Clangers, Bagpuss & Co at the V&A Museum of Childhood
Over the summer, the V&A Museum of Childhood has presented a beautifully produced exhibit dedicated to the work of Smallfilms whose magical worlds of The Clangers and Bagpuss enthralled millions across the country. Clangers, Bagpuss & Co is the first major retrospective of the collective work of Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin who collaborated from the late fifties to the late seventies on projects such as Ivor the Engine, Noggin the Nog, the lesser-known PingWings (not covered in the exhibition), Pogles’ Wood, Bagpuss and The Clangers who recently received a new series courtesy of Oliver’s son Daniel Postgate.
The exhibit takes us through the history and workings of the company and their creative output as well as giving an insight to the technique of stop motion animation with interactive elements for children to explore the process themselves. For many, the main attraction is bound to be the textural, three dimensional puppet characters themselves. It was wonderful to see a father laugh with childlike glee at seeing Bagpuss and friends in the flesh and proceed to list the names of all the characters to his young daughters. Alongside the puppets are other intriguing artefacts such as the original Clangers title, Postgate’s Meccano-hacked Bolex camera, concept art and an early BBC letter describing Postgate as an “odd but valuable person”.
Regrettably, the puppets aren’t lit particularly well and could have benefited from more directional light to emphasise their materiality and bring the characters to life. In addition, some of the episodes playing in the screening room were, for some reason, low resolution and pixelated. Those issues aside, this small but thoughtfully formed exhibit is a warmly nostalgic portrait of two artists who helped define children’s television and is bound to delight both children and adults alike.
Clangers, Bagpuss & Co runs until 9th October 2016. See also the tie-in event Lurching Charm – Animation Study Day on 24th September.