Falmouth Art Gallery

FAMAG 2006.39

About the Artist

Born in the London suburbs in 1932, he has drawn from an early age. Blake studied English at Downing College, Cambridge and after his National Service completed a postgraduate teaching diploma at the University of London, followed by life-classes at Chelsea Art School. He has always made a living as an illustrator, but also taught for over 20 years at the Royal College of Art and was head of the Illustration department from1978-86. He had his first published drawing in Punch when he was just 16. He continued to draw for Punch and Spectator. Blake?s first illustrated children?s book was ?A Drink of Water? by John Yeoman in 1960. Blake is best known for his collaborations with writers such as Russell Hoban, Joan Aiken, Michael Rosen, John Yeoman and most famously Roald Dahl. Since the 1990s he has also had a successful curating career, at locations such as the National Gallery, British Library and Musee du Petit Palais in Paris. In recent years he has been working on a large-scale pieces for hospitals and healthcare settings in the UK and France; most recently for a new maternity hospital in Angers, Scarborough. Quentin Blake has won numerous prizes: the Whitbread Award, Kate Greenway Medal, Emil/ Kurt Maschler Award and the International Bologna Ragazzi Prize. In 2002 he won the Hans Christian Award for Illustration; the highest international recognition for creators of children?s literature. In 1999 he was appointed the first ever Children?s Laureate, received his CBE in 2005, is an RDI and has a number of honorary degrees from universities throughout the UK.