Sir Quentin Blake – British Author & Illustrator 1932-

Sir Quentin Blake began draw­ing for Punch and other British magazines while still in his teens. After attending Downing Col­lege in Cambridge and the London University Institute of Education, he took life classes at the Chelsea School of Art and soon after began to illustrate children’s books. As an award winning illustrator of two hundred books, Blake is a vis­iting tutor the Royal College of Art in London, where he was head of the illustration department for ten years.

Among the many esteemed writers and poets whose books Blake has illustrated are Joan Aiken, Russell Hoban, Margaret Mahy, Ed­ward Eager, Michael Rosen, and John Yeoman. Quentin Blake and Hoban received the Whitbread Literary Award for How Torn Beat Captain Najork and His Hired Sportsmen (1974), in which Blake’s jaunty illustrations perfectly suit the story about Tom, whose aunt summons Captain Najork and his hired sportsmen to teach the boy to stop fooling around. Another made-in-heaven pair­ing was Blake’s illustrations and Margaret Mahy’s text in Nonstop Nonsense (1989), a col­lection of comic poems and stories enhanced by Blake’s madcap drawings. In Yeoman’s Wild Washerwomen (1979), Blake’s art extends the understated humor of the narrative about seven discontented washerwomen who go on a rowdy rampage until they meet their match in seven woodcutters. They all then marry and share a contented life in which both men and women wash clothing and cut wood with gusto.

Sir Quentin Blake is perhaps most widely recognized among young readers for his long-term collabo­ration with the popular but sometimes contro­versial author Roald Dahl, with whom he pro­duced a number of books, including The Enormous Crocodile (1978), The Twits (1980), The B.F.G. (1982), and another Whitbread Award winner, The Witches (1983).

Blake’s accomplishments as an author-illus­trator have also been highly praised by critics and appreciated by children. The Kate Green­away Medal was given to Mister Magnolia (1980), in which the utter absurdity of Blake’s nonsense poem about a man with one shoe is further magnified by his hilarious color illustrations. In another picture book, Mrs. Armitage on Wheels (1987), Blake has told a cumulative story about an elderly woman who continues to add acces­sories to her bicycle until, inevitably, it crashes in a riotous ending. The art depicts a proper looking Mrs. Armitage, who sits primly atop her bike and then, following its sad demise, dons a pair of roller skates.

The unique appeal of Blake’s art lies in his ability to create pictures that provide informa­tion not explicit in the story. The physical stances, facial expressions, and actions of his characters go beyond the text to tell the reader even more about their individual attitudes and personalities. Blake’s spare sketches are decep­tive, for their appearance of having been hast­ily scribbled in a helter-skelter manner conceals the many hours spent in their planning. The exaggerated and zany sense of humor conveyed in all of Blake’s art is something no reader, child or adult, can fail to see and appreciate.

J.M.B.

Source: Children’s Books and their Creators, Anita Silvey.

Works Written and Illustrated by Blake

The following list comprises books for which Blake served as both author and illustrator, representing a significant portion of his creative output :

