✒ The Wine Show
Remove a Champagne Cork with Your Teeth – Arnold Roth
Wine writing today rarely contains humour, which when you think of its Bacchanalian roots, seems like a sad omission.
So, it’s great news that we can enjoy humour a-plenty this month at The Wine Show – no, not a Prowein exposition or London wine trade marathon tasting, but The Wine Show exhibition at Chris Beetles Gallery in St. James, London, where more than 150 cartoons and illustrations on wine are to be exhibited. The Gallery specialises in traditional artworks from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, and holds the greatest stock of original illustrations and cartoons for sale in the world. My father was a great fan of Pont cartoons, so I have memories of accompanying him there, as he spent what seemed then an incredibly long time gazing at the diverse, wide-ranging, and amusing stock.
Among the artists on show are George Du Maurier, Michael ffolkes, Peter Cross, Simon Drew, Edward Ardizzone, Matt (a favourite cartoonist of Michael Broadbent), John Burningham and, of course, Pont. I have a particular affection for the cartoons of John Burningham, perhaps because his children’s books Cannonball Simp, along with Humbert and Mister Firkin, were two of my favourite childhood books. I was delighted to discover that late in life he wrote a book on Champagne, illustrated with his magical drawings.
All the cartoons are for sale and can be viewed on www.chrisbeetles.com.
Better still, wander down Ryder Street, St. James, and see them for yourself.
The Exhibition runs from 7th to 25th November. Monday - Saturday, 10am - 5.30pm.
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