New Quentin Blake museum to provide a London home for a booming art form

The centre – featuring the work of acclaimed artists – will be the only permanent place in Britain to learn about the history of illustration

The work of a talented illustrator, whether Sir John Tenniel, creator of the sinister 19th-century Alice in Wonderland images, or Axel Scheffler and his scary Gruffalo, is as recognisable as the stories they have helped to tell. And while drawings once played second fiddle to the author’s words, the impact of the art of illustration, both in books and on wider public platforms, is now much better understood.

“llustration has benefited from a challenging of hierarchies,” said Olivia Ahmad, artistic director of the future Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration. “For a long time it was dismissed as ‘low’ culture, but these boundaries are being shown to be false.”