The Cartoon Museum

This Week in London – Commemorating WWI postal service; new acquisitions at the National Gallery; and, 50 Glorious Shows!

by exploringlondon

• A ‘pop-up’ World War I mail sorting office will appear in The Regent’s Park this Saturday as part of centenary commemorations of the Great War. The office evokes the giant wooden building known as the ‘Home Depot’ which was located in the park and which handled all the mail from and to the front line during the war – some two billion letters and 140 million parcels. Believed to have been the largest wooden building in the world, it covered at its greatest extent more than five acres. The sorting office provides visitors with an immersive experience as it brings to life the story of the 2,500 people who worked there and visitors can even work a shift as part of an interactive session led by The Postal Museum. There’s a chance to write a postcard to a soldier or postal worker to give them your thoughts on the war and outdoors, there’s a display on the role the Post Office played in keeping the war running. The sorting office can be visited for free this Saturday, 12th May, and Saturday, 19th May. For more, follow this link.

• Two new acquisitions – the first ever painting by Spaniard Juan de Zurbarán to enter a UK collection and a teenage work by portraitist John Singer Sargent – have gone on show at the The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square. The rather long titled Still Life with Lemons, Lilies, Carnations, Roses and a Lemon Blossom in a Wicker Basket, together with a Goldfinch perched on a Porcelain Bowl of Water, on top of a Silver Tray, all arranged upon a Stone Ledge was painted by Baroque artist de Zurbarán in about 1643–49 while Wineglasses was painted by Sargent at the age of 19, probably at St-Enogat in Brittany where he spent the summer of 1875 having just seen his first Impressionist exhibition in Paris. Still Life with Lemons in a Wicker Basket can be seen in Room 30 while Wineglasses is in Room 44. Admission is free. For more, see www.nationalgallery.org.uk. PICTURE: Wineglasses, John Singer Sargent, RA (1856–1925) Probably 1875  © The National Gallery, London.

• On Now – 50 Glorious Shows! The Cartoon Museum is this year celebrating 12 years at 35 Little Russell Street in Bloomsbury and to mark the occasion, this display features more than 170 original works which have been highlights in previous exhibitions. Among those whose work is represented are masters of the British tradition of cartooning like Hogarth, Gillray, Tennial and EH Shepard as well as that of top comic artists and graphic novelists like Dudley D Watkins, Posy Simmonds and Bryan Talbot. There’s also a selection of political satire and caricature. The show runs until 2nd September. For more, see www.cartoonmuseum.org.

Send all items for inclusion to exploringlondon@gmail.com.

This Week in London – London’s garden squares open their gates; World War I comics; and, exploring the Science Museum’s garbage…

by exploringlondon

• London Open Garden Squares Weekend will see more than 200 “hidden and little known” gardens swing their gates open to the public this Saturday and Sunday. Featuring 20 more gardens than last year’s event, the gardens range from classic London square parks to rooftop gardens, community allotments and ecology centres as well as gardens attached to restaurants and historic properties. They include Highbury Square – former home of the Arsenal Football Club, Barnsbury Wood – London’s smallest nature reserve, the Cordwainers community garden in Hackney, Garden Barge Square which will see a floating garden created on the decks of barges, the garden at the PM’s home of number 10 Downing Street, and The Roof Gardens, located above the former Derry & Toms department store in Kensington. One £12 ticket gains access to all gardens (excepting those with special conditions) while National Trust members are half-price and children under 12 go free. For more and a full programme of open gardens, head to www.opensquares.org.

• Comics created during World War I are the focus of a new exhibition which opened at the Cartoon Museum in Bloomsbury this week. Never Again! World War I in Cartoon and Comic Art features works by British cartoonists Alfred Leete, Bruce Bairnsfather, William Heath Robinson and Donald McGill and includes more than 300 images ranging from political and joke cartoons taken from newspapers and periodicals and children’s comics to comic cigarette cards and publications produced in the trenches by serving soldiers. There are also some more recent works such as the 1980s comic strip Charley’s War and drawings from the Horrible Histories series. The exhibition runs until 19th October. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.cartoonmuseum.org.

• Explore the world of garbage in this new exhibition opening at the Science Museum in South Kensington on Monday. The Rubbish Collection aims to use 30 days worth of the Science Museum’s waste to “expose the beauty, value and volume of what we call ‘rubbish'”. Visitors are able to take part by collecting, sorting and documenting the rubbish generated by the museum which will then be photographed by artist Joshua Sofaer before going on to be processed for recycling or to generate electricity. During a second phase of the exhibition, Sofaer will bring the rubbish back into the museum at different stages of processing. The exhibition is part of the museum’s Climate Changing programme. Runs until 14th September. For more, see www.sciencemuseum.org.uk.

10 small (and fascinating) museums in London…7. The Cartoon Museum

by exploringlondon

Hidden away in Bloomsbury almost in the shadow of the gigantic bulk of the British Museum, this small museum offers an interesting insight into the development of cartoons and comic strips from a uniquely British perspective.

Opened in 2006, the museum exhibits are spread over two floors and trace the history of cartoons and comic strips from their origins in the 1700s through to today’s graphic novels.

While it can seem at first glance only a small display, there’s a wealth of information accompanying the more than 200 exhibits which range from Hogarth prints and early satirical political cartoons by the likes of James Gillray and George Cruikshank through to the works of more modern artists like David Low and Donald McGill, originals of comic strips like Dennis the Menace and Andy Capp and even manga Shakespeare.

And no need to worry about the kids – if they become bored (as is likely), there’s an interesting exhibition on the creation of Peppa Pig complete with original storyboards and a cartoon running on the television as well as plenty of reading materials and, upstairs, the chance for them to indulge their passion for cartoons by designing their own.

The museum is also currently running a splendid exhibition on Dr Who comics spanning the period from 1964 (the year after the first Dr Who was televised) through to today. For Dr Who fans, this exhibition – which runs until 30th October – is a must.

Don’t forget to pause at the shop on the way out – it’s stocked with all sorts of comic-related paraphernalia.

WHERE: The Cartoon Museum, 35 Little Russell Street (nearest Tube stations are Tottenham Court Road, Holborn and Russell Square); WHEN: 10.30am to 5.30pm, Tuesday to Saturday, 12.30pm to 5pm Sundays; COST: £5.50 an adult/£4 concessions (£3 students)/children under 18 free (children 12 or under must be accompanied by an adult); WEBSITE: www.cartoonmuseum.org