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Quentin Blake’s 50 year collaboration with John Yeoman celebrated in new exhibition

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Date
6 October 2017
An illustration of a child tucked into bed, surrounded by a lush garden of plants and flowers. Birds, butterflies and a frog gather around the bed under a bright white sky.

Although Quentin Blake’s work with Roald Dahl is a collaboration he is most noted for, the illustrator has actually worked with John Yeoman since 1960, more than any other author. Their creative partnership is to be celebrated in their first joint exhibition, Quentin Blake & John Yeoman: 50 Years of Children’s Books at London’s House of Illustration .

The exhibition will span Quentin’s first drawings for John to their latest collaboration as well as ten projects in between, “from picture books and short novels for children to adaptions of classic folk tales,” says the gallery.

Alongside the exhibition is the reissue of their first book, A Drink of Water via Thames & Hudson and the newest book, All the Year Round published by Andersen Press. Other illustrations to be exhbited include: The Boy Who Sprouted Anters, Mouse Troubles and Quentin Blake’s Amazing Animal Stores.

Quentin Blake & John Yeoman: 50 Years of Children’s Books opens today (6 October) and runs until 4 February 2018

An illustration of a person in a red coat and a feathered hat, holding a thin baton. They lean forward towards a dog and several small birds perched on a branch.
Above

Quentin Blake and John Yeoman: The Fabulous Foskett Family Circus

An illustration of dozens of small mice operating a complex wooden machine. Some mice run along a horizontal beam, while others climb ropes and scramble across a slanted ramp.
Above

Quentin Blake and John Yeoman: The Mouse Trouble

An illustration of a grey stone windmill with large, weathered sails. A small cat peers out from a window, while another figure looks on from below.
Above

Quentin Blake and John Yeoman: The Mouse Trouble

A watercolour illustration of a crane standing in shallow water. Above the bird, a large, bleeding wash of deep purple and magenta paint fills the sky.
Above

Quentin Blake and John Yeoman: The Heron and The Crane

An illustration of two people in a cluttered study, pulling a long, purple measuring tape across a giant octopus. The room is filled with bookshelves, odd artefacts and a chart on the wall. Below the scene, a text box titled “AMAZING FACTS ABOUT THIS BOOK” lists humorous trivia about the publication.
Above

Quentin Blake and John Yeoman: The World’s Laziest Duck and Other Improbable Records

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About the Author

Lucy Bourton

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Lucy (she/her) was part of the It’s Nice That team from 2016–2025, first joining as a staff writer after graduating from Chelsea College of Art with a degree in Graphic Design Communication, eventually becoming a senior editor on our editorial team, and most recently at Insights, a research-driven department with It’s Nice That.

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