Chris Beetles Gallery

(click image to enlarge)

Borka: the Adventures of a Goose with No Feathers – Endpapers

John Burningham (1936-2019)

Price

£17,500

Signed

Signed on label on backboard

Medium

Pen ink, watercolour and bodycolour with elements of collaged paper on board

Dimensions

16 ¼ x 26 inches

Illustrated

John Burningham, Borka: The Adventures of a Goose
with No Feathers, London: Jonathan Cape, 1963, Endpapers

Exhibited

The Illustrators. The British Art of Illustration 1900-2018', November 2018-January 2019, No 226;
Taking a Line for a Walk. John Vernon Lord and Friends. Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, 20 May - 31 October 2021

Beetles Choice - 04 January 2021

One of the greatest creators of picture books in recent decades, John Burningham is much missed as both a man and an artist since his death two years ago. He consistently touched the hearts and minds of his young readers with stories that championed the individual spirit and imagination of his protagonists, and promoted a vision of a better, more environmentally sustainable, world. In order to communicate these stories, he made innovative and joyful use of a wide range of media and mark-making. His achievement was acknowledged early when, in 1963, he was awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal for Illustration for his first book, Borka: The Adventures of a Goose with no Feathers. He was the first illustrator to win the medal a second time (for Mr Gumpy’s Outing in 1970), and received many further honours across his career. His final wish was for the illustrations for his last book ‘Mr Gumpy’s Rhino’ to be sold by Chris Beetles Gallery with all the proceeds to go to the Rhino conservation charity Tusk. Twice we have been forced to cancel this celebratory show, but we will stage this exhibition as soon as we are in safer and happier times.

More by this artist