LONDON, ENGLAND.-Dulwich Picture Gallery presents Beatrix Potter, Artist & Illustrator, on view through January 22, 2006. Beatrix Potter, Artist & Illustrator, is the latest of the Gallery’s popular Christmas exhibitions celebrating the work of well-known illustrators. Peter Rabbit, probably her most famous character, may be universally known, but many of her most original works were neither reproduced nor exhibited in her lifetime, and her international fame rests on only a small part of her output. This exhibition offers a broad survey of her art in all its variety: early sketches, unfinished and first drafts of her illustrations, designs and finished watercolours, together with early editions of the Peter Rabbit books – or the Little White Books as they were called.

Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) was born into a prosperous and artistic family living in South Kensington. Through constant practice, striving and experiment, she rose to a high level of competence in her drawing. The inspiration that she found during holiday escapes from London, especially to Scotland or the Lake District, is reflected both in her distinguished achievement as an illustrator of natural history and in the Little Books that began almost by accident. A modest woman, she never sought popularity through her art, but her books inspire a love of rural England. As a farmer and a pioneering conservationist, Beatrix Potter worked to preserve the landscape settings of her tales.

The pictures are being lent from both national and international sources. Private loans have made it possible to include less familiar materials, some never before exhibited.

The curator of the exhibition, and author of the full-colour catalogue, produced by Beatrix Potter’s publishers, Frederick Warne, is Anne Stevenson Hobbs, formerly Frederick Warne Curator of Children’s Literature at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Exhibition supported by Harvey & Wheeler. Open: Tuesday-Friday 10am-5pm; weekends & Bank Holiday Mondays 11am-5pm. Entry to the Gallery and exhibition: £7 adults; £6 seniors; £3 other concessions; children free.