Quentin Blake | |
|---|---|
| Born | Quentin Saxby Blake (1932-12-16)16 December 1932 (age 93) |
| Education | |
| Known for | Illustration |
| Awards | Kate Greenaway Medal 1980 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration 2002 |
Sir Quentin Saxby Blake (born 16 December 1932) is an English cartoonist,caricaturist, illustrator andchildren's writer. He has illustrated over 300 books, including 18 written byRoald Dahl, which are among his most popular works.[a] For his lasting contribution as a children's illustrator, Blake won the biennial internationalHans Christian Andersen Award in 2002, the highest recognition available to creators of children's books.[1][2] From 1999 to 2001, he was the inaugural BritishChildren's Laureate.[3] Blake is a patron of theAssociation of Illustrators.[4]
Blake was born on 16 December 1932 inSidcup,Kent, son of William and Evelyn Blake. His father was a civil servant, and his mother a housewife.[5][6][7] Blake wasevacuated to the West Country during theSecond World War. He attended Holy TrinityLamorbey Church of England Primary School andChislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School, where his English teacher, J. H. Walsh, influenced his life's work.[8]
Blake’s artistic development during his school years was helped by contact with the painter and cartoonist Alfred Jackson, the husband of Blake's Latin teacher, who encouraged his first submissions toPunch, resulting in his first publication at the age of 16. In the sixth form, the school's art teacher, the painterStanley Simmonds, recognized Blake's talents and provided support and exposure to the work of other artists.[9]
Blake read English Literature atDowning College, Cambridge, underF. R. Leavis, from 1953 to 1956, received his postgraduate teaching diploma from the University of LondonInstitute of Education, and later studied part-time at theChelsea School of Art and laterCamberwell College of Art.[10] He has since denied that studying at the University of Cambridge contributed to his artistic or creative talent.[11]
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During the 1960s, Blake taught English at theLycée Français de Londres which cemented his long association with France and culminated in the award of theLegion of Honour. He taught at theRoyal College of Art for over 20 years, where he was head of the Illustration department from 1978 to 1986.
The first book Blake illustrated wasThe Wonderful Button byEvan Hunter, published by Abelard-Schuman in 1961.[12] In his subsequent career, Blake gained a reputation as a loyal, reliable and humorous illustrator of more than 300children's books, including some written byJoan Aiken,Elizabeth Bowen,Sylvia Plath,Roald Dahl,Nils-Olof Franzén,William Steig, andDr. Seuss. He illustrated the first Seuss book that Seuss did not illustrate himself,Great Day for Up! (1974).[13]
By 2006, Blake had illustrated 323 books, of which he had written 35 and Dahl had written 18.[14][a] To date, Blake has illustrated two ofDavid Walliams' books and has illustratedFolio Society Limited Editions such asDon Quixote,Candide and50 Fables ofLa Fontaine.
In the 1970s, Blake was an occasional presenter of theBBC children's storytelling programmeJackanory, when he would illustrate the stories on a canvas as he was telling them. In the 1980s, Blake was the artist behind the comic stripWaldo and Wanda, written by John Yeoman.[15] In 1993, Blake designed the five BritishChristmas issue postage stamps featuring episodes fromA Christmas Carol byCharles Dickens.
Blake is a member of theChelsea Arts Club.[16] He is patron of the Blake Society,Downing College's arts and humanities society. Blake is also a patron of "TheBig Draw",[17] which aims to get people drawing throughout the United Kingdom, and of The Nightingale Project, a charity that provides art to hospitals.[18] Since 2006, he 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.[19] These projects are detailed in Blake's 2012 bookQuentin 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.[20] In 2007, Blake designed a huge mural on fabric, suspended over and thus disguising a ramshackle building immediately opposite an entrance toSt Pancras railway station. The rendering of an "imaginary welcoming committee" greets passengers arriving on theEurostar high-speed railway.[21]
Blake is a supporter of and ambassador for the indigenous rights NGOSurvival 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."[22]
Blake is the Founding Trustee ofHouse 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 atNew River Head in theClerkenwell area of London and will be renamed theQuentin Blake Centre for Illustration.[23]
Besides children's books, Blake is also the designer of Ben, the logo of the shop chainBen's Cookies.[15] He designed several illustrations for the story time segments for the Scottish TV seriesSqueak!.
In 2023, Blake was asked byBlue Peter to design a newBlue Peter badge which they have called their Book badge.
Blake has never married and has no children.[24] He lives inSouth Kensington,West London.[25][26]
The following books were both written and illustrated by Blake:[14][27]
Blake has illustrated a score of books by Roald Dahl.[a]
He also illustrated the British edition ofAgaton Sax, aSwedish-language series of comedy detective novels byNils-Olof Franzén (originally illustrated by Åke Lewerth, 1955 to 1978).
Blake was the inaugural BritishChildren's Laureate (1999–2001)[3] and was elected as an Honorary Fellow of theRoyal Academy of Arts in 2001.[31] He received the biennialHans Christian Andersen Award from theInternational Board on Books for Young People for his career contribution to children's literature in 2002.[1][2] He was appointedCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the2005 New Year Honours for his services to children's literature. In France, he was made a Knight of theOrdre des Arts et des Lettres in 2002 and elevated to Officer in 2007.[32]
ForMister Magnolia, which he also wrote, Blake won the 1980Kate Greenaway Medal from theLibrary Association, recognising the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject.[28] For the 50th anniversary of the Medal (1955–2005), a panel of experts named it one of the top ten winning works, which composed the ballot for a public election of the nation's favourite.[33] He was also a highly commended Greenaway runner-up[b] forThe Wild Washerwomen: A new folk tale, by John Yeoman (1979), and a commended runner-up[b] forClown (1995), which he wrote himself.[30] He made the Greenaway shortlist[b] forZagazoo (1998), which he wrote, and forSad Book (2004) byMichael Rosen.
Blake won theKurt Maschler Award, or the Emil, forAll Join In (Jonathan Cape, 1990), which he wrote and illustrated. The award from Maschler Publications andBooktrust annually recognised one British "work of imagination for children, in which text and illustration are integrated so that each enhances and balances the other."[29]
Blake was awarded thePrince Philip Designers Prize in 2011, and received theEleanor Farjeon Award in November 2012. This annual award administered by Children's Book Circle recognises outstanding commitment and contribution to the world of British children's books.[34]
Blake wasknighted in the2013 New Year Honours for his services to illustration.[35] He was elected aFellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2013.[36]
In March 2014, he was awarded the insignia of aChevalier de la Légion d'honneur at a ceremony at theInstitut Français in London.[37] He is also a Companion of theGuild of St George.
Blake was appointedMember of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the2022 Birthday Honours for services to illustration.[38]
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| Preceded by New post | Children's Laureate of the United Kingdom 1999–2001 | Succeeded by |
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