The Chris Beetles Gallery’s annual illustrators show opens in London this weekend (November 14 and 15).
More than 1,000 original pieces of original artwork, from 1800 to present day, will be on display in The Illustrators 2009. Many of the artists included in the selling exhibition are household names, from Arthur Rackham to John Tenniel to E.H. Shepard to Quentin Blake.
The exhibition includes many cartoonists, such as John Jensen, (Old Flame, 1954, from Lilliput magazine, above) Matt Pritchett, Peter Brookes, H.M. Bateman, Rowland Emett, Giles and Gerard Hoffnung.
A major addition to the roster this year is the work of caricaturist Robert Sherriffs whose stylish line work, seen in the above cartoon of Clark Gable, was commissioned by Punch to bring the excitement of Hollywood film to readers during the 1950s. The exhibition also includes a new selection from the estate of Norman Thelwell.
The gallery is hoping for a big success with the exhibition in the run-up to Christmas, pointing out that this is an accessible and affordable sector of the art market, as more than 80 per cent of the pictures on sale cost less than £2,000.
Accompanying the exhibition will be a catalogue with 200 pages of essays and notes, and more than 400 full-colour images. It will be available from the gallery for £15 plus £3 postage.
The Chris Beetles Gallery, at 8 and 10 Ryder Street, St James’s, London (nearest Tube Green Park or Piccadilly Circus) is open Monday to Saturday, 10am – 5.30pm. The gallery’s website can be found at www.chrisbeetles.com