Baby rabbits that pore over their schoolbooks and squirrels who smoke cigars, squabble and get up to mischief are among the many, some might say macabre, delights of Potter’s world. However, his best-loved characters were kittens, and though his most famous kitten tableau is unfortunately not on loan (it’s owned by a collector in the US), The Kittens' Wedding can still be seen on an exhibition poster (pictured below). Meticulously detailed, right down to the frilly undergarments, it was the last tableau Potter created, in 1890 (he died in 1918, aged 83). All were originally displayed in The Potter Museum of Curiosity in Bramber, Potter’s home village in West Sussex. When it closed in the Seventies, the collection moved to Brighton, then Arundel and lastly to the Jamaica Inn in Cornwall, until it was finally dispersed at auction. All the items went to private collectors.
As well as Potter’s extraordinary curiosities, part of Blake’s own studio has also been recreated. A life-long collector of self-taught and folk art and popular memorabilia, the items on view range from a miniature fairground by retired Norfolk farmer Arthur Windley to papier mâché puppets by vaudeville entertainer Harry Vernon and a series of pin-up tapestries by ex-serviceman Ted Willcox.
- Exhibition #3 at the Museum of Everything can be seen until Christmas
To view gallery below click on first image.
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1. Clown and boxer puppets, Harry Vernon, c1920/30
2. Happy Families, Walter Potter, c1850/1900
3. The Upper Ten, or Squirrel's Club, Walter Potter
4. Two-headed sheep, Walter Potter
5. Charlie Chaplin puppet head c1930
6. Pin-up tapestry, Ted Willcox, c1950s
7. Handmade fairground, Arthur Windley, 2010
8. Jig doll, c1940
9. Boxing squirrels, anonymous, after Walter Potter
10 Boxing squirrels, anonymous, after Walter Potter
11. Squirrels, Walter Potter
12. The Potter Museum of Curiosity poster (The Kittens' Wedding, Walter Potter, 1890)
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