Quentin Blake’s annual charity show has opened at Bankside Gallery, featuring a selection of works themed around the idea of good companions.
The ‘Good Companions’ of the title appear as portraits of inter-linked imaginary people, worked in coloured gel pen with wash, bringing sociability to the singular heads which have been a feature of his work over the past several years.
Companionship is explored in many different forms in the exhibition, particularly his signature relationships between people and animals or birds. As is usual with his work, there’s a lot of whimsy on display and quite a range from simple pencil sketches to full-on watercolours.
They’re all works created since 2019, and all are for sale, raising money for the recently opened Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration in Clerkenwell.
Most of the large works have typically eye-watering prices, but he’s also selling some offcuts from sketches that didn’t quite work out, and they’re much more accessibly priced at £240 to £500. Which means a decent number of people could afford to buy a Quentin Blake original artwork.
The exhibition, Quentin Blake: Good Companions, is at the Bankside Gallery (close to the Tate Modern) until 26th July 2026.
It’s open daily from 11am to 6pm and is free to visit.
Details here.
