{{Short description|Museum in London, England}} {{distinguish|Cartoon Art Museum|National Cartoon Museum}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}} {{Use British English|date=August 2015}} {{Infobox museum | name = Cartoon Museum | logo = | image = File:Cartoon_museum_logo.jpg | caption = The Cartoon Museum | alt = | map_type = Central London | map_caption = | map_alt = | coordinates = {{coord|51.5176|N|0.1386|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}} | former_name = | established = {{Start date and age|df=yes|2006}}<br/>Reopened 1 July 2019 | location = 63 Wells St<br />London, W1A 3AE<br />United Kingdom | type = the art of comics and cartoons | collection_size = 4,000 plus original cartoons and prints | visitors = | director = Beth Bryan<ref>[https://museumsandheritage.com/advisor/posts/cartoon-museum-appoints-new-director/ museumsandheritage.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260118201614/https://museumsandheritage.com/advisor/posts/cartoon-museum-appoints-new-director/ |date=18 January 2026 }} 16 October 2025</ref> | president = | curator = Emma Stirling-Middleton | public_transit = {{rail-interchange|london|underground}} {{lus|Oxford Circus}} | network = | website = {{url|www.cartoonmuseum.org}} }} '''The Cartoon Museum''' is a London museum for British cartoons, caricatures and comic strips, owned and operated by the Cartoon Art Trust (Registered Charity 327 978). It has a library of over 5,000 books and 4,000 comics. The museum issues catalogues and features a changing display of over 250 exhibits from its collection of over 4,000 original cartoons and prints. The museum is "dedicated to preserving the best of British cartoons, caricatures, comics and animation, and to establishing a museum with a gallery, archives and innovative exhibitions to make the creativity of cartoon art past and present, accessible to all for the purposes of education, research and enjoyment.".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cartooncentre.com/about.html#Anchor-Missio-32048|title=About Us: Mission|access-date=2006-03-11|archive-date=2 March 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060302061951/http://www.cartooncentre.com/about.html#Anchor-Missio-32048|url-status=live}}</ref>
==History== ===Origins=== As early as 1949 the cartoonist H. M. Bateman had called for the founding of a national museum of cartoons.<ref name="TheGuardian2021"/> The Cartoon Art Trust was formed in 1988 by a group of cartoonists and collectors, including the cartoonist Mel Calman, whose aim was to found a museum dedicated to "collecting, exhibiting, promoting and preserving the best of British cartoon art".<ref>[https://comiccreatorsuk.wordpress.com/the-cartoon-museum/ History of the Cartoon Museum] Retrieved 28 August 2021</ref>
===Little Russell Street location (2006–2018)=== thumb|right|The main exhibition area in 2014, Little Russell Street location thumb|right|The first-floor exhibition area, Little Russell Street thumb|right|Cartoon Museum, Wells St thumb|Oliver Preston at The Cartoon Museum in March 2026 The Cartoon Museum first opened on 23 February 2006 in Little Russell St, Fitzrovia, in Central London, following a £750,000 fundraising campaign led by cartoonist and Cartoon Art Trust chairman Oliver Preston.<ref name="BBCNews22Feb2006">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4736558.stm BBC news 22 February 2006] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060628221649/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4736558.stm |date=28 June 2006 }} Retrieved 28 August 2021</ref> The museum was opened by The Duke of Edinburgh, who was patron of the Cartoon Art Trust for over 20 years, and had himself attended Bateman's talk at the Royal College of Art in 1949.<ref name="TheGuardian2021">[https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/apr/10/murdoch-rag-martin-rowson-recalls-prince-philips-verdict-on-the-times The Guardian, 10 April 2021] Retrieved 25 August 2021</ref> The Duke "saw humour in everything".<ref>[https://www.itv.com/news/london/2021-04-14/royals-natural-targets-for-cartoons-but-philip-saw-humour-in-everything ITV News 14 April 2021] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415030847/https://www.itv.com/news/london/2021-04-14/royals-natural-targets-for-cartoons-but-philip-saw-humour-in-everything |date=15 April 2021 }} Retrieved 27 August 2021</ref> Director/Curator Anita O'Brien noted: "There has never been a cartoon museum [in Britain]... In spite of the very strong historical tradition here, there has always been a very strong ambivalence towards comic art."<ref>News24 "Cartoon museum opens"</ref> CAT chairman Oliver Preston stated that "Cartoons are art ...[but] they have never been treated as art and it's about time these cartoonists had a home where people could see their work".<ref name="BBCNews22Feb2006" />
