John Ryan exhibition in Rye

For anyone venturing to the south east corner of England there's an exhibition of Captain Pugwash creator John Ryan's work at Rye Art Gallery until mid February 2012.

John Ryan, the author, illustrator and animator, who died in 2009 in his home town of Rye aged 88, created Captain Pugwash, who became much loved on children’s television in the 1970s. He also devised The Adventures of Sir Prancelot and Mary, Mungo and Midge. 

Launched by Ryan in the first issue of Eagle comic in 1950, Captain Horatio Pugwash soon became a children’s favourite and an eight-year stint as a comic strip in Radio Times followed. In 1957 Pugwash and his crew aboard the Black Pig — Tom the cabin boy, Willy, Barnabas and Pugwash’s deadly enemy Cut-Throat Jake — made their debut in Ryan’s long-running series for BBC Television. 

During his long career, he created many other characters and produced a large body of work including numerous books and artworks. This exhibition celebrates his life and work through his art.

As well as original comic artwork,it also includes some of the animation boards from the Pugwash TV

series.

More info: www.ryeartgallery.co.uk

John Ryan Artwork Exhibition in Rye

Two characters that were created for the first issue of Eagle comic in April 1950 have entered the British public's collective consciousness. The first is Eagle's most well known character, the spaceman Dan Dare, but the other, whilst well known, is rarely associated with Eagle.

Artist John Ryan created the humorous pirate Captain Pugwash for that first issue of Eagle but his adventures there didn't last long and it was the transfer of the character into a limited animation black and white TV series on the BBC in 1957 that guaranteed his fame. Despite the comparative failure of Pugwash in Eagle, John Ryan's other Eagle character, the Extra Special Agent Harris Tweed, was popular with the comic's readers and Ryan would go on to create Lettuce Leefe for Girl and Sir Boldasbrass for Swift, both of which were sibling titles of Eagle.

John Ryan passed away in 2009 but the Rye Art Gallery in his home town of Rye is about to celebrate his life and work with an exhibition of some 50 pieces of original artwork. This John Ryan Retrospective will open at 2pm on 19 November 2011 and run until 12 February 2012.

There are more details on the John Ryan Retrospective on the Rye Art Gallery website which includes the opening times of the gallery.

There are more details about John Ryan's work on the Eagle Times and Bear Alley blogs.