For many of his fans, the animation films of Australian-born, Academy Award winner Bob Godfrey are insightful, often hilarious satires of the essence of ‘Britishness’, so much so that he was awarded an MBE. Although he is best known in the UK for his hugely popular Roobarb and Henry’s Cat series, Godfrey’s internationally acclaimed, award-winning talents are expansive, ranging from humane, humorous tales of erotic obsessions to biting political satire and brilliantly simple series. Godfrey’s career spans almost 60 years, moving between commercial and independent filmmaking, and his artistic work reflects both political and stylistic currents of these eventful decades.

Like many other animators, Godfrey’s filmmaking involves enormous amounts of developmental artworks and production materials. In addition to films and original painted cels on display, visitors will have unprecedented access to the creative processes of Bob Godfrey and to that of his studio artists that culminate in his films. The exhibition presents a thematic selection – satire,surrealism, sex – chosen from thousands of artefacts (drawings, sketches,storyboards, photographs, cutouts, documents, multilayer cels, productionequipment) from the Bob Godfrey Collection at the Animation ResearchCentre’s ARC Archive, University College for the Creative Arts, Farnham, UK.

Curated by Professor Suzanne Buchan, Director of the Animation Research Centre and curatorial assistants, Seymour Lavine and Aaron Wood. We are grateful to Bob Godfrey and to his family, and for support from the University College for the Creative Arts, Animation Unlimited Conference 2008, and The Gallery at the Arts Institute at Bournemouth.