The House of Illustration is a wonderful museum that is able to transport their visitors to surprisingly varied places, all through the lens of graphic art and the 2-dimensional world.
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| George Him, The Giant Alexander and Hannibal the Elephant and The Giant Alexander and the Circus |
The House of Illustration is the UK's centre for Graphic Art. One of their strengths is that their exhibitions are updated and changed quite frequently (not always the case with museums and galleries). Even their permanent Quentin Blake Gallery shows a changing display of his works and other illustrators selected by Blake. The pieces on display are a series of small but charming illustrations. Blake, famous for illustrating Roald Dahl's books, is the founding Trustee of the House of Illustration.
The Main and South Galleries of the museum host a variety of temporary exhibitions. At the time of my visit there were two fascinating but contrasting exhibitions.
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| Quentin Blake Gallery |
'W.E.B. Du Bois: Charting Black Lives', reveals the story one of the most influential African American activists of the 20th century. This exhibition displays his important, but little known, body of infographics that challenged pseudoscientific racism of the United States during the era of the Jim Crow Laws.
The 63 graphics on display were those shown in 1900 at the Paris Exposition. This exhibition stands as testament to the power of the visual. The exhibition also presents original artwork by Mona Chalabi. In a direct response to Du Bois' work, Chalabi updates the charts to contemporary statistics concerning race and racism.
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| W.E.B. Du Bois Exhibition |
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| W.E.B. Du Bois Exhibition |
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The other temporary exhibition is about the Polish-Jewish artist George Him. Him moved to London in 1937 where he stayed for the duration of WW2 and eventually became a naturalised citizen. Him applied distinctive modernist aesthetics and, quite noticeably, humour to his graphic design.
Exhibits include iconic wartime propaganda posters for the Ministry of Food and Ministry of Information, and corporate branding and adverts for companies such as Schweppes, the Post Office, London Transport, The Times and many more.
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| George Him Exhibition |
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| George Him Exhibition |
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| George Him Exhibition |
Their ever-changing exhibits are notable as it allows this little museum to offer a wide variety of graphic art - from local to international talents, famous to the lesser-known. Not only does this enable diverse stories to be told, but it also ensures that the museum does not end up preserving outdated displays, a trap into which many museums can fall.
House of Illustration is located in Granary Square, near King's Cross, in the midst of cafes, restaurants, shops and the University of the Arts. As well the stunning exhibitions they also host many creative workshops for all ages. Details of events and exhibits are on their website below.
https://www.houseofillustration.org.uk/home
*all content is my own
