Cartoon Museum London

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Visiting London, The Cartoon Museum

Visiting London - part 2: The Cartoonist Pub

related post: Visting London - part 1

In the evening of the second day of the city trip in London, I had an appointment with cartoon historian Mark Bryant who lives in London. Mark was so kind to take me on a guided tour through The City of London where he lead us to The Cartoonist pub, Dr. Johnson's House and Ye Olde Chechire Cheese, one of the oldest pubs in London. We ended in the OXO tower, providing us with a brilliant view over the city.

The Cartoonist used to be the pub where cartoonists of the nearby newpapers in Fleet Street met and nowadays it's the official meeting place of the Cartoonist's Club. Nice to know: The Cartoonist's Club provides a handy guide for cartoon sightseeing in London on their site.

I asked Mark to bring along a copy of "Napoleontic Wars in Cartoons" (2009, Grub Street, London, ISBN 978-1-906502-27-0). This book is again (just like WWI, WWII, Wars of Empire in Cartoons) a magnificent book that informs us on history in an original way: it is intended primalarly as a pictorial history of the period as seen through the eyes of the cartoonists and caricaturists who lived through it and chronicled the events as they occurred.

The book is divided into chapters, each prefaced with a concise introduction that provides a historical framework for the drawings of that period. Altogether more than 300 cartoons and caricatures from both sides of the conflicts, in coulour and black-and-white, have been skilfully blended to produce a unique visual history.

If you want to buy one of Mark's books, signed by the author, visit cartoonbooks.co.uk where you can contact the author.

related post: Visiting London - Part 1

Visiting London - part 1: The Cartoon Museum

related post: Visiting London - part 2

This summer I had a city trip to London and...
the first museum I've visited in London was the Cartoon Museum. The Cartoon Museum is located just a few hundred meters from the world famous British Museum. So if you are in London and want to go to the Britsh Museum, don't forget to visit the nice Cartoon Museum in Little Russell Street. It's small, but cozy. I was welcomed by Kate Owens, who is Assistant Curator of the Museum. She gave me a short explanation about the history of the museum and let me take a short look at the museum's cartoon book library.
A promotional leaflet says:
"The Cartoon Museum shows the best of British cartoon and comic art. You can discover the roots of Britsh cartooning in the works of Hogarth, Gillray and Cruikshank, explore the worlds of Heath Robinson, H.M. Bateman, Donald McGill and David Low and chuckle at the wit of many of today's funniest artist. There is also great comic artwork from 2000AD and some of the leading creators of graphic novels".

The museum organizes changing temporary exhibitions (like the ECC) and the museum pays much attention to children by organising cartooning and animation workshops. In the museum shop, you can buy interesting cartoon books, cards, posters, etc.

I was there...

enter the museum through the cartoon wall...

part of the cartoon books collection

exhibition: the history of Britsh cartooning

second floor dedicated to comic strip

In the shop I bought the catalogue of the Heath Robinson exhibition, the museum held in 2005.

Some highlights from this unique Museum (source: museum's press release)

* Rare and original artwork on loan from The Beano, the Dandy, and Topper including The Bash Street Kids, Roger the Dodger, Billy the Whizz, Desperate Dan, Beryl the Peril and of course Dennis the Menace.

* Classic works by Gillray including The Plumb Pudding and, John Bull - taking a luncheon, and The Zenith of French Glory.

* Cartoons in 3D including Gerald Scarfe¹s memorable Chairman Mao, Scarfe's caricatured original leather armchair from 1971.

* Great gag cartoons by Larry, Kipper Williams, Tony Husband, Nick Newman and many more.

* Classic war cartoons including Sir David Low’s ‘All Behind you, Winston’, and Bruce Bairnsfather’s, ‘If you know a better ‘Ole...’

* Colour mural painted by top cartoonists including Steve Bell, Dave Brown, Martin Rowson, Peter Brookes, Chris Riddell, MAC and Hunt Emerson.

* Annual cover drawings by Carl Giles featuring the Giles family and his immortal Granny.

* A Museum shop packed with books, prints, cards and cartoon ephemera, and a Young Artists’ Gallery with facilities for drawing and learning about cartoons, children¹s and adult cartooning, animation classes and family fun days.

* The 4000 books in The Heneage Library, is available, by appointment, for browsing and research as well as a dedicated comics library upstairs.

...and over 250 original cartoons over two floors!

Learn more:

The Cartoon Museum

William Heath Robinson