Quentin Blake

Sir
Quentin Blake
CH CBE FRSL FCSD RDI
Born
Quentin Saxby Blake

(1932-12-16) 16 December 1932 (age 93)
Sidcup, Kent, England
Education
Known forIllustration
Awards

Sir Quentin Saxby Blake (born 16 December 1932) is an English cartoonist, caricaturist, illustrator and children's writer. He has illustrated over 300 books, including 18 written by Roald Dahl, which are among his most popular works. For his lasting contribution as a children's illustrator, Blake won the biennial international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2002, the highest recognition available to creators of children's books. From 1999 to 2001, he was the inaugural British Children's Laureate. Blake is a patron of the Association of Illustrators.

Early life

Blake was born on 16 December 1932 in Sidcup, Kent, son of William Blake and Maud Evelyn (Legerton) Blake. His father was a civil servant, and his mother a housewife. Blake was evacuated to the West Country during the Second World War.

Blake attended Holy Trinity Lamorbey Church of England Primary School and Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School, where his English teacher, J. H. Walsh, influenced his life's work. Blake's artistic development during his school years was also helped by contact with the painter and cartoonist Alfred Jackson, the husband of Blake's Latin teacher, who encouraged his first submissions to Punch, resulting in his first publication at the age of 16.[citation needed] In the sixth form, the school's art teacher, the painter Stanley Simmonds, recognized Blake's talents and provided support and exposure to the work of other artists.

From 1953 to 1956, Blake read English Literature at Downing College, Cambridge, under F. R. Leavis.[citation needed] He has since denied that studying at the University of Cambridge contributed to his artistic or creative talent. Blake received his postgraduate teaching diploma from the University of London Institute of Education. Later,[when?] Blake studied part-time at the Chelsea School of Art and subsequently Camberwell College of Art.

Career

Teaching

During the 1960s, Blake taught English at the Lycée Français de Londres which cemented his long association with France and culminated in the award of the Legion of Honour.[citation needed]

Blake taught[when?] at the Royal College of Art for over 20 years.[citation needed] From 1978 to 1986, he was head of the Illustration department.[citation needed]

Illustration

The first book Blake illustrated was The Wonderful Button by Evan Hunter, published by Abelard-Schuman in 1961. He illustrated the first Dr. Seuss book that Seuss did not illustrate himself, Great Day for Up! (1974), as well as other Dr. Seuss books.[citation needed]

As his career progressed, Blake gained a reputation as a loyal, reliable and humorous illustrator of children's books.[citation needed] By 2006, he had illustrated 323 books, of which he had written 35 and Roald Dahl had written 18. He has also illustrated for books by Joan Aiken, Elizabeth Bowen, Sylvia Plath, Nils-Olof Franzén, William Steig, and two of David Walliams' books.[citation needed] He has illustrated Folio Society Limited Editions such as Don Quixote, Candide and 50 Fables of La Fontaine.[citation needed]

In the 1970s, Blake was an occasional presenter of the BBC children's storytelling programme Jackanory, when he would illustrate the stories on a canvas as he was telling them. In the 1980s, Blake was the artist behind the comic strip Waldo and Wanda, written by John Yeoman.

In 1993, Blake designed the five British Christmas issue postage stamps featuring episodes from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.[citation needed]

Besides children's books, Blake is also the designer of Ben, the logo of the shop chain Ben's Cookies. He designed several illustrations for the story time segments for the Scottish TV series Squeak!.

In 2023, Blake was asked by Blue Peter to design a new Blue Peter badge which they have called their Book badge.[citation needed]

In 2026, Blake was featured in a Southbank Centre exhibition, Quentin Blake: The Southbank Parade, featuring illustrations indoors, and a procession of Blake's characters outside the Royal Festival Hall.

