Competition: Win a Rude Britannia Book!

Marking the launch of the Rude Britannia Exhibition at the Tate, downthetubes has THREE copies of the tie-in book - Rude Britannia: British Comic Art by Martin Myrone, Tim Batchelor and Cedar Lewisohn - to give away!


Comic art - art that gains its effect through visual humour, caricature, exaggeration and slapstick, whether in print, reproduction or through the moving image - has long helped shape and inform British culture.

This 160 page, entertaining and irreverent history - featuring 100 colour illustrations - aims to present a wide-screen vision of comic art, from the eighteenth century to the present day, it features works by classic cartoonists and caricaturists, from Gillray, Rowlandson and Cruikshank, to Steve Bell, Robert Crumb, David Low and Ronald Searle. Beginning with the origins of the caricature, the book encompasses cartoons, comic books, film, photography, audio, new media and contemporary art. It traces the development of different genres and techniques, and deals with the development of successive media, from the engraving through to the newspaper and the online blog.

Through extensive illustrations of classic and little-known facets of comic art, the book succeeds in telling an alternative history of Britain. Leading critics are joined by well-known comedians, cartoonists and historians, making this a very contemporary take on what is still a rich and vibrant seam in the public life of the nation.

Martin Myrone is Curator (18th & 19th Century British Art), Tate Britain and is the author of The Blake Book, Henry Fuseli and George Stubbs. Tim Batchelor is Assistant Curator at Tate Britain and Cedar Lewisohn works for Tate Media and is the author of Street Art.

HOW TO ENTER: Simply answer the question below and send us the answer by e-mail to johnfreeman6-tatebritaincomp@yahoo.co.uk to arrive by 12 noon on Friday 25th June 2010. Please include a contact address. Sorry, UK readers only, due to postage costs! Three winners with the correct answer will be drawn at random from the downthetubes straw hat by the office cat and the names will be published on the web site.

• Which British national newspaper publishes Steve Bell's "If" comic strip?

Good luck!

• More about the book here on the Tate Britain web site


• Tate Britain is at Millbank, London SW1P 4RG. Tel: 020 7887 8888 E-mail: visiting.britain@tate.org.uk. Web: www.tate.org.uk/britain/. Entry is free except for major exhibitions: Entrance to Rude Britannia is £10, Concessions £6. Open every day 10.00–18.00. Last admission to exhibitions