'The Roald Dahl Centenary Portraits' on show at The British Library
Friday 2nd December 2016
'Quentin Blake: The Roald Dahl Centenary Portraits' is a new show at The British Library in London, open 2 December 2016 - 21 May 2017. The portraits are a series produced by Sir Quentin Blake in 2016 to mark the 100th anniversary of Roald Dahl’s birth and are on display in the Library in a new small exhibition space, the Second Floor Gallery (to which entrance is free).
The portraits are of ten of Dahl’s most celebrated fictional characters, including Matilda, Charlie Bucket and Sophie & The BFG. The premise is that all the characters have been invited to sit for their portrait, rather than appearing to illustrate scenarios as they are usually seen in Dahl's much-loved books.
Sir Quentin Blake said:
“The Roald Dahl Centenary Portraits ask you to imagine that a number of Dahl’s characters have been invited to come and sit for their portrait; they are depicted, not quite as they appear in the illustrations, but more formally. The perceptive spectator may notice that one celebrated couple declined to appear together, and another formidable personality obviously disapproved of the whole venture. Nevertheless, I hope visitors to the British Library will be happy to see this group of well-known characters treated as though they were real people – which, of course, to many of us they are.”
Further details about access and opening times are on the British Library website