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Last chance to see Giles at Christmas

The British Cartoon Archive at the University of Kent is to run its Giles at Christmas exhibition until Thursday 31 January.

The exhibition, which started on 3 December 2007, can be viewed at the Templeman Library Gallery on the University's Canterbury campus. It is open 8.45am - 10pm on Monday - Friday and 9.30am - 7pm on Saturday - Sunday, and is free and open to all. There is disabled access to the Templeman Library.

For many people, the cartoonist Carl Giles - voted Britain's Favourite Cartoonist of the 20th Century - has a strong association with Christmas and his annuals of cartoons have been given as presents for many years. Giles also drew cartoons for charities to use as Christmas cards, in particular for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

On show at the exhibition are examples of his Christmas cards, annuals, Christmas-themed cartoon artwork published in the Daily Express, programmes for charity events, Giles merchandise, toys that he used to draw from and a hand-made Christmas card for his wife.

The British Cartoon Archive at the University of Kent is currently working on a two year project funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee to catalogue the entire archive of Giles. This unique archive includes the entire contents of his studio from colour artwork to magazine cuttings, drawing boards to drawing pins and fan mail to bank statements. Giles also worked on some important early animation. Artwork, cels and film reels are also included in the archive. The project will also include the redesign of the British Cartoon Archive website and database of over 120,000 cartoons.

Contact: mediaoffice@kent.ac.uk

Story published at 12:41pm 24 January 2008