Community and Charitable work

Blake is a member of the Chelsea Arts Club. He is patron of the Blake Society, Downing College's arts and humanities society. Blake is also a patron of "The Big Draw", which aims to get people drawing throughout the United Kingdom, and of The Nightingale Project, a charity that provides art to hospitals. Since 2006, Blake has produced work for several hospitals and mental health centres in the London area, a children's hospital (Hopital Armand Trousseau) in Paris, and a maternity hospital in Angers, France. These projects are detailed in Blake's 2012 book Quentin Blake: Beyond the Page, which describes how, in his seventies, his work has increasingly appeared outside the pages of books, in public places such as hospitals, theatre foyers, galleries and museums. In 2007, Blake designed a huge mural on fabric, suspended over and thus disguising a ramshackle building immediately opposite an entrance to St Pancras railway station. The rendering of an "imaginary welcoming committee" greets passengers arriving on the Eurostar high-speed railway.

Blake is a supporter of and ambassador for the indigenous rights NGO Survival International. In 2009, he said, "For me, Survival is important for two reasons; one is that I think it's right that we should give help and support to people who are threatened by the rapacious industrial society we have created; and the other that, more generally, it gives an important signal about how we all ought to be looking after the world. Its message is the most fundamental of any charity I'm connected with."

The Enormous Crocodile, Cardiff, designed in a Quentin Blake-esque style to honour his work on the book of the same name

Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration

Blake is the Founding Trustee of House of Illustration, a centre in London for exhibitions, educational events and activities related to the art of illustration. He was also the subject of the first exhibition at this venue, entitled Inside Stories", which opened in July 2014. In August 2020, it was announced that the centre will be relocating to the 18th-century Engine House at New River Head in the Clerkenwell area of London and will be renamed the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration. The centre houses two spaces for temporary exhibitions, and one space showcasing Blake's archive. There is also a library, café, shop, creative studio, project space and public gardens. The inaugural exhibition was MURUGIAH: Ever Feel Like..., a solo exhibition of British-Sri Lankan artist MURUGIAH. Part of the centres work is working with local community partners, including a refugee and asylum-seeker centre, a housing centre for vulnerable women, a mental-health unit and the Peel Institute's older adult's group. They also have an access advisory panel. For children, they have a schools programme and provide online resources about illustration.

Honours and awards

Blake has received many honours and awards for his work, including:

Personal life

Blake has never married and has no children. He lives in South Kensington, West London.

Selected works

The following books were both written and illustrated by Blake:

Blake has illustrated at least 17 books by Roald Dahl.

He also illustrated the British edition of Agaton Sax, a Swedish-language series of comedy detective novels by Nils-Olof Franzén (originally illustrated by Åke Lewerth, 1955 to 1978).

Other

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 WorldCat reports the twenty works by Blake that are most widely held by participating libraries. They are seventeen books written by Roald Dahl, Great Day for Up! by Dr. Seuss (rank 5), Michael Rosen's Sad Book (rank 14), and Wizzil by William Steig (rank 18).
  2. 1 2 3 4 Today there are usually eight books on the Greenaway Medal shortlist. According to CCSU, some runners-up through 2002 were Commended (from 1959) or Highly Commended (from 1974). There were 99 commendations of both kinds in 44 years including two for 1979 (Blake highly commended) and two for 1995 (one highly).

