Tamara Drewe which is loosely based on Thomas Hardy’s novel Far From the Madding Crowd.

Bloghorn freebie: Spot on

Win a pair of tickets to an evening of cartoon, caricature and graphic satire with Posy Simmonds, Steve Bell and Bill Feaver at Kings Place in London.

All you have to do is impress Bloghorn by making the best addition to the following proposition in the comments underneath this post;

Posy Simmonds excels at storytelling because…

If you would rather not post publicly, you can email Bloghorn with your line – please put Posy Simmonds in the title line of your email.

Bloghorn will pick the lucky winner of the pair of tickets on Friday at noon.

Posy, Steve and Bill are talking on Monday 6th April, at 7pm at Hall One, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1 9AG. The nearest Tube station is Kings Cross and Kings Place is 5 minutes walk north on York Way close to Crinan Street.

Cut and paste the N1 9AG postcode into the search Google maps for the exact location.
Google Maps

Win or don’t quite win this time, tickets are also available online for £9.50 at Kings Place.

The nominations for the Press Gazette’s British Press Awards have been announced. The event takes place on Tuesday 31 March. There are seven people in the running for Cartoonist of the Year, and they are as follows:

Steve Bell, The Guardian
Dave Brown, The Independent
Michael Heath, The Mail on Sunday
Stan “Mac” McMurtry, Daily Mail
Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph
Chris Riddell, The Observer
Peter Schrank, The Independent on Sunday

The British Press Awards have been running for more than 30 years. This year’s ceremony is being held at the Grosvenor Hotel and will be hosted by Channel 4’s Jon Snow.

Bloghorn spotted this great work during this week ending the 20th February 2009.

One: Fran Orford in Private Eye on paying top whack

Two: Paul Thomas in the Express on job security

Three: and Steve Bell in the Guardian on that underwater bonk.

The PCO: Great British cartoon talent
Subscribe to The Foghorn – our print cartoon magazine

The reader’s editor at The Guardian news organisation writes in response to critical correspondence about some of cartoonist Steve Bell’s editorial cartoons.

Gordon Brown cartoon by Morten Morland

The Political Cartoon Gallery’s Tory Blues exhibition has now closed so, in the interests of balance, attention is turned to the Labour Party.
Browned Off! A cartoon exhibition on the first 18 months of Gordon Brown as Prime Minister, opens at the gallery on Wednesday (January 21) and runs until March 14.

The show will feature Britain’s top political cartoonists, such as Peter Brookes, Steve Bell, Dave Brown, Nicholas Garland and Christian Adams, and include PCOers Martin Rowson, Morten Morland, Andy Davey and Matt Buck.

Gordon Brown cartoon by Andy Davey

The Political Cartoon Gallery, at 32 Store Street, London, is open Monday to Friday 9.30am – 5.30pm and on Saturdays between 11.30am – 5.30pm.

The PCO: Great British cartoon talent
Subscribe to The Foghorn – our print cartoon magazine

Published here by The Guardian. Steve Bell will be appearing at the Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival in April 2009.