Does anyone know if any of Beatrix Potter's original work is on display anywhere in London?
I was under the impression some would be in the V&A or the British Museum, but based on their websites it looks like everything is just in collections, off display.
The British Museum’s Beatrix Potter drawings are available to see “by appointment” in the Prints & Drawings Collection.
See near the bottom of this excellent article: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/animals/beatrix-potter-flopsy-bunnies-and-british-museum
There’s a form to fill out on this page - go to Study Room: https://www.britishmuseum.org/our-work/departments/prints-and-drawings#accessing-the-collection
You will need to provide a reason why you want to see them.
It may be that other work by Beatrix Potter will be available to view at the V&A's new facility, the V&A East Storehouse in Stratford, when it opens on 31st May 2025. You can't check at the moment, presumably not until it opens, but the storehouse is designed to make available to view a lot more of the huge collections the V&A owns. You can find out more here -https://www.vam.ac.uk/east
And thanks for this thread, as it drew me to the V&A website where I found a collection of photographs of Preston Bus Station they hold. It's a masterpiece of brutalist design, once the biggest bus station in Europe and a building close to my heart. I will have to see that as soon as the museum opens. Sorry - that's completely off topic!
The V&A recently had an exhibition traveling through the US (Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature), but I can't seem to find anything for 2025...it was an excellent exhibit, saw it at the Morgan Library in NYC. Anyway, you would think the V&A would have something!
The V and A currently seem to have one item on display- https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1310333/watercolour-beatrix-potter/
That poses a thought as to whether the Natural History Museum have anything. But their catalogue is sending me round the twist. I can find a lot of printed stuff there (journals, books etc) much of which is downloadable- but objects are rather more elusive.
This thread is the literal definition of a rabbit hole. I love it!
@ponygirl813 A Peter Rabbit hole? (LOL emoji, heart emoji) I agree - it’s great!
Thank you everyone! Sounds like her work is quite elusive. (Makes sense, given they're mostly watercolours and sensitive to light).
Really interesting to hear about the V&A East Storehouse opening later this year though! Definitely something I’ll check out.