The Cartoon Museum hosted many exhibitions of cartoon art, including in 2014 a 30th-anniversary celebration of the TV satire ''Spitting Image''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/gallery/2014/feb/25/thirtieth-anniversary-of-spitting-image-celebrated-at-cartoon-musuem|work=The Guardian|title=Thirtieth anniversary of Spitting Image celebrated at Cartoon Museum|date= 25 February 2014|access-date=31 August 2021}}</ref> The museum attracted 26,000 visitors a year<ref name="TheGuardian2019"/> but closed at Little Russell Street in late 2018, forced out by a substantial rent increase.<ref name="TheGuardian2019"/>
===Wells Street location (from 2019) === Following a £1m fundraising campaign led by cartoonist and Cartoon Art Trust chairman Oliver Preston,<ref name="museumsandheritage">[https://advisor.museumsandheritage.com/news/new-director-and-curator-appointed-by-londons-cartoon-museum/ museumsandheritage.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210825203720/https://advisor.museumsandheritage.com/news/new-director-and-curator-appointed-by-londons-cartoon-museum/ |date=25 August 2021 }} Retrieved 25 Aug 2021</ref> the Cartoon Museum reopened in new, larger premises at 63 Wells Street, north of Oxford Street, on 1 July 2019, on a long-term lease in a new development with a peppercorn rent.<ref name="TheGuardian2019">{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/jul/01/london-cartoon-museum-reopens-with-a-fresh-look-at-comic-art|title=London's Cartoon Museum reopens with a fresh look at comic art|last=correspondent|first=Mark Brown Arts|date=2019-07-01|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-07-02|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> The space was designed by Sam Jacob Studio.<ref>[https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/buildings/2m-london-cartoon-museum-completed-by-sam-jacob-studio architectsjournal.co.uk 18 July 2019] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827203729/https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/buildings/2m-london-cartoon-museum-completed-by-sam-jacob-studio |date=27 August 2021 }} Retrieved 27 August 2021</ref> One of the first exhibitions was titled ''"Comic Creators: The Famous and the Forgotten"'', featuring classic cartoons such as Billy Bunter, Jonah, Desperate Dan, Dennis the Menace and Judge Dredd.<ref name="TheGuardian2019"/>
The new premises also includes a learning studio and a shop.<ref name="TheGuardian2019"/> The main exhibition gallery, which tells the story of the history of cartoons with examples selected from the museum collection, was curated by cartoonist Steve Bell,<ref name="TheGuardian2019"/> and includes "the best of British cartoon art".<ref name="TimeOut">[https://www.timeout.com/london/museums/cartoon-museum Time Out 1 October 2019] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210828141343/https://www.timeout.com/london/museums/cartoon-museum |date=28 August 2021 }} Retrieved 28 August 2021</ref> The collection spans 300 years of cartoons, beginning with the Georgian "''Golden Age of Caricature''",<ref>[https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/illustration-london-drawings-cartoons-comics-a3969436.html Evening Standard, Illustration in London] Retrieved 27 August 2021</ref> including James Gillray and George Cruikshank.<ref>[https://www.wallpaper.com/architecture/sam-jacob-studio-designs-cartoon-museum-london www.wallpaper.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827204134/https://www.wallpaper.com/architecture/sam-jacob-studio-designs-cartoon-museum-london |date=27 August 2021 }} Retrieved 27 August 2021.</ref> In the early Eighteenth century British travellers to Europe on the Grand Tour brought back Italian caricatura, introducing polite society to the new art form.<ref name="TimeOut"/>
The collection also includes work by wartime cartoonists such as David Low's ''All Behind You'',<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/image_galleries/cartooon_museum_gallery.shtml BBC News 28 October 2014] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901203814/https://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/image_galleries/cartooon_museum_gallery.shtml |date=1 September 2021 }} Retrieved 1 September 2021</ref> and modern satirists such as Gerald Scarfe and Ralph Steadman.<ref name="TimeOut"/>
In January 2020 a new museum director, Joe Sullivan, and a new curator, Emma Stirling-Middleton, were appointed.<ref name="museumsandheritage"/> In 2020 The Cartoon Museum received a grant of £98,700 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/dec/30/daniel-meikle-and-fergus-boylan-named-young-cartoonists-of-the-year The Guardian 30 December 2020] Retrieved 26 August 2021</ref>
