Illustrating Quentin Blake

Quentin Blake’s signature style of scrawled illustration has been well-loved by generations of children and he brought to life many of the characters which shaped our early childhood. His fifteen-year collaboration with legendary children’s author Roald Dahl gave us books such as The BFG, James and The Giant Peach and The Witches to name a few. The mention of Quentin Blake’s name will most-likely transport you back to carefree days before exams and internship applications; a time when your money was spent solely on sweets and Pokémon cards, instead of rent and groceries.

However, in his most recent body of work, currently being displayed at The Herbert Museum and Art Gallery, we see Blake’s illustration used to engage with an entirely different audience.  The exhibition, entitled Quentin Blake: As Large as Life, consists of over forty works, tackling a variety of subjects which differ from anything previously explored by the artist.

Blake trades in the pages of children’s novels for the spaces and cases of four hospitals and clinics in the UK and France. Although the environment in which the work is viewed is entirely different, their purpose remains the same; he delivers a world of escapism and the imaginary, yet at the same time in this exhibition manages to relay the very opposite: reality. Blake follows in a long tradition of artists who produce work for hospitals in order to improve to lives and experiences of patients and uses this idea extensively.

“I think the very presence of pictures helps to make being in, or visiting, a hospital a more normal, less alien experience.” – Roald Dahl

We see Blake put his illustrative stamp upon four individual healthcare institutions; a children’s hospital, a maternity hospital, an eating disorders clinic also for older patients with mental health issues. The pieces range from everyday market scenes, to circus tightrope walker finishing with, a series of ethereal depictions of mother and child. It is this diversity of the subjects approached in the work which is so very different to anything we have ever experienced from the illustrator; it is fresh and insightful seeing Blake’s iconic style being applied to fresh material.

A personal favourite of mine was a series of pieces commissioned for a French maternity hospital, a far cry from his usual subject matter. Blake depicts the serene connection between the mother and new born infant in beautiful fluidic line and splashes of watercolour.

The avid Blake fans need not fear, though! In keeping with the work Blake is renowned for we are introduced to the characters of Planet Zog, a colourful concoction of a children’s hospital where the medical professionals come in the form of multi-eyed, spiked backed aliens.

This exhibition demonstrates Blake’s skill for combining observation with humour, and devotion to the fantastical. It presents a light hearted approach towards tough subjects in his distinctive, quirky style. The achievement of this exhibition is that the work resonates with fond memories of illustrations in the storybooks from our childhood, while breaking down the narrow associations we tend to create surrounding artists we are familiar with, both in the works themselves and also their purpose as therapeutic tools.

Quentin Blake: As Large as Life is currently being exhibited at The Herbert Museum and Art Gallery, until 3 November 2013. Admission is FREE.