La Bell Epoque Unveils Unreleased Bell

Steve Bell private view of La Bell Époque exhibition took place last Wednesday at the Cartoon Museum in Little Russell Square. In the overcrowded ground room of the museum, which hosts some of the work by the most prominent British cartoonists, The Guardian award winning author of comic strips gave a warm welcome to the guests occurred to admire the largest amount of material from his production ever displayed.

 “Becoming a cartoonist was the second right choice of my life – he said – “while the first one was to marry Heather,” – he added giving a hug to his wife. 

 The exhibition hosts a large quantity of works produced by the artist mainly for The Guardian, and for other publications, during the thirty years of his fruitful career as political cartoonist, alongside unreleased material.

 The leader cartoons and comic strips displayed in the cosy room of the museum disclose Bell’s unique gift as a graphic commentator of the major controversies that the British political landscape has faced over the course of more than three decades: Thatcherism, The Iraq war, the ‘war on terror.’ A lighter section is dedicated to the romances of the Royal family, Charles and Camilla, William and Kate.

 There was no career path that brought me to become a cartoonist,” – said Bell. “I studied art... But I didn’t like the idea of being an artist. I founded it somehow risible.” “First of all, I wanted to become a teacher, but I found that job too stressful.” “So – he added – I followed a friend from University, Kipper Williams, into the daunting and exciting world of freelance cartooning. He was definitely the person who inspired me to make it!”

Among the people present at the private view on Wednesday were members of his family, friends, members of the press, graphic novelist Brian Talbot, and the Cartoon museum curator, Anita O’Brien. La Bell Époque is now open to the public until July 24th.