Twenty years of MAGIC PENCIL. Children’s Book Illustration
The Magic Pencil is a British Council exhibition of illustrations which first toured Delhi in 2004. Twenty years later, we are revisiting a selection of the exhibition that shows how illustrators of the time reflected contemporary concerns with equal force and originality. Showcasing thirteen illustrators, the exhibition was originally curated by Quentin Blake, the distinguished children’s author and illustrator and the first incumbent of the post Children’s Laureate.
Open to all
About the exhibition
Many of the artists included in the show are so familiar as to be almost household names. Quentin Blake himself, Raymond Briggs, Tony Ross, John Burningham and Michael Foreman. Others represent newer and varied ways of approaching book illustration, such as the use of integrated TV and photographic collages by Lauren Child, the innovative layouts of Sara Fanelli using experimental type, handlettering and collage, and the sly but immaculate work of Posy Simmonds which marries formidable powers of social observation with cunning text.
This exhibition represents a selection of illustrations taken from Magic Pencil exhibition, reproduced here in facsimile format.