The Victoria Art Gallery is launching Toddler Thursdays to coincide with the forthcoming exhibition The Wonderful World of the Ladybird Book Artists.
Toddler Thursdays are free, drop-in sessions which which invite parents and carers to come to the Gallery with your toddler to enjoy story time among the lovely Ladybird Books. Let your little ones enjoy the pictures and books as the gallery’s storytellers bring to life the magic of stories.
Toddler Thursdays take place from 10.30-11am on these Thursdays during the exhibition:
25 January
1 February
8 February
22 February
29 February
7 March WORLD BOOK DAY
14 March
21 March
The Wonderful World of Ladybird Book Artists is beautiful and colourful exhibition displaying an unparalleled collection of books, original artwork and artefacts, and shows how the numerous, talented Ladybird illustrators played such an enormous role in the extraordinary success of the company in the 20th century.
Tracing the interconnected work of these artists, the Ladybird story itself is recounted over its ‘golden years’ – 1940 to 1975. Visually rich and varied, the exhibition evokes many memories of childhood.
Vintage Ladybird books encapsulate so much of the history of Britain in the 20th century. There were many different factors behind Ladybird books’ phenomenal success in the 1950s – 80s but as Ladybird books were essentially picture books, it was in large measure the illustrations that attracted and engaged users.
But who were the artists? Are they known for other work? What was the context in which they were illustrating? Who were the models for the pictures and what were the real locations?
These are some of the questions that the exhibition explores – and in the process, it recounts the fascinating story of the little Loughborough print business which became a giant in children’s publishing.