Quentin Blake (b. 1932)
The World of Hats #1
2018

Pen, ink, sketchbook paper, signed.
95 x 143mm

From a series produced for 'The World of Hats', an exhibition at the Jerwood Gallery, now Hastings Contemporary, in 2018-19.

Quentin said of the exhibition: 'I have been aware for a long time of the decorative possibilities of hats, so that when I was asked by Liz Gilmore at the Jerwood Gallery to create another in a series of small scale exhibitions that was the subject that naturally came to mind. It seemed to me that about forty works, of varying sizes, would be more than enough to fill the space. However, once started, I was so taken with the activity that whenever I felt like drawing something it turned out to be another hat. While I was at work on the series I also discovered Windsor & Newton watercolour markers which gave me extra motivation of experimenting with them. By the time I persuaded myself to stop I discovered I had a collection of well over a hundred drawings.

All sorts of objects and activities appear on the hats, and I am often not quite sure if the wearers are aware of them. Perhaps the most interesting hats for me are those where yet another face appears – it’s almost like seeing a mask and the face behind it at the same time. I came to feel eventually that the hats have taken on a sort of like of their own. Some of them clearly waving; I hope that one or two may even be waving at you'.

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.
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