Seven Stories celebrates John Burningham's artwork

Sep 21 2010 by David Whetstone, The Journal

A GOOSE with no feathers got John Burningham’s career off the ground, as DAVID WHETSTONE reports.

IF at any time during the past 47 years you have been a child - or indeed a parent - there is a good chance you will have encountered the work of author and illustrator John Burningham.

An exhibition celebrating 50 years of John’s work, taking in his time at art college and his funny posters for London Transport, has just opened at Seven Stories, the centre for children’s books.

It is the usual bright and jolly affair, rightly showcasing an artform - children’s book illustration - that was too often ignored before Seven Stories opened in 2005.

But a warning to those now grown-up fans of Borka: The Adventures of a Goose With No Feathers or Mr Gumpy’s Outing - mind how you go. As with many Seven Stories shows, much of the action is at knee height.

But everyone is going to enjoy this exhibition because John Burningham’s illustrations are so full of colour and humour that you really wouldn’t mind having them on the wall at home.

The man himself reveals, once settled onto a sky blue sofa in the corner of the gallery, that much of what we see had been stored away until quite recently. Some of it was even gathering dust.

“The only thing we have at home is a big tapestry of Borka done by Edinburgh Weavers last year, but otherwise I wouldn’t display my own work in the house,” he tells me.

A John Burningham exhibition was mounted in Edinburgh last year which led to this one with more activity and interpretative material to enhance the display of pictures. A London exhibition is scheduled for next year.

Among other claims to fame, John Burningham was the man who created the familiar image of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang which we know from book, film and stage musical.