Illustration by Mervyn Peake for The Sphinx by Oscar Wilde (1949).
The centenary of writer, artist and poet Mervyn Peake is being celebrated this year with a number of events in the UK. Mervyn Peake: A Centenary Celebration is a small exhibition of Peake’s drawings which has been running since April at the Pallant House Gallery, Chichester. That show ends on July 17th so if you want to be glared at by Fuchsia Groan you’re advised to get your skates on.
The Worlds of Mervyn Peake is a more substantial affair opening this week at the British Library, London, which promises to have materials from the British Library collection and the Peake archive on display. Two evenings of talks are also scheduled although the first of these, Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast, is now sold out. The Guardian ran a feature at the weekend with pieces by some of the people who’ll be involved in the discussions, including Michael Moorcock, who’s been championing Peake’s work since the early 1960s, and China Miéville. For those who can’t make it to the exhibitions, there are also books: The Gormenghast Trilogy has been republished in a new illustrated edition, and the British Library is selling an American edition of Maeve Gilmore’s Peake’s Progress, a 592-page selection of writings, drawings and poetry which has been out-of-print in the UK for years. Essential purchases for any Peake enthusiast.
Update: There’s also an exhibition of artwork by Mervyn Peake and Maeve Gilmore at Viktor Wynd, London. Thanks to Vadim for the tip.
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The illustrators archive
Previously on { feuilleton }
• A profusion of Peake
• Joseph Cavalieri’s stained glass
• Mervyn Peake at Maison d’Ailleurs
• Peake’s Pan
• Buccaneers #1
• Mervyn Peake in Lilliput
• The Illustrators of Alice
I. Am. So. There.
Nice find! Thanks for this.
Not as widely reported; but there is also a parallel exhibition of Peake & Gilmore’s work running at ‘The Last Tuesday Society’ in London’s East end.
http://viktorwyndfineart.co.uk/mervynpeake.html
A very good radio feature on Mervyn Peake by his family here John :)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01292v3/A_Hundred_Years_of_Mervyn_Peake/
Hi John,
One has to wonder if there’s such a thing as Peake overkill in London at the moment because I can add this one to the list:
http://www.chrisbeetles.com/gallery/exhibition_detail.php?id=1112
by my count that makes three major exhibitions running concurrently in London, all with the collaboration of the Peake family, not counting the publication of books, prints and photographs…