
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.
by Blog Team
Battle of the Cartoonists 2012: Bring it on!
September 24, 2012 in Comment, Events, News
Can London take any more excitement? First the Olympics, then the Paralympics, now the Pen-and-ink-ics! Andrew Birch, Private Eye cartoonist and Procartoonists.org member, writes:
Raphael's Death of Ananias @ Procartoonists.org
This Sunday (September 30) at 2pm, seven teams of Britain’s best cartoonists will gather in The Raphael Room at the Victoria and Albert Museum in The Battle of The Cartoonists.
Half an hour before the start of play, the teams – The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Sun, Private Eye (Hoorah!), Big Girls Drawers, Reader’s Digest and Procartoonists.org – will each be allotted one of Raphael’s seven massive cartoons hanging on the walls to inspire them, and will draw something connected with it (or maybe not) on a great big banner.
Two and a half hours later, the completed (or maybe not) banners will be shown to the assembled throng, and the winner will be the one that gets the most applause.
Light-hearted stuff, you say? Think again! Previous years have seen skullduggery, blatant cheating, tantrums, verbal and physical assaults, kidnapping and arson as passions run high and the ink runs like blood.
Contestant (possibly)
Members of the Royal family, top politicians, celebrities and foreign dignitaries are all people who might well be there – so make sure you arrive early!
Editor adds: Our thanks to Andrew for writing the above.
Event site: The Raphael Room at the Victoria and Albert Museum – The Battle of The Cartoonists.
Organisers and friends of Procartoonists.org: The Campaign for Drawing
Reading: What WAS a cartoon
Tags: 2012, Battle of the Cartoonists, Big Draw Big Make, cartoons, Procartoonists.org, Raphael, The Big Draw, V&A, Victoria and Albert 7 Comments »