Bloomin' Brilliant: The Life and Work of Raymond Briggs at
Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft is a highly personal show that will bring together 30 items from the late author's estate with
over 100 original artworks from his 60-year career and with thousands already attending, organisers have decided to extend the show through the festive season this winter.
New items to be added to the show for this extension will be a selection of Christmas cards Briggs made over the years and sent to friends and family, all featuring his characters and an invitation he made for the Penguin Hamish Hamilton Christmas Party.
Steph Fuller, Director, Ditchling Museum said:
"It has been a privilege to be invited by Raymond Briggs' estate to visit his home and select objects for this exhibition and we have been delighted with the response.
"We hope by extending the show for two months many more visitors can engage and enjoy the show this winter."
The exhibition joins up with the currently touring show from Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration (Raymond Briggs: A Retrospective) and is the first specifically curated show following the death of the author.
This exhibition includes work from Briggs's pioneering titles, including The Snowman (1978), Father Christmas (1973), Fungus the Bogeyman (1977) and When the Wind Blows (1982), plus the autobiographical graphic novel Ethel and Ernest (1998), delving into the origin and creation of these classic images and stories.
Also on show are his drawings, hand-lettered typography and page designs from his earliest commissions to his 2004 book The Puddleman.
For the first time following the author's death in 2022, this exhibition will also offer a deeply personal view of the items and objects that surrounded the author in his Sussex home, which was just a mile down the road in the village of Westmeston.
This will include Brigg's own writing and drawing desk which he used for over 40 years and where he first originated some of his most famous works.