London's Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration's first trio of exhibitions announced

Last year were heard a London Quentin Blake gallery of illustration was opening in 2026, and we now know the exhibitions it will open with in May.

The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration will offer three exhibitions, and of course one of them is focused on Quentin Blake’s own works.

Quentin Blake: Performance is about how the theatre has inspired Blake’s work. It will feature 100 pieces, including illustrations made to accompany theatre reviews and ones that reference playwrights including Shakespeare and Samuel Beckett.

And, much more recent, there are Blake’s Macbeth illustrations, which made their way onto bottles of Scotch Whiskey.

Quentin Blake: Performance will run until May 2027, and is what the centre calls a “UK-first retrospective of his work through theatre.”

Next up is Murugiah: Ever Feel Like, which we actually heard about last year when the centre’s opening was announced.

Murugiah is a British Sri Lankan artist whose work is exceptionally bold and vibrant. The exhibition's key themes are identity and mental health, but Murugiah’s works are endlessly eye catching before you even start to think about what they might mean.

The exhibition “brings together his eclectic love of Hollywood film, sci-fi and 2000s era pop-punk to create a distinct display of his work,” according to the official blurb. It will run until August 31st, 2026.

The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration’s last exhibition is Queer as Comics, a collection of queer and LGBTQIA+-themed comics dating from the 1940s to now.

It includes works from 60 artists, and among them you’ll find the UK’s first gay comic strip and the first gay black superhero. There’s Tove Jansson’s Moomin comic strip, as well as illustrations from Alison Bechdel — of the Bechdel Test — Cath Jackson and Kate Charlesworth.

“Comics have a long tradition of being subversive: neither art nor literature but using both to make their messages captivate readers. They lend themselves perfectly to queer themes as brilliantly showcased in the exhibition,” says Paul Gravett, the exhibition’s curator.

Tickets for The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration go on sale in April, and will be available “from £15” for adults. Or you can become a member and visit as often as you like. A single membership costs £45, or it’s £70 for a pair.

The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration is found in Clerkenwell, but we're still waiting to hear exactly when it May it will open its doors.

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