The Cartoon Museum in London is dedicated to British comics, graphic novels, and animation. It features over 1,700 works of art and 10,000 books and comics, as well as educational initiatives and awards for young artists. The museum was founded by Simon Heneage and is located in Camden Town. Other museums dedicated to comics can be found around the world, including in Athens, San Francisco, New York City, and Angoulême.
The Cartoon Museum is a British museum dedicated to comics, graphic novels and animation. It highlights the comic strip traditions of England, which date back to the 18th century. In operation since the 18th, the Cartoon Museum is located in central London, close to the famous British Museum. It features research facilities and educational initiatives, including the UK’s Young Cartoonist of the Year award. It is one of many museums around the world dedicated to comics and comics.
The Cartoon Museum is the brainchild of British publisher Simon Heneage, a lifelong fan of comics. In 1988, Heneage founded the Cartoon Art Trust, a fundraising initiative aimed at creating a museum of British comics. With the backing of British cartoonists and political figures, some of whom had themselves been the subjects of editorial cartoons, the privately funded museum opened in February 2006. Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth, officiated at the opening . The museum’s location in London’s Camden Town arts district is close to the childhood home of George Cruikshank, the 18th-century caricaturist considered a pioneer of modern comics.
The museum’s collection includes 1,700 works of art and more than 10,000 books and comics, many from Simon Heneage’s personal archive. The museum’s reference library, which contains these books and comics, is named in Heneage’s honor. Heneage, who passed away in 2011, was friends with many British cartoonists, including Heath Robinson, whose Rube Goldberg-like drawings made him a household name in 20th-century Britain. Other well-known artists featured in the museum’s exhibits include Ronald Searle, Hunt Emerson, and Gerald Scarfe.
Like many museums, the Cartoon Museum runs programs designed to capture the interests of children and support aspiring young artists. The museum’s Learning Program offers materials on the history and art of comics for classroom or independent study. Each year, the museum and the Cartoon Art Trust present awards in comics to deserving British artists. These include a Lifetime Achievement Award and two Young Cartoonist of the Year awards. One is aimed at struggling artists under the age of 30; the other is offered to aspiring cartoonists aged 18 and over.
There are many other museums dedicated to comics around the world. An unrelated facility in Athens, Greece also called the Museum of Comics focuses on the history of Greek comics. The United States has the Cartoon Art Museum, located in San Francisco, and the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, or MoCCA, in New York City. The world’s largest cartoon museum, the Billy Ireland Museum, is part of the Ohio State University. In France, Le Musée de la Bande Dessinée is located in Angoulême, the site of the largest comic convention in Europe.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
