Cartoons kick over the statues at V&A
October 19, 2011 in Events
After much media hoopla, Private Eye: The First 50 Years opened at the Victoria & Albert museum in South Kensington, London, yesterday. The exhibition will run until January 8.
The free exhibition explores the wealth of artistic talent that the magazine has showcased since 1961 and features original artwork for some of the funniest Private Eye cartoons.
Cartoonist Nathan Ariss attended the private view. He writes:
“According to one insider it was ‘the most fun’ the reverent halls had witnessed in decades. Yes, the PE PV at the V&A was AOK, and deemed a rather fine night indeed.
“A [insert collective noun here] of cartoonists were interspersed with some serious marble statues and seriously well-off people and then somewhat embarrassed by a warm and gracious speech from the Editor, [Is this guy after an OBN? – Ed], Ian Hislop, who paid full tribute to the importance that cartoons have played in the magazine’s success.
“I imagine the exhibition will be equally as enjoyable as all the sparkling repartee and champagne on the night itself, but I’m afraid I became somewhat tired and emoticon as the night wore on. Thankfully the exhibition is still on until the new year.”
National Association of Builders Convention by Ken Pyne
Many cartoonists started their careers at the magazine, and they can be seen in this show, including Gerald Scarfe, Ralph Steadman, Willie Rushton, Barry Fantoni, Nick Newman and Michael Heath
There are lots of cartoons in the show by members of the PCO, which runs the Bloghorn, such as Andrew Birch, Wilbur Dawbarn, Neil Dishington, Pete Dredge, Len Hawkins, Martin Honeysett, Tony Husband, Ed McLachlan, Alexander Matthews, Ken Pyne, above, Royston Robertson, Mike Turner, and the PCO patron Bill Tidy.
The cartoons are in themed sections, on politics, royalty and social observation. There are single-panel cartoons, long-running strips and caricatures.
Hislop has chosen 50 of the best front covers, one from every year the magazine has been published. The exhibition also evokes the atmosphere of the magazine’s Soho office, with a recreation of the Editor’s desk, right, and a messy production table.
Here’s a round-up of some of the many Private Eye: The First 50 Years features you can currently see on the net:
A behind the scenes look at the production of the Eye, including a video of how a Ken Pyne cartoon progresses from idea to page, can be seen on the V&A site.
The Private Eye blog has a piece on putting the exhibition together.
Fifty years of Private Eye as seen by The Wall Street Journal …
… and by Creative Review.
Ian Hislop takes the BBC’s Will Gompertz on a tour of the exhibition. The site also has political leaders and pundits giving their views of Private Eye
And finally, to coincide with the 50th celebrations, the Chris Beetles Gallery has an online exhibition selling artwork by Private Eye cartoonists.
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by Andrew Birch
Postcards from Malaga
May 29, 2012 in Comment, General
© Andrew Birch @procartoonists.org
Andrew Birch writes:
This is my first blog about being a British cartoonist living abroad, in Malaga, Southern Spain. My first blog ever, in fact. Matt Buck suggested the title. This has a pleasing symmetry, as I started working for the Spanish press with a series called Postales de Malaga – Postcards from Malaga – in which a naive and rather foolish Englishman (me) writes a series of cards to his doting mother in England, telling her of his adopted city, and misunderstanding everything.
I got the job in a typically Spanish way, being invited to a bar by a writer friend “to meet some journalists who are starting a new paper.” I went along, got drunk with some friendly new people, and at the end of the evening the editor asked me to be a contributor. This was presumably based on my boozing ability, as he hadn’t even seen my work. When I realised that he wanted a daily cartoon I was panic-stricken, but jumped in at the deep end. It was, surprisingly, a great success. All the doors closed to me as no more than a long-staying tourist opened, and I was accepted as an honorary Malagueño. When I eventually ran out of ideas, I changed the strip into a political one, commenting on local and national (Spanish) news. It ran for five years, until I was sacked for not heeding several warnings to lay off the Mayor.
Here’s the first cartoon published. I’m dressed as a horse-rider at the yearly fair – almost as incongruous as walking through the city centre as a bull-fighter. I’m immediately spotted as a “guiri” – a North European, usually British or German.
In traslation the card says: “Dear Mum, I’ve arrived safely in Malaga. I’m wearing typical Andalucian clothes, to fit in with the locals. Love, Andrew.”
Ed says: In the spirit of the present European unity, Andrew’s postcards will be winging their way to the blog on a regular basis henceforth.
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