Having really enjoyed my first outing to the Garden Museum to see the Ivon Hitchens: The Painter In The Woods exhibition (here), I made a return visit to catch this exhibition of classic vintage illustrations for the iconic Ladybird Books. The paintings are a wonderful exercise in nostalgia evoking a very different world from todays, and perfectly executed examples of the art of children's book illustration. Some of which were illustrated by no lesser talent than renowned wildlife artist C.F. Tunnicliffe. Looking at the original artwork evoked many happy memories of becoming a 'free reader' and spending hours poring over these titles in infant school. They were probably instrumental in my decision to go into a career in the visual arts.
On leaving the Ladybird illustration exhibition I had another look around the Garden Museum's permanent collection. I thought this painting the Black Gardener, by Harold Gilman was rather poignant, and I loved revisiting the variety of gnomes in the museum's collection.
Harold Gilman - Portrait of a Black Gardener, ca.1905
Rebecca Louise Law's vitrine below, filled with an arrangement of dried flowers was still really impressive to my eyes.
One element of the museum I hadn't noticed on my last visit, was the chance to climb the 131 steps of the museum's original church tower. I just couldn't resist on this occasion, and made the most of the opportunity, scaling the narrow stone steps of the tower of the former church of St Mary's at Lambeth, which was an experience similar to climbing those of Gaudi's Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, back in the days when you were actually allowed to ascend the towers there. On emerging at the top I was rewarded with some breathtakingly fantastic views of the Thames and Lambeth Bridge, Houses of Parliament, the skyscraping towers of the City, and neighbouring Lambeth Palace.
What To Look For in the Garden: A Ladybird Books Exhibition
until 27th October
Garden Museum
5 Lambeth Palace Road
London
