It's Alive!

Illustrations for books form a specialist art genre of their own and are growing in popularity among collectors. The opportunity to own an original illustration is enticing for several reasons: it represents favourite books or characters especially from childhood; it brings a story to life; it's a work of art in its own right; and it's for investment reasons. The Alive! exhibition at the Myles Meehan Gallery, Darlington showcases important illustrators some of whose images are instantly recognisable as well as including many unseen illustrations that were unpublished.

The role of the book illustrator is to interpret the story and depict it in a visually appealing way. In children's books these pictures are often whimsical depictions of people and anthropomorphised animals sometimes in comical situations. For example, I laughed out loud at Emma Chichester Clark's Croc - a cute, harmless bright green crocodile wearing a pink scarf - opening gifts on Christmas Day in "Presents"; or sitting on chair in an outdoor cafe enjoying a nice cold drink with her friend Melrose in "Cafe Scene".

Both adults and children will be familiar with the work on Quentin Blake; of his works featured here, I particularly liked "Reader with Parrot" rendered in his well-known pen and ink style with watercolour. The simple, quickly drawn lines portray the humour and absurdity of a purple parrot perched on top of the head of an elderly man sitting reading in a chair. This picture is part of a series Blake has produced featuring birds doing human tasks in "The Life of Birds".

Ronald Searle also switches between illustrating for adults and children and I didn't know he had produced illustrations for Jeffrey Archer's short stories in "Cat O'Nine Tales". The story of "The Commissioner" is illustrated with a portrait of the Bombay Chief of Police as a rotund looking man: dressed in a grubby cream military uniform bursting at the seams; with an elaborate upturned moustache; a gun holster is hooked around his neck, and he is using a large white hanky to mop his head.

Coming to exhibitions such as this is enjoyable as I'm often introduced to artists whose work I want to see more of. One is Oliver Jeffers for his simple but humorous illustrations with complicated titles such as "He Thought He Might Lasso The Star With The Life Belt" and the book eating boy in "He Was Going Through Them At A Fierce Rate".

Another is Paul Cox, whose work I'm going to nominate as my exhibition favourite for his picture in Durrell's "My Family and other Animals" entitled "Don'ts says anythings to anyones". This shows Spiro and Gerald driving, in an open top car, back from town where they'd been to buy some goldfish. It's a large dramatic picture fizzing with personality and energy allowing the characters to live beyond the pages of the book.

The Alive! Contemporary British Illustration exhibition continues at the Myles Meehan Gallery in the Arts Centre, Darlington until 13th November 2010. The works have been selected and supplied by Chris Beetles Gallery, London.

Love Your Art,
Vicky