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V&A exhibition goodies: The Tiger Who Came To Tea
Practically every household has a fondness for one of Judith Kerr’s picture books, whether it’s The Tiger Who Came to Tea or one of the Mog series. Somehow, this purveyor of slightly naive drawing, whose style became noticeably more adept as the years went by, has come to be regarded as a seminal illustrator.
Now the V&A Museum of Childhood is celebrating this lifetime oeuvre with an exhibition. I’m very much hoping to get up to Bethnal Green to see it before it ends on 4th September, and not least because ‘little visitors to the exhibition can have tea with a life-size tiger in Sophie’s kitchen or read the adventures of Mog curled up inside her cosy basket’. Wow, how cool does that sound?
Now, fabulous as all that may be, everyone knows that one of the best bits of the V&A is its shop, and there are some rather lovely tie-ins to this exhibition which you can buy in their online store, even if you don’t visit. Here are my favourites:
The Tiger Who Came To Tea mounted prints, top, would make a perfect nursery decoration. There are three different designs (plus one Mog), and they’re just £10 each. Paper masks, above, are perhaps a little steep at £5, but very pleasing.
To my mind, the tubes of biscuits marked ‘Tiger food’ and tea named ‘Tiger tea’, both £3.50, are the very nicest souvenirs of all, despite also being some of the cheapest. Plus you can recreate the story once you get home – excellent. Shipping costs are £3.95 for orders up to the value of £15, £5.95 for orders between £15 and £100.
Tagged Animal Masks, biscuits, cats, children's illustration, exhibitions, illustration, Judith Kerr, Mog, Museum of Childhood, museums, prints, the tiger who came to tea, tigers, V&A
DeborahJuly 26, 2011 at 2:20 pm
Oh I love the Tiger Food can! Why did I leave London to raise my kids again??x
RachelJuly 26, 2011 at 8:36 pm
We’ve been to this exhibition twice now. It’s *a-maz-ing*. Loads of biographical stuff (and all the ORIGINAL drawings from the Tiger, and loads of Mog originals, too!, and tonnes for children to do. The re-creation of the kitchen from the TwctT is brilliant. Like stepping into a story. There are clothes so you can dress up as Mummy, Daddy and Sophie going out for dinner in the dark, and a big tin of Tiger food you can give the stuffed tiger.
I fully intend to go back as many times as we can until it closes.
EveJuly 26, 2011 at 9:44 pm
We’ve been to this exhibition too, we saw it at Seven Stories in Newcastle (which incidentally I don’t think has ever been mentioned on BG!) and agree it’s fab. I loved the original JK drawings and like Rachel said the autobiographical stuff, T (3) loved the dressing up, sitting down for tea with the tiger, stories in Mog’s basket. Definitely well worth a visit!
Cool Theatre: The Tiger Who Came to Tea : Bambino GoodiesAugust 22, 2011 at 2:01 pm
[...] Judith Kerr has been capturing the imagination of kids around the world since 1968. We visited the exhibition at the V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green a few weeks back (must visit alert!) which meant we definitely had to check out the musical [...]