References

  1. 1 2 (Hans Christian Andersen Awards 2002). International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY).
      "Hans Christian Andersen Awards". IBBY. Retrieved 2013-07-23.
  2. 1 2 "Quentin Blake" (pp. 108–09, by Eva Glistrup).
    The Hans Christian Andersen Awards, 1956–2002. IBBY. Gyldendal. 2002. Hosted by Austrian Literature Online (literature.at). Retrieved 2013-07-23.
  3. 1 2 "Quentin Blake" Archived 24 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Children's Laureate (childrenslaureate.org.uk). Booktrust. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
  4. ↑ "The Association of Illustrators". Archived from the original on 12 July 2016.
  5. ↑ People of Today, Debrett's Peerage Ltd, 2006, p. 152
  6. ↑ Contemporary Authors, ed. Scot Peacock, Cengage Gale, 2002, p. 72
  7. ↑ Blake, Quentin (18 December 2021). "Quentin Blake: 'Roald Dahl was a very different sort of person from me'". The Telegraph.
  8. ↑ "Questions and Answers | Quentin Blake". quentinblake.com. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  9. ↑ Kenyon, Ghislane (2016). Quentin Blake: In the Theatre of the Imagination: An Artist at Work. London: Bloomsbury. p. 68. ISBN 978-1441130075.
  10. ↑ "Interview:Quentin Blake". The Cambridge Student. 6 November 2013.
  11. ↑ The International Who's Who, 1996-97, Gale Group, Europa Publications, p. 162
  12. ↑ "The wonderful button"[link removed] (first edition). Library of Congress Catalog Record. Retrieved 2012-08-27.
  13. ↑ Dr. Seuss (1974). Great Day for Up!. Beginner Books. OCLC 902800.
  14. 1 2 "Bibliography: A complete searchable bibliography of books illustrated or authored and illustrated by Quentin Blake" Archived 16 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Quentin Blake : Books : Bibliography (quentinblake.com). Archived 16 January 2012 (without search function). Retrieved 2013-09-28.
  15. 1 2 "Quentin Blake". lambiek.net. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  16. ↑ "Quentin Blake: The Southbank Parade - Tue 8 Sep – Sun 8 Nov 2026".
  17. ↑ "Chelsea Arts Club secretary signs off with 'lunatic' plea". London Evening Standard. 17 January 2013. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  18. ↑ The Campaign for Drawing. thebigdraw.org.uk.
  19. ↑ "The Nightingale Project". The Nightingale Project. Archived from the original on 14 May 2008. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
  20. ↑ "Quentin Blake – Home". Quentin Blake. 18 October 2011. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
  21. ↑ Quentin Blake: Beyond the Page, 2012, Tate Publishing.
  22. ↑ "Cover-up! Quentin Blake drafted in to hide 'unsightly' buildings" Archived 23 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Richard Osley. The Independent. 21 October 2007.
  23. ↑ "2010 Annual Report". Survival International.
  24. ↑ "The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration". House of Illustration. Archived from the original on 17 January 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  25. ↑ French, Anneka (Spring 2026). "A home for making pictures". Art Quarterly: 6–7.
  26. 1 2 (Greenaway Winner 1980) Archived 6 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  27. ↑ "70 Years Celebration: Anniversary Top Tens" Archived 27 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine. The CILIP Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Children's Book Awards. CILIP. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  28. 1 2 "Kate Greenaway Medal" Archived 16 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine. 2007(?). Curriculum Lab. Elihu Burritt Library. Central Connecticut State University (CCSU). Retrieved 26 June 2012.
  29. ↑ "Prof Sir Quentin Blake CBE RDI (2001), Royal Academy of Arts, London".
  30. ↑ Quentin Blake – website of Gallimard Jeunesse.
  31. ↑ Williams, Charlotte (16 November 2012), "Blake wins Eleanor Farjeon Award", The Bookseller. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  32. ↑ "Quentin Blake knighted in Queen's New Year honours". BBC News. 29 December 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  33. ↑ "Blake, Sir Quentin". Royal Society of Literature. 1 September 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2025.[permanent dead link]
  34. ↑ "Sir Quentin Blake awarded Legion d'Honneur – United Agents". Archived from the original on 2 July 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  35. ↑ "No. 63714". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 June 2022. p. B6.
  36. ↑ "Quentin Blake: 'I never wanted children. But I do invent them.'". www.telegraph.co.uk. 5 November 2012. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  37. ↑ Standard, Kate Church, Evening (13 April 2012). "My London: Quentin Blake". Evening Standard. Retrieved 30 April 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  38. ↑ "Quentin Blake: 'Spend time with children? Good God, no' | Children and teenagers | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. 29 February 2020. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  39. ↑ "Books by Quentin Blake" Archived 24 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine (incomplete; no list). Quentin Blake.
  40. ↑ "Kurt Maschler Awards" Archived 19 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Book Awards. bizland.com. Retrieved 16 July 2012.