The British cartoonist, comics artist and children’s book author Posy Simmonds (1945) has attracted attention internationally with the three graphic novels Gemma Bovery (1999), Tamara Drewe (2007) and Cassandra Darke (2018).
She fascinates with precise psychological portraits, mocks the shortcomings of the middle class and cultural scene, caricatures staidness, and criticises social developments.
Relatively long text passages alternate with traditional comic sequences, while references to classics by writers such as Gustave Flaubert and Charles Dickens add further layers to the stories.
An elegant, clear and corporeal drawing style, profoundly developed characters, unerring humour and the alert mind of a great storyteller characterise all of Posy Simmonds’s works.
The exhibition (Posy Simmons Close Up) presents the most comprehensive retrospective on this major British artist yet seen in Switzerland, with original drawings from all graphic novels and from her children’s books, as well as illustrations and cartoons for newspapers and magazines, plus unpublished preliminary work.
It is also the first-ever exhibition of originals by Posy Simmonds in the German-speaking world.