This summer at Moyse’s Hall Museum in Bury St Edmunds there's a rare opportunity to see an exhibition of illustrations by Quentin Blake, some of them on public display for the first time.
Called The Illustrated Hospital, the exhibition opens on June 4 and has been co-curated by Quentin Blake’s team and Moyse's Hall.
Since 2005, Quentin Blake’s drawings for hospitals and healthcare settings have become a significant part of his work in the past few years, but because they're displayed in clinical spaces not easily accessible to visitors, relatively few people – patients and hospital staff – get a chance to see them. Created in his instantly recognisable style, the drawings provide something for everyone – swimming babies, helpful dragons, treetop adventures and poignant landscapes.
Quentin Blake, born in the suburbs of London in 1932, has become one of the nation's favourite artists. He has drawn ever since he can remember and his first drawings were published in Punch when he was 16 and still at school. He is known for his collaboration with writers such as Russell Hoban, Joan Aiken, Michael Rosen, John Yeoman and, most famously, Roald Dahl, and his books have won numerous prizes and awards.
In 1999 he was appointed the first ever Children's Laureate, was created a CBE in 2005 and has numerous honorary degrees from universities throughout the UK. He received a knighthood for services to illustration in the New Year's Honours for 2013, became an Honorary Freeman of the City of London in 2015 and was appointed Companion of Honour in The Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2022.
This exhibition is one the most important to be held at Moyse’s Hall, which has a growing reputation for staging contemporary attractions including Moments, and Urban Frame: Mutiny in Colour, which drew a combined audience of more than 50,000 visitors with original pieces by Banksy, Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and others.
For The Illustrated Hospital exhibition, Moyses Hall is running workshops for people of all ages to create dragons and other characters inspired by Blake’s work. Folksy Theatres is also presenting an outdoor performance of Quentin Blake: Angelia Sprocket’s Pockets at West Stow Anglo Saxon Village, near Bury St Edmunds on Friday, August 9 at 12pm. Based on the artist’s popular book, the fun-filled family play will reveal some of the marvellous things Angelica kept in her never-ending pockets.
The Quentin Blake Illustrated Hospital exhibition is open daily, 10am - 5pm (last entry at 4pm) and Sunday 12noon – 4pm (last entry 3pm), June 4 to October 6. Timed tickets can be booked online at moyseshall.org/whats-on or by calling 01284 758000. They can also be purchased at the museum and include access to the full museum collection. moyseshall.org.
