QUENTIN BLAKE, CBE (BORN 1932)


OPEN THE DOOR!	READING TIME	MARKING HER PLACE

CATCH OF THE DAY	JAMES AND THE GIANT GREEN GRASSHOPPER	READING

STUDYING	HAVING A REST	THE MEAD BEARER

DECKING THE HALL	READERS YOUNG AND OLD	MOTHER AND CHILD

BOOKS ARE DELICIOUS	UPLIFTING ARTWORK	TAKING EXERCISE

SINBAD IN SHOCK	SKATEBOARDERS	HOT SWEETS

WAVING THE BRITISH FLAG	A PERFECT CHOICE III	JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT

ARABEL AND MORTIMER ADMIRE THE JEWELS	SOPHIE	CLIMBING THE BOOK BEAST

CLOWN AND THE TRUNCHBULL	REPTILIAN	LOOKING OUT TO SEA

THE ENGLISH PICNIC	THE READER	THE GARDENER'S BIRDS

IN THE GENTS	"COME UP HERE!" THE TRUNCHBULL SHOUTED.	ON THE ROOF

KEEPING WATCH	FIVE MILLIONTH BRITON CELEBRATION	'SO SON, WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?'

AT THE SALES	FRUIT AND VEG	LUNCH II

THE [ROALD DAHL] DIARY 1998, COVER	DIGNIFIED BIRD	OPERATION PING

WINE, OYSTERS, ARTIST	ASLEEP BY MOONLIGHT	MRS JONES CARRYING ON ALARMING

THE TRAPEZE ARTIST AND THE SHOE	TURKEYS	A TEATIME VISITOR

LISTENING IN	THE PAN BOOKSHOP	RUMBURY PIRATE RADIO

THE PARROT'S NEW WAISTCOAT	JACQUES IS A RESILIENT FELLOW	KLUTZ

SWINGING FROM THE TREES	A TOAST	MEETING MIDNIGHT

HARD WORK	THE PERFECT CHOICE II	BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

HEAVY LOAD	CHEERS!	AT THE BEACH

WALKIES!	FOOD AND WINE	ROBOTIC CREATURE

STOPPED IN THEIR TRACKS	HIS LITTLE FRIENDS	HOP ON!

GLANCING BACK	TAKING A BITE

QUENTIN BLAKE, CBE (BORN 1932)

The first Children’s Laureate, Quentin Blake is undoubtedly the most popular of contemporary illustrators, a favourite with adults and children alike. He was born in Sidcup, Kent on 16 December 1932, and was first educated at the local Church of England primary school. While a pupil of Chiselhurst & Sidcup Grammar School, he published his first drawings in Punch. During two years of National Service he taught English in the Royal Army Educational Corps at Aldershot and illustrated a book for teaching illiterate soldiers to read. Then at Cambridge University he read English, a discipline that developed his sympathy for literature and helped him to understand that his own artistic talents were ideally suited to illustration.

He subsequently attended life classes at Chelsea College of Art, while beginning to illustrate for the Spectator. It was suggested that Blake work on a children’s book, and he asked John Yeoman to provide the text; the result was A Drink of Water and Other Stories (1960), which instigated a collaboration lasting many years. During that time, Blake’s inimitable style, founded upon a rapid ink line and watercolour washes, has enlivened the work of many authors including Joan Aiken, Michael Rosen and especially Roald Dahl, and has provided a starting point for his own stories. A prolific artist, he is popular with readers and illustrators alike. Among his prizes are the Kate Greenaway Medal (for Mr Magnolia), the Kurt Maschler Award (for All Join In) and the international Bologna Ragazzi Prize (for Clown).

Blake became a tutor in illustration at the Royal College of Art in 1965, at the invitation of the painter and illustrator Brian Robb, whom he had known at Chelsea. Following Robb’s retirement thirteen years later, Blake became head of the department and continued in the post until 1986, when he gradually abandoned teaching to spend more time on illustration. In 1981 he was elected Royal Designer to Industry. In 1988 he was awarded the OBE and made a visiting professor and senior fellow of the RCA.

Since Quentin Blake was appointed the first Children’s Laureate between 1999 and 2001, he has gone from strength to strength. He has been appointed Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2002, Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2007, and CBE in 2005, and has been awarded numerous honorary doctorates and fellowships as well as prizes for his books. Not only has he mounted exhibitions of his own work, but has also curated exhibitions of the work of others.

For the past three to four years, Quentin Blake has been involved in the development of The Museum of Illustration – a centre for illustrators and an exhibition space for past and present illustration from around the world. The museum will house Quentin Blake’s archive of several thousand original drawings and looks likely to find its home in the Kings Cross development in London.

He lives in London, Hastings and South West France.

QUENTIN BLAKE, CBE (BORN 1932)

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