Yesterday we ventured into Gloucester ( or "went up town" as we say round here ) for the first time in ages to check out the Wonderful World of the Ladybird Book Artists exhibition at the Museum of Gloucester. This indeed wonderful exhibition was curated by Ladybird Books enthusiast and expert Helen Day who did a fantastic job of pulling together hundreds of old books, items of memorabilia and, most importantly, original artwork. It was just so lovely to see the beautiful pieces of artwork from books that had brightened up so many children's early years. Sarah was moved to tears ( happy ones! ) to see so many of her childhood reading memories on display.
So many memories, so many books!
And from the more realistic, historical books there were these moody pieces from John Kenney -
( My apologies if some of these images are a bit askew. I was trying to take these photos through glass and was struggling not to have reflections of myself in the shots :-) You wouldn't want to see that. )
It was a fantastic collection of artwork and memorabilia ( not pictured are sketches, letters from the editors, original printing "flats", invoices for work produced etc. ) and we were very lucky for it to be virtually on our doorstep. I'll just leave you with this very surreal piece, also by the versatile John Kenney:
2 comments:
What a great exhibition. I vividly remember as a kid getting that Rumpelstiltskin ladybird book as a child and being fascinated by it. I recently picked up another copy of it along with a few others from the 1960a in a charity shop for £2.
That sounds a good deal, Paul! Some Ladybird books fetch crazy prices and you often find even the most readily available titles being over-priced. Caveat emptor etc.
Post a Comment