In June 2021 the museum re-opened after the COVID-19 lockdown with an exhibition of the art of ''V for Vendetta'' titled "''Behind the Mask''".<ref>[https://fitzrovianews.com/2021/06/14/exhibition-explores-the-cultural-impact-of-v-for-vendetta/ Fitzrovia News 14 June 2021] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210915160737/https://fitzrovianews.com/2021/06/14/exhibition-explores-the-cultural-impact-of-v-for-vendetta/ |date=15 September 2021 }} Retrieved 15 September 2021</ref> In September 2021 The Cartoon Museum exhibited ''"Hidden Treasures"'', three previously unknown works by Ralph Steadman.<ref>[https://bleedingcool.com/comics/things-to-do-in-london-if-you-like-comics-in-september-2021/ Cartoon Museum at bleedingcool.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907102013/https://bleedingcool.com/comics/things-to-do-in-london-if-you-like-comics-in-september-2021/ |date=7 September 2021 }} Retrieved 7 September 2021</ref> In 2021 the Cartoon Museum was "highly commended" by the Museums and Heritage Awards for "Fundraisers of the Year".<ref>[https://awards.museumsandheritage.com/winners-2021/ museumsandheritage.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210930101327/https://awards.museumsandheritage.com/winners-2021/ |date=30 September 2021 }} Retrieved 30 September 2021</ref> In November 2021 the museum opened "''The Laughter Lab''", an exhibition dedicated to exploring the science behind laughter, in association with evolutionary biologist Robin Dunbar.<ref>[https://www.newscientist.com/article/2300650-laughter-lab-at-londons-cartoon-museum-explores-the-science-of-humour/ Laughter Lab at newscientist.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209084644/https://www.newscientist.com/article/2300650-laughter-lab-at-londons-cartoon-museum-explores-the-science-of-humour/ |date=9 December 2021 }} Retrieved 9 December 2021</ref>
==Exhibitions== thumb|right|Cartoon Museum Interior, 2019 Previous exhibitions have included Ronald Searle, Pont, Fougasse, Rowland Emett, ''The Beano'' and ''The Dandy'', Mike Williams, Mel Calman, cartoons from private London clubs, ''Viz'', ''Alice in Sunderland'' (Bryan Talbot), Robert Dighton, Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher and ''Spitting Image''.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}
Exhibitions feature catalogues, such as ''Ronald Searle: Graphic Master'', which includes essays on Searle's work. Leading cartoonists and filmmakers have produced artworks in homage to Searle and written pieces, including Steve Bell, Roger Law, Mike Leigh, Uli Meyer, Arnold Roth, Martin Rowson, Gerald Scarfe, Posy Simmonds and Ralph Steadman. {{citation needed|date=September 2021}} In September 2023 the Cartoon Museum will host an exhibition celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Aardman Animation's short film ''The Wrong Trousers''.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/film/gallery/2023/aug/21/wallace-and-gromit-the-wrong-trousers-30-exhibition-cartoon-museum Wallace and Gromit Turn 30 at The Guardian, 21 August 2023] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240606213837/https://www.theguardian.com/film/gallery/2023/aug/21/wallace-and-gromit-the-wrong-trousers-30-exhibition-cartoon-museum |date=6 June 2024 }} Retrieved 7 September 2023</ref>
==Education== The museum runs a learning programme for primary and secondary schools in a range of subjects, including art, media, history, English and animation. With workshops for children during half-term and holidays, it also features adult courses in cartooning and graphic novels.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/feb/20/topstories3.arts|title=London cartoon museum opens|first=Maev|last=Kennedy|work=The Guardian|date=20 February 2006}}</ref><ref name="TimeOut"/>
==Awards== Every year the trustees of the Cartoon Art Trust host the Cartoon Art Trust Awards, giving a number of awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award to an artist who has made a significant contribution to British cartooning. Past winners have included Ronald Searle, David Levine, Trog, Fluck and Law, Norman Thelwell, Frank Dickens, David Langdon, Gerald Scarfe, Leo Baxendale and Bill Tidy. The CAT also give the "Pont Award" to a cartoonist whose drawings reflect "The British Character". Past winners include Norman Thelwell, "Mac", Michael Heath, Sue McCartney-Snape and Tony Husband. The Museum also hosts the Young Cartoonist of the Year Award which receives around 1,000 submissions every year.<ref>[https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-does-no-one-want-to-be-a-cartoonist-any-more- Nick Newman, The Spectator, 25 July 2020] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201103100132/https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-does-no-one-want-to-be-a-cartoonist-any-more- |date=3 November 2020 }} Retrieved 27 August 2021</ref>
==See also== *British Cartoonists' Association *Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} *{{official website|http://www.cartoonmuseum.org}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cartoon Museum, The}} Category:Art museums and galleries in London Category:British comics Category:Cartooning museums Category:Art museums and galleries established in 2006 Category:Museums in the London Borough of Camden Category:Mass media museums in the United Kingdom Category:2006 establishments in England