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STEVE BELL’S WINDSOR TAPESTRY
Two years on from his coronation,
The Windsor Tapestry
showcases a visual history of King Charles III from 1980 to 2023, told in cartoons drawn at the time it happened, and accompanied by the monarch’s own words - as imagined by legendary British cartoonist Steve Bell.
The Royal Family is intertwined with British culture, politics, and art and are a core part of everyday British life and values - but like many Royals before them, they are not immune to the sharp satire of a cartoonist’s pen and ink. With a tradition of the free press stretching back over 300 years, cartoonists have long held the Royals and other powerful figures to account, and showcased the good, the bad and the strange parts of their role in British society. For the past forty years legendary British political cartoonist Steve Bell has been caricaturing King Charles III and his family, and Steve Bell’s Windsor Tapestry brings together 98 of these cartoons into a 28-metre long fabric tapestry telling a visual history of King Charles III (in the same way the Bayeux Tapestry told the story of King Harold II and King William I, but with a lot less arrows through eyes). The tapestry covers from 1980 to the present day and also features other artists’ depictions of King Charles - including Gerald Scarfe and Kathryn Lamb. The tapestry was originally exhibited in October 2023 as part of the 42nd annual Festival of caricature at the Centre International de la Caricature, du Dessin de Presse et d’Humour in St Just Le Martel near Limoges in France.
Steve Bell is one of the most revered figures in British cartooning, with a career spanning more than four decades and a wealth of iconic images, strips and caricatures of famous public figures, most prominently politicians, behind him. He is notable for his long-running If… strip for The Guardian, which ran from 1981 - 2021. He has produced illustrations and comic strips for many different magazines including Whoopee, Punch, Private Eye, the Radio Times, The Spectator and The Guardian. His work has been published and exhibited all over the world and he has won numerous awards.