• Patrick (1968, Jonathan Cape)
• Jack and Nancy (1969, Jonathan Cape)
• Angelo (1970, Jonathan Cape)
• Snuff (1973, Jonathan Cape)
• Lester at the Seaside (1975, Collins)
• Lester and the Unusual Pet (1975, Collins)
• The Adventures of Lester (1977, BBC)
• Mister Magnolia (1980, Jonathan Cape) — winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal
• Quentin Blake’s Nursery Rhyme Book (1983, Jonathan Cape)
• The Story of the Dancing Frog (1984, Jonathan Cape)
• Mrs Armitage On Wheels (1987, Jonathan Cape)
• Quentin Blake’s ABC (1989, Jonathan Cape)
• All Join In (1990, Jonathan Cape) — winner of the Kurt Maschler Award
• Cockatoos (1992, Jonathan Cape)
• Simpkin (1993, Jonathan Cape)
• The Quentin Blake Book of Nonsense Verse (1994, Viking Press)
• Clown (1995, Jonathan Cape)
• La Vie de la Page (1995, Gallimard)
• Mrs Armitage and the Big Wave (1997, Jonathan Cape)
• Dix Grenouilles (Ten Frogs) (1997, Gallimard)
• The Green Ship (1998, Jonathan Cape)
• Zagazoo (1998, Jonathan Cape)
• Zap! The Quentin Blake Guide to Electrical Safety (1998, Eastern Electricity)
• Fantastic Daisy Artichoke (1999, Jonathan Cape)
• The Twelve Days of Christmas (Correspondence) (1999, Atlantic Books)
• The Laureate’s Party (2000, Random House)
• Un Bateau Dans le Ciel (2000, Rue du Monde)
• Words and Pictures (2000, Jonathan Cape)
• Tell Me a Picture (2001, National Gallery)
• Loveykins (2002, Jonathan Cape)
• Laureate’s Progress (2002, Jonathan Cape)
• Mrs Armitage, Queen of the Road (2003, Jonathan Cape)
• A Sailing Boat In The Sky (2003, Red Fox)
• Angel Pavement (2004, Jonathan Cape)
• You’re Only Young Twice (2008, Andersen Press)
• Quentin Blake: Beyond the Page (2012, Tate Publishing)
• The Five of Us (2014, Tate Publishing)
• The Weed (2020, Tate Publishing)
• Mr. Filkins in the Desert (2022)

Selected Works Illustrated for Other Authors

Blake’s collaborations with other writers have produced some of the most celebrated illustrated books of the twentieth century.

Roald Dahl (18 titles)

Blake’s partnership with Roald Dahl represents his most famous body of work. Key titles include:

• The Enormous Crocodile (1978)
• The Twits (1980)
• George’s Marvelous Medicine (1981)
• The BFG (1982)
• The Witches (1983)
• Boy: Tales of Childhood (1984)
• Danny the Champion of the World (1984, new edition)
• Revolting Rhymes (1984, new edition)
• Dirty Beasts (1984, new edition)
• The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me (1985)
• Going Solo (1986)
• Matilda (1988)
• Esio Trot (1990)
• The Minpins (1991)
• The Vicar of Nibbleswicke (1991)

Russell Hoban

Blake illustrated several of Hoban’s beloved titles, including:

• How Tom Beat Captain Najork & His Hired Sportsmen (1974) — winner of the Whitbread Award
• A Near Thing for Captain Najork (2015, Walker Books)
• Rosie’s Magic Horse (2013, Walker Books)
• Ace Dragon Ltd (2015, Walker Books)

John Yeoman

A frequent collaborator, Blake illustrated numerous titles for Yeoman, including:

• The Bear’s Winter House (2012)
• All the Year Round (2019, Andersen)

David Walliams

• The Boy in the Dress (2008)
• Mr Stink (2009)

Additional Notable Illustrated Works

Blake’s distinctive illustrations have appeared in editions of literary classics and works by a wide range of authors :

• Great Day for Up! (1974) by Dr. Seuss — the first Seuss book not illustrated by Seuss himself
• The Hunting of the Snark (1876) by Lewis Carroll — later illustrated edition
• Don Quixote (1605) by Miguel de Cervantes — Folio Society edition
• Candide (1759) by Voltaire — Folio Society edition
• Animal Farm (1945) by George Orwell — some editions
• A Christmas Carol (1843) by Charles Dickens — some editions
• The Box of Delights (1935) by John Masefield (2014, Farshore)
• Michael Rosen’s Sad Book (2001, Walker Books) by Michael Rosen
• The Rights of the Reader (2006, Walker Books) by Daniel Pennac

The Agaton Sax Series

Blake illustrated the British editions of Nils-Olof Franzén’s Swedish detective series, including ten titles published between 1965 and 1978 .

Selected Awards and Honours

• 1974: Whitbread Award for How Tom Beat Captain Najork & His Hired Sportsmen (with Russell Hoban)
• 1980: Kate Greenaway Medal for Mister Magnolia
• 1988: Appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
• 1990: Kurt Maschler Award for All Join In
• 1999-2001: First British Children’s Laureate
• 2002: Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration
• 2005: Appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)
• 2005: Honorary degree from the University of Cambridg