Calderdale Council’s museums service is proud to present the works of one of Britains best-loved and most successful illustrators.
Quentin Blake’s As Large as Life exhibition is now open at Bankfield Museum, Halifax, and features a collection of recent works by the artist.
Blake, who was awarded a knighthood in the New Year’s honours list, is probably most well-known for illustrating the stories of Roald Dahl, and was Britain’s first Children’s Laureate.
The new exhibition consists of pieces that were created for four hospitals in the UK and France. The pictures were intended to have a therapeutic effect on the patients, including children and young people, and those with mental health problems. This exhibition brings together over 50 of these works to Bankfield Museum, for visitors to experience the effects for themselves.
Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities, Cllr Pauline Nash, said:
“It’s great news that the works of such a high profile, popular artist are being exhibited in Calderdale. It will be a fantastic addition to the pieces already on display at Bankfield Museum.”
Quentin Blake explains the idea behind one of the exhibits:
“I think the very presence of pictures helps to make being in, or visiting a hospital a more normal, less alien experience. What I have tried to include is a certain amount of detail, some interesting activities, and some suggestions of the little drama of relationships, so that the viewers – especially any who have to wait – may feel the desire to go on looking and perhaps even to speculate about the stories happening in front of them.”
The Bankfield exhibition is part of a national tour of the artist’s work, organised by Compton Verney in collaboration with the House of Illustration, and will run in Halifax until Saturday 13 April 2013.
For more information, please visit the Bankfield Museum page on Calderdale Council’s website.