{"id":14503,"date":"2014-05-06T10:30:23","date_gmt":"2014-05-06T09:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/?p=14503"},"modified":"2014-05-05T12:26:16","modified_gmt":"2014-05-05T11:26:16","slug":"comics-unmasked-art-and-anarchy-in-the-uk-exhibition-at-the-british-library-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/comics-unmasked-art-and-anarchy-in-the-uk-exhibition-at-the-british-library-london\/","title":{"rendered":"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK exhibition at the British Library, London"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-01.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Billed as the UK\u2019s largest ever exhibition of mainstream and underground comics, Comics Unmasked tracks\u00a0the British comics tradition back from modern works to\u00a019th-century illustrated reports of Jack the Ripper and earlier.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-02.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The show\u00a0at the British Library investigates the creative process, with original scripts, preparatory sketches and final artwork &#8211; some of them instantly recognisable.<\/p>\n<p>Covering the work of the earliest earliest pioneers to today\u2019s digital innovators,\u00a0this is a great insight into the subversive world of comics.<\/p>\n<p>Running until 19 August 2014, the exhibition also\u00a0shows\u00a0the work of comic legends like\u00a0Neil Gaiman (Sandman), Alan Moore (Watchmen, V for Vendetta), Grant Morrison (Batman: Arkham Asylum) and Posy Simmonds (Tamara Drewe).<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s\u00a0a fascinating exhibition and a must-see for comic fans and for anyone with an\u00a0interest in British art, social history and subversion.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-03.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The show was curated by comic creator John Harris Dunning and leading UK expert Paul Gravett<strong>, <\/strong>working with Adrian Edwards, the British Library\u2019s Head of Printed Historical Sources.<\/p>\n<p>The exhibition displays over 200 exhibits and uses newly commissioned artwork by celebrated comic book artist Dave McKean, the show\u2019s artistic director.<\/p>\n<p>In a press release, John Harris Dunning spoke of the aims of the exhibition:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We hope that this show will stimulate creative disobedience and throw down the gauntlet to young creators \u2013 as well as show audiences, who perhaps have not read comics before, what a diverse and exciting medium they are.<\/p>\n<p>The demystification of the process of creating comics is a key part of this exhibition, with once in a lifetime opportunities to see original artwork and scripts from comics greats.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-04.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Paul Gravett, co-curator of the show, added<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Much more than childhood nostalgia, comics are a powerful adult medium which can reflect and impact on society and change&#8217;s people minds and lives.<\/p>\n<p>From the very start, comics have been cross-pollinating with movies, music, theatre and all the other media and today are on the cutting-edge of digital storytelling and multi-media installation art.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-06.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A mediaeval &#8216;comic&#8217; from 1470.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-07.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Ventriloquist&#8217;s dummy of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ally_Sloper\" target=\"_blank\">Ally Sloper<\/a>, one\u00a0of the earliest fictional comic strip characters dating back to 1867.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-05.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-08.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-09.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Some of the work is painful to view, like this horrendously racist strip from &#8216;Mandy, Mops and Cubby&#8217;\u00a0showing a young black boy asking a painter to whitewash his face so he could\u00a0&#8220;look beautiful.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Serialised in the Evening Standard from 1951, this children&#8217;s booklet was Britain&#8217;s first\u00a0newspaper strip both written and drawn by women\u00a0(Enid Blyton and Dorothy M Wheeler, respectively).<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-10.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Perhaps even more shocking was this 1958 strip from the hugely popular Andy Capp series which seems to celebrate domestic violence.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Look at this way, honey,&#8221; says the cloth capped Capp standing over his beaten wife, &#8221; I&#8217;m a man of few pleasures, and one of them &#8216;appens to be knocking yer about.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-11.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The exhibition explores comics and graphic novels which unflinchingly address\u00a0and challenge important\u00a0themes such as sex, violence, race and drugs, as well as seeking out the inspiration and context behind them.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-12.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-13.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-14.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Original Suffragettes poster.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-15.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-16.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-17.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Library recorded a day in the life of four important comic book artists as they work in their studios, including Isabel Greenberg and Posy Simmonds, which appear as life size projections.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-18.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-19.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-20.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Judge Dredd&#8217;s helmet from the film adaptation of the 2000AD Judge Dredd series. The less said about that, the better.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-21.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-22.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-23.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-24.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-25.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/comics-unmasked-british-library-26.jpg\" alt=\"Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Exhibition, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"735\" height=\"414\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cOm-0-G1vaM?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-GB&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p><strong>\u00a0More info:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #5a5a58;\">The British Library<br \/>\n96 Euston Road<br \/>\nLondon<br \/>\nNW1 2DB<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #5a5a58;\">Box Office: +44 (0)1937 546546<br \/>\nOpen 9.00 &#8211; 17.00 (Mon &#8211; Fri)<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #5a5a58;\">The exhibition runs until 19th August 2014 with tickets issued with timed entry slots. Admission charges are \u00a39.50 for adults, with concessions available.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bl.uk\/whatson\/exhibitions\/comics-unmasked\/tickets\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">Click here for ticket info<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bl.uk\/whatson\/exhibitions\/comics-unmasked\/\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a0Exhibition website<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Billed as the UK\u2019s largest ever exhibition of mainstream and underground comics, Comics Unmasked tracks\u00a0the British comics tradition back from modern works to\u00a019th-century illustrated reports of Jack the Ripper and &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[194,17,193],"tags":[34,834,832,188,833,389,10],"class_list":["post-14503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-london-features","category-photos","category-places","tag-art","tag-art-and-anarchy","tag-british-library","tag-comics","tag-comics-unmasked","tag-library","tag-london"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/comics-unmasked-british-library-011.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pQI7P-3LV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14503"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14511,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14503\/revisions\/14511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}