A rare opportunity to explore extensive but little-known production designs by celebrated political cartoonist Gerald Scarfe with storyboards, costumes and props from Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Disney’s Hercules and English National Ballet’s The Nutcracker.
Gerald Scarfe is the UK’s most celebrated political cartoonist; his 50-year-long career at The Sunday Times revealed an imagination that is acerbic, explosive and unmistakable. Less well-known is Scarfe’s lifelong contribution to the performing arts and his hugely significant work beyond the page, designing some of the most high-profile productions of the last 50 years.
This exhibition will be the first to explore Scarfe’s extraordinary work for stage and screen. It will feature over 100 works, many of which are exhibited here for the first time. They include preliminary sketches, storyboards, set designs, photographs, ephemera and costumes from productions including Orpheus in the Underworld at English National Opera, The Nutcracker by English National Ballet and Los Angeles Opera’s The Magic Flute.
It will also show his 1994 work as the only ever external Production Designer for Disney, on their feature film Hercules, as well as his concept, character and animation designs for Pink Floyd’s 1982 film adaptation of The Wall. Scarfe’s surreal and often grotesque artwork cemented The Wall’s iconic status in pop culture.
Known for his uncompromising satire in print, Scarfe started drawing for Punch in the 1960s and went on to work as The Sunday Times’ political cartoonist for 50 years, from 1967 until his retirement earlier this year.
| Duration | 22 September 2017 - 21 January 2018 |
| Times | Tuesday-Sunday 10am-6pm (closed Monday) |
| Cost | £8.25 |
| Venue | House of Illustration |
| Address | 2 Granary Square, London, N1C 4BH |
| Contact | 020 3696 2020 / frontofhouse@houseofillustration.org.uk / www.houseofillustration.org.uk |