‘The Wind in the Willows’
by Peter Diamond
Sun, Sep 17, 17 / James BDP
We’re delighted to release a brand new poster for Kenneth Grahame’s ‘The Wind in the Willows’ by the brilliant Peter Diamond. Below his thoughts on the poster, and if you want to hear more from him check out the interview our intern did with him here
“I fought with this one a lot, more maybe than anything else I’ve made. But I’m happy I persisted, this ornery bastard has ended up being pretty special to me.
My impression of these characters and this story going into this turned out to be very different from what I came away with after reading the novel. I was broadly familiar with The Wind In The Willows from various adaptations and had certainly seen enough Willows art to have a pretty strong idea of what this thing was about: idyllic English scenery, cute animals in tweed, the toad being a bit loopy...
But Toad’s not just a bit loopy, he’s truly sick. He’s charming and funny, sure, but in that very sad way perhaps only a person in the depths of addiction can be. His great source of joy and purpose is also a fatal menace to himself and those around him, and it wreaks havoc on his life.
I wanted to get at some of that in the drawing, how the book goes in these two directions simultaneously. The characters were to stay tweedy and cuddly, but the image should be somehow chaotic and confusing. I wanted to show him plunging into oblivion and soaring like a bird at the same time. And I did all I could to draw you into those unhinged but ecstatic toady eyes.” - Peter Diamond
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The Wind In The Willows (UK Variant) by Peter Diamond
18" x 36" Screen Print
100lb Cover Cougar Smooth Opaque White paper
Hand Numbered. Gallery stamp on the reverse
Printed by Seizure Palace
Limited Edition of 60
£50
The Wind In The Willows (USA Variant) by Peter Diamond
18" x 36" Screen Print
100lb Cover Cougar Smooth Opaque White paper
Hand Numbered. Gallery stamp on the reverse
Printed by Seizure Palace
Limited Edition of 40
$65
Watership Down (Ink Drawing)
69 x 39 cm
Cold press watercolor paper
Signed by the artist
£650
Watership Down Ink drawing (detail)