A new mural by children’s author and illustrator Sir Quentin Blake has been unveiled in north London ahead of the opening of a new arts centre.
The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration will open in Clerkenwell on June 5.
The cartoonist, who is best known for illustrating Roald Dahl’s books, visited the centre to unveil his new artwork A Bridge To The Past.
The mural depicts a bridge over New River, which has supplied water to London since 1613.
It is said to evoke the social history of the river and the long-lasting relationship between people and water.
Sir Quentin, 93, said: “I was especially pleased to be asked to produce a mural for Quentin Blake Centre’s cafe. You will see that I have drawn a bridge. It does not actually exist but I needed one to act as a bridge to the past.
“Crossing it are folk in period costume; they are all invented by me, except for the two men fishing who are borrowed from a print made in the 1700s.”
The mural shows figures drawn to the river through the ages, with the cartoonist taking inspiration from artwork by Scottish painter Isaac Cruikshank to illustrate men fishing in formal attire.
Sir Quentin established a charity for illustration in 2002 and set out to create the UK’s first public venue dedicated to illustration.
Opening next month, the centre will present regularly changing exhibitions on illustration, across three galleries. It will reportedly be the world’s largest space for illustration.
To celebrate its opening, the centre will be giving away free tickets to the first 50 people to illustrate an official voucher collected on-site on opening day.
A Bridge To The Past was created in ink by Sir Quentin and has been scaled up to sit on the centre’s cafe wall.
The centre includes galleries, a free illustration library, gardens, a cafe and a shop.
