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Raymond Briggs: A Celebration

The Snowman has become an integral part of the British Christmas, with its come-to-life hero taking a small dressing-gowned boy for an adventure Walking in the Air . It's a 20th-century equivalent of Charles Dickens's tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim. When The Snowman 's creator, Raymond Briggs, applied to go to art school at the age of 15, his interviewer was horrified to hear that he wanted to be a cartoonist. Today, he might be even more horrified to find out about  Bloomin' Brilliant: The Life and Work of Raymond Briggs at the Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft in East Sussex.   Briggs, who died two years ago, lived just a mile down the road from Ditchling, in the shadow of the South Downs. This joyful celebratory show looks back on a 60-year career that also gave us Fungus the Bogeyman , Father Christmas , When the Wind Blows and the story of his parents, Ethel and Ernest . Cartoons, picture books, graphic novels, for children perhaps, but actual
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Opening and Closing in August

One of the most stunning objects in the recently ended World of Stonehenge exhibition at the British Museum was this exquisite Bronze Age golden sun pendant, uncovered in Shropshire only in 2018. The breathtaking piece is now embarking on a national tour, starting at the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro from August 6 to November 5 and moving on to Lincoln, Sunderland and Stornoway over the course of the next 14 months. 
August is generally a quiet period for exhibition openings, but there are two shows starting in Germany before the end of the month that are well worth highlighting. One is a treat for enthusiasts of German Expressionism: The Museum Folkwang is marking its 100th anniversary in Essen with a show examining the history of its extensive collection of Expressionist art -- very German but banned by the Nazis as degenerate. Expressionists at Folkwang features around 250 works, including loans from elsewhere, and runs from August 20 to January 8.

It's only 40 minutes by train from Essen to Wuppertal, where the Von der Heydt Museum starts a show on August 21 devoted to how artists have perceived themselves in self-portraits since the 19th century. Strangers to Ourselves (page in German) has work from Toulouse-Lautrec, Christian Schad, Félix Vallotton, Paula Modersohn-Becker and Francis Bacon as well as contemporary artists. Until January 29. 

Last chance to see....

August 21 is your final deadline to get along to Breaking the News at the British Library in London, a thoroughly entertaining and absorbing exhibition about how news has been made and manipulated down the centuries, and full of historic front pages.
The women's Euros have brought football to an even larger audience, and for those newcomers, as well as for established fans full of expectations for the new season in this World Cup year, we can recommend Football: Designing the Beautiful Game at the Design Museum in London. The final whistle will be blown on August 29; no penalty shoot-out! 

Images

Bronze Age sun pendant, 1000-800 BC, British Museum. © The Trustees of the British Museum
Daily Express front page, June 6, 1963, British Library

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