LONDON.- Sir Quentin Blake is an artist and illustrator who needs little introduction. As adults, countless millions of us grew up with Blake’s work, while current and future generations around the world will continue to do so.
At 86-years of age he is showing no signs of slowing down. This August he embarks on a mammoth project, a series of 20 large format books of drawings published over a year, entitled The QB Papers.
Quentin says “In recent years I have found myself working increasingly in sequences of drawings that explore subjects and techniques which interest me. These sequences are the origin of ‘The QB Papers’; they vary in approach and tone, and between reality and fantasy. But I hope that in each of them in its own way will appeal to anyone who likes looking at drawing.”
The first five of the 24cm x 30.5cm books are being published on 8 August 2019, with five more titles each in November 2019, February 2020 and May 2020. They are being distributed by Thames & Hudson, and cost £16.95 each.
The works featured in the 20 hand sewn paperbacks were all drawn in the six months beginning September 2018.
Quentin explains where the idea for The QB Papers came from, “I exhibit regularly at what used to be called the Jerwood Gallery and is now Hastings Contemporary. These exhibitions each have a theme; one, of fantasy headgear, became a book called ‘The World of Hats’. In due course I found myself producing thematic sequences of drawings too fast for them all to be exhibited, and so I decided to have them made into a set of publications, ‘The QB Papers’. The styles, although no doubt still identifiably mine, I have tried to vary.”
Published in August 2019
Deliveries from Elsewhere
“Elsewhere must be some kind of fantasy world, which gives me the opportunity to draw bearded men on the kind of eccentric many-wheeled vehicles that I enjoy drawing to invent. The items being delivered are everyday ones that you might send for from Ikea or Amazon – although slightly changed. ‘The Deliveries from Elsewhere’ drawings are relatively elaborate; I hope there may be a hint of Elsewhere Gothic.”
Feet in the Water
“My interest in this came originally from doing it myself, whether in Hastings or on the Atlantic Coast of France. But I also like drawing those surroundings and the reflections in the water. The drawings for ‘Feet in the Water’ are quite naturalistic - I think we all want to have the pleasure of seeing the reflections in the water, and share in the experience.”
The Alternative Sports Olympics
“I’ve never been any good at sport. I just liked the idea of adapting Olympic events to everyday life – so if you’re throwing something, it’s the luggage.”
The Mouse on a Tricycle
“Heaven knows how I thought of a mouse on a tricycle!? It’s just there in one of my notebooks somewhere. Of course, the point is not it, but the range of reactions of the onlookers.”
The New Dress
“I had an idea about doing some drawing of costume, called ‘Modest Attire’, and then somehow it divided itself into two. One is this – improvised costumes of material of no importance or perhaps even cardboard. A good opportunity for inventing variations on a theme.”
