As Private Eye turns 50, we still can't complete its fiendishly difficult crossword...
2001 is the fiftieth anniversary of the brilliant anti-institution institution that is Private Eye, and to celebrate, a dedicated exhibition opens to the public today at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Private Eye - The First 50 Years focuses less on the hard-hitting and uncomfortable investigative journalism for which the Eye is perhaps best known, and instead places the emphasis on the magazine's unique visuals.
On display is a selection of the wonderful artistic talent that has graced its pages over the years – artwork by the likes of Gerald Scarfe, William Rushton, Barry Fantoni and Michael Heath. Editor Ian Hislop has also chosen 50 of the best front covers – one from each year the organ has been published – and some of them, like the two above, are truly genius.
At the media view yesterday morning, Hislop outlined the origins behind the idea to put Private Eye in the V&A: apparently he was chatting with Tony Rushton, who's been at the Eye since the early days, and suggested rather kindly that, “we should put you in a museum”. Thus the idea was born. And it's a fascinating, if rather squashed show, that attempts to showcase the finest Private Eye cartoonists and illustrators inside two rather small gallery spaces.
Despite the cramped presentation though, this is a must-see little show for fans of politics, lawsuits, illustration, and journalism more generally. Of course there are many brilliant cartoons – both scathingly satirical and just plain silly – but one of the most interesting parts is an interview with Private Eye's first editor, Richard Ingrams, carried out by a young Hislop for the student magazine that he'd founded, Passing Wind. In it Ingrams flouted all the supposed 'rules' of journalism – he claimed not to understand the Eye's own (admittedly rather complex) In the City column, and had no idea about the make-up of the magazine's readership.
In an age of endless online reader surveys and consumer profiles, it's a pretty refreshing approach, and one echoed by Hislop: “I refuse to believe print is dying,” he told the assembled press yesterday. In Private Eye at least, its future is in good hands.
Private Eye - The First 50 Years is at the V&A until 8th January 2012.
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