Il libro di Quentin Blake

by Jenny Uglow, Quentin Blake

« Io e Roald eravamo molto diversi, nel senso migliore del termine. In una coppia di artisti è molto meglio che non ci siano due versioni della stessa persona: meglio che ci sia un contrasto, quasi una sottile tensione. »

Le immagini di Quentin Blake hanno fatto sognare generazioni di lettori. In occasione del suo novantesimo anniversario, il presente volume, ideato dall’artista stesso, ne propone una panoramica completa, dai primi disegni (pubblicati su Punch quando Blake ha solo sedici anni), ai progetti più recenti, dalle collaborazioni con scrittori leggendari quali Roald Dahl, fino ai grandi lavori per ospedali e spazi pubblici. Arricchito dai commenti dell’artista e frutto di un accesso all’intero archivio delle sue opere, Il libro di Quentin Blake svela storie e aneddoti sorprendenti, regalando uno sguardo intimo e inedito sull’irrefrenabile creatività di uno dei grandi maestri dell’illustrazione contemporanea.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

Published October 6, 2022

About the author

Jennifer Sheila Uglow OBE (née Crowther, born 1947) is a British biographer, critic and publisher. The editorial director of Chatto & Windus, she has written critically acclaimed biographies of Elizabeth Gaskell, William Hogarth, Thomas Bewick and the Lunar Society, among others, and has also compiled a women's biographical dictionary.

Reviews

[terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stelline anche solo per i disegni (anche perché il testo scritto è più una disamina “storica” e commento alle illustrazione).

W Quentin Blake e W Roald Dahl!

[Neil Pasricha · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of ​our values​ on reading is that “Librarians are doctors of the mind.” I can’t tell you how many books Sarah Ramsey of Book City gave me that twisted my heart the right way at the right time. (I talk to her about this ​here​.) So I was delighted to see a massive “Staff Picks” wall at the down-the-ramp front entrance of the ​High Park branch of the Toronto Public Library​. It was like a wall of vitamins! My eyes were drawn to the pink sticky note saying “Rebeca’s Pick I loved learning about this artist whose work is known often by his partnership with Roald Dahl.” Quentin Blake! Yes! Right! Kevin the Bookseller threw that particular vitamin down my throat back in ​Chapter 44​ at the Indigo bookstore he runs at Mount Sinai hospital. Rebeca is right, though. This book is the stories behind the drawings behind the stories. And the Dahl stuff is just one chapter! The book expands and colors in the now-91-years of genius that is Quentin Blake. From his early ​Punch​ magazine covers to nude sketches and self-portraits to giant hospital walls and darker illustrations he did to support the migrant refugee crisis. His humanitarian work was completely unknown to me and it’s beautiful. A couple years ago I stumbled on a dog-chewed dark brown hardcover first edition of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at ​The Monkey’s Paw​ (a must-visit bookstore if you’re in Toronto, which features the world’s first Biblio-Mat!) Incredible find, right? But when I flipped through it I realized I could never love it. It didn’t have Quentin Blake’s drawings. Seriously. This book is a succulent and engaging deep-dive into the life and work of an unstoppable artistic master. Highly recommended. (P.S. Quentin is 91 today and still drawing. If you want to experience delight I suggest you check out the ​gallery​ on his website. I wish I had a nursery to decorate with ​this one!​)

[Julia Lama · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a charming man. The joy of drawing is SO present in every page and every stroke. It's been delightful to read more about his career.

[Simona~ pagine_e_inchiostro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recensione a cura della pagina instagram Pagine_e_inchiostro:
Il libro di Quentin Blake é una panoramica sulla carriera di uno dei più celebri illustratori per bambini dei nostri tempi. Oltre a contenere i suoi bozzetti, dalle origini ad oggi, il libro racconta anche l’ispirazione e le tappe fondamentali che hanno segnato la sua professione.

Le prime Illustrazioni sono quasi tutte in bianco e nero, o al massimo in bicromia. Dal 1968 Quentin aggiunge acquerelli, inchiostro colorato o pastelli a cera: osservando le sue creazioni, le forme si animano davanti agli occhi del lettore. Ed é così che prende vita il mondo di Blake, che riesce a divertire gli adulti ed incantare i bambini.
Nelle sue storie i personaggi trovano modi originali per cavarsela in situazioni difficili, oppure vivono allegre e chiassose avventure in luoghi insospettabili. Le sue storie hanno anche a che fare con personaggi che vivono emozioni umane reali, che soffrono o che patiscono la solitudine.
Che siano spensierate o agrodolci, le sue storie rimangono un omaggio all’infanzia, all’amicizia, alla spensieratezza, al tempo perduto e all’immaginazione.
Dalla collaborazione con scrittori leggendari del calibro di Roald Dahl, fino ai lavori umanitari negli spazi pubblici e negli ospedali, Blake non ha mai smesso di stupire con il suo infinito estro, incantando intere generazioni.

Questo libro incarna l’essenza di tutto il suo lavoro.
Unica piccola pecca: avrei voluto leggere qualche chicca sulla vita privata di Blake, che potesse svelarmi l’origine primaria della sua arte. Purtroppo questa parte risulta mancante, svelandoci solo un lato di un artista tanto multi sfaccettato.

[Rebecca Fung · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful, beautifully laid out book, an easy way to draw you into Blake's world and enjoy his art. Like many people, I mainly know Quentin Blake through his illustrations of Roald Dahl's books (and later, some of David Walliams' books). I loved so many of those illustrations, from the BFG to the Twits and Matilda. I remember Blake bringing to life how a "person with beautiful thoughts could never look truly ugly" - an idea of Dahl's but Blake really made it happen, and the amazing world of Revolting Rhymes and the sweetness of Matilda and the awfulness of the Twits.

It was then wonderful to go through this book and see so much more of Blake's work and see how he's worked with so much more material and styles. I loved looking at his Punch covers, his other illustrations, his work in a variety of media, his adult work. Most of all I love the cavorting freedom and imagination he displays.

I absolutely adored his work at the hospitals and it showed what a beautiful mind he has.

I would have LOVED to have had an illustration done by Blake!

What a talent and what creativity, this was a fantastic book and I gobbled it up greedily and now I want to gobble it up again. I would see a Quentin Blake exhibition if there was one around.

[Alec Longstreth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice general overview of Blake's career. If, like me, you already own Words and Pictures, Beyond the Page, Pens Ink & Places, A Year of Drawings, and In The Theatre of the Imagination, there's not much new here.

[T P Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A beautifully laid out book and a good overview of phases in his career. That said, I didn't get a great sense of Blake or where he fits in to the art movements of his era. It's a nice book for flicking but not an in depth analysis of the artist.

[Rachel Simpson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quentin Blake is a wonderful presence in this world, there's not much more that needs to be said. A true gem