Good Grief, Charlie Brown! at Somerset House review: A fantasyland for Peanuts fans
Until March 2019
If you didn’t grow up reading Charles M Schulz’ cartoon strips, you might wonder what all the fuss is about. Isn’t it just a cartoon strip about an anthropomorphised dog designed to sell pencil cases?
But despite the Schulz estate’s willingness to cash in on the Snoopy IP, Peanuts is something entirely more profound. The pithy cartoons, often just a few frames long, are bite-sized ruminations on the human condition: sad, touching, funny and heartbreaking. They are rich in philosophical, psychological and sociological messages that hold up as well today as they did 60 years ago.
This extensive exhibition at Somerset House brings together a vast assortment of Peanuts memorabilia, including dozens of original panel drawings. The strips are accompanied by items that give them context – a strip showing Snoopy and his endless quest to find the perfect patch of ice (a melancholy metaphor for Schulz’s perfectionism), is displayed beside the artist’s ice skates, for instance.
Many of the themes touched upon by Schulz are expanded with biographical snippets: the loneliness and alienation he felt when he was in the army; how his tough upbringing in Minneapolis affected his outlook.
There are sections filled with toys, documentary videos, a drawing area for children, and even a section dedicated to art inspired by his work. But nothing comes close to the simple power of those line drawings.
The overriding impression is of kindness and acceptance, the idea that you should just be nice to people, even if they’re different. It’s a message that feels especially resonant today.