Quentin Blake: Ninety Drawings
At: Bankside Gallery Thames Riverside 48 Hopton Street London SE1 9JH
2 July 2025 - 27 July 2025
More info: https://www.banksidegallery.com/contact/
Quentin Blake returns to Bankside Gallery for the fourth consecutive year, bringing an
eclectic mix of work in his new show, ‘Ninety Drawings’. Subjects range from emotive
figures in watercolour landscapes (‘On the Beach’, 2020) to a whole flock of elegant
birds created using children’s washable fibre-tip pens (‘Wading Birds’, 2021), together
with a playful set of fish and other marine life, worked in vibrant Stabilo watercolour
pencil, on sheets of hand-made paper (‘Fish’ and ‘Fishscapes’, 2025).
In a very productive period in the studio, more than half the drawings have been created
in the past 6 months. Many of these new works are on the theme of enjoyment of the
natural world, whether standing on a hilltop on a windy day, or simply relaxing in a tree
with a good book. The artist’s quintessential observational humour is as present as
ever, providing an affectionate look at life through his pen.
All works in the exhibition will be for sale. Proceeds will be donated to Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, the UK’s flagship centre for the artform which is now nearing completion in its new home in Clerkenwell. The Centre plans to open its doors to the public in Spring 2026.
eclectic mix of work in his new show, ‘Ninety Drawings’. Subjects range from emotive
figures in watercolour landscapes (‘On the Beach’, 2020) to a whole flock of elegant
birds created using children’s washable fibre-tip pens (‘Wading Birds’, 2021), together
with a playful set of fish and other marine life, worked in vibrant Stabilo watercolour
pencil, on sheets of hand-made paper (‘Fish’ and ‘Fishscapes’, 2025).
In a very productive period in the studio, more than half the drawings have been created
in the past 6 months. Many of these new works are on the theme of enjoyment of the
natural world, whether standing on a hilltop on a windy day, or simply relaxing in a tree
with a good book. The artist’s quintessential observational humour is as present as
ever, providing an affectionate look at life through his pen.
All works in the exhibition will be for sale. Proceeds will be donated to Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, the UK’s flagship centre for the artform which is now nearing completion in its new home in Clerkenwell. The Centre plans to open its doors to the public in Spring 2026.