Quentin Blake: An Illustrated Hospital at Moyse’s Hall Museum Review

DISCLOSURE – THIS EXPERIENCE WAS GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST/S FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW.

Reviewed by Mel Randle

Yesterday, myself and my daughter (8) were invited to Moyse’s Hall Museum in Bury St Edmunds to visit the new Quentin Blake: The Illustrated Hospital exhibition. Now, although this review should primarily be about that temporary exhibition, I believe I would be doing the museum an injustice if I didn’t talk about the museum as a whole!

I have not been to Bury St Edmunds before and as we live 60 miles away, we made a day of it. Moyse’s Hall Museum is slap bang in the middle of the town centre. All day parking in the Long Stay Car Park cost £3. I think given the items on display in the museum, it is imperative to make time to mooch around the town, taking in the Abbey remains, Abbey Gardens, Cathedral and St Margaret’s Church to bring the stories to life!

The Museum is an absolute treat from the moment you step through the door. With it’s medieval pillars and uneven stone floor, you feel like you’re stepping into the entrance hall of Hogwarts! One of our favourite displays was the Crime and Punishment and Witchcraft room. As with everything in the museum, it focused primarily on stories from Bury St Edmunds and the surrounding county. We are big Horrible Histories fans and were delighted that the stories were brought to life by it’s creator Terry Deary. With items on display such as mummified cats and a Gibbet Cage, the kids (and adults) are going to love the stories of murder and executions!!

There are lots of other treasures to look out for. A room dedicated to children’s literature throughout the ages offers a trip down memory lane with displays from The Wombles through to Julia Donaldson and lots in between. And in the room displaying Abbey artifacts, there is a lock of hair from Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII. This complimented our later visit to her grave in the local church.

Now up to the top floor for the purpose of the visit – ‘Quentin Blake: The Illustrated Hospital’. This is a temporary exhibition hosted by the museum throughout the summer. We are all familiar with Quentin Blakes instantly recognisable drawing style, particularly from his collaborations with Roald Dahl and more recently David Walliams, but unless you have had reason to visit one of the hospitals involved, you may not be aware of another significant side of his work.

Since 2005, he has been creating artwork for the walls of hospitals and healthcare settings. I remember a few years back accompanying someone to an appointment at Addenbrookes and commenting on the art on the wall that it looked like Quentin Blake’s work, and it was! It certainly made the arduous trek through the dark, clinical corridors more interesting!

What the exhibition highlights is the diversity of his work and how far it stretches! As well as displays from hospitals in the UK, there is also a selection of art from Paris. Another little known fact we learnt was that Quentin worked in Paris and fell in love with the place and still holds an affinity to it now. The range of healthcare settings is also vast – from dementia patients to eating disorder, from maternity to elderly, he has endeavoured to brighten the lives (and walls) of every generation and it is just as appealing to us, the museum visitor.

One particular display that stood out to us was a commission for the children’s end of life family room at Great Ormond Street Hospital. They were commissioned by parents who had lost their own child and felt the final hours together could be more peaceful and less clinical. As well as enjoying this collection of artworks, it also provided myself and my daughter the opportunity to talk about the sensitive subject behind it.

What I really liked about the way the museum presented the exhibition is that they have endeavoured to make it appealing to all ages. There is a little trail for children, so my daughter enjoyed looking for the ‘Things to Spot’, and there are some interactive screens dotted around with more information about Quentin Blake and a drawing masterclass from him. I learnt so much about the man behind the drawings too!

All in, we spent about 2.5 hours in the museum. It is not a vast place, but this makes for a better experience as we were able to take our time and look at everything without feeling overwhelmed. Overall it was a really relaxing enjoyable day!.

Rating: 5/5

The ‘Quentin Blake: An Illustrated Hospital’ is at Moyse’s Hall Museum until Sunday 6th October 2024.
All exhibition tickets include access to the entire museum. Adults: £5, Seniors Citizens: £4.50, Child & Full-Time Students: £3, Under 5s go free.

Opening times and more information can be found at https://www.moyseshall.org/