Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock is set to host a brand-new exhibition of artwork by E. H. Shepard, best known as the original illustrator for A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh and the 1931 edition of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows.
From 18 January to 31 August 2025, the collection of Shepard’s work, including some of his beloved children’s illustrations alongside a wealth of his Great War sketches and comic art, will be on display at the museum on loan from the University of Surrey Archives and The Shepard Trust – on show for the first time in Oxfordshire.
By the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Ernest H. Shepard had already become a regular contributor to the popular Punch magazine, often drawing cartoons about the war for them, among other publications.
By 1915, Shepard had enlisted, going on to serve as an officer in the Royal Garrison Artillery, first in France’s Western Front and later in Italy. From the start of his officer training in 1915, he began to document the war as he saw it, in pencil sketches, pen and ink drawings, and even watercolours. These ranged from humorous caricatures to detailed studies, capturing life in the trenches with his own unique style.
Alongside examples of his art, the exhibition will include some of Shepard’s kit from his war service, such as his Royal Garrison Artillery officer’s forage cap and identification tags.
Post-war, it was through his regular work for Punch that he would be commissioned to illustrate poems by A. A. Milne, first published in the magazine, then for the collection When We Were Very Young.
These were the first appearances of the bear that would become Winnie-the-Pooh. Shepard would develop a close working relationship with Milne and illustrate Winnie-the-Pooh, When We Were Six, and The House at Pooh Corner. The series was so popular that it would never fall out of print, and today can be found translated into over 50 languages.
Alongside Shepard’s war work and famous children’s illustrations, his drawings beyond the bear will also feature in the exhibition. He continued his regular work for Punch magazine into the 1950s, as their leading weekly political cartoonist for twenty years, and produced cartoons covering the rise of Hitler and the Nazis in Germany, appeasement, the Second World War itself, through to the Labour government that followed and the radical changes they brought with them.
E. H. Shepard’s later work featured in the exhibition will include original sketches for children’s books Betsy and Joe (1966), which he wrote as well as illustrated, and Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden.
In later life, E. H. Shepard donated the collections of his work he still possessed to several museums and archives, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, the National Army Museum, and Guildford’s University of Surrey, the home of the collection going on display at Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum.
Supporting the exhibition, the museum will run a full programme of family events and activities, including a new Winnie-the-Pooh-themed visitor trail, ‘Up in the Air’, challenging younger visitors to find items lost around the museum by residents of Hundred Acre Wood. The museum’s Under 5s play area has been given a Winnie-the-Pooh-style makeover so kids can sit and play with the beloved bear and his friends.
Other family activities, including regular tea parties and craft workshops, such as kite and puppet making, will take place throughout the half term, Easter and Summer Holidays. Full dates and details will be made available on the museum’s website.
For grown-up visitors, author of Shepard’s War and the upcoming Art of Winnie-the-Pooh, Chairman of The Shepard Trust James Campbell, will give a series of talks on the life of E. H. Shepard and his art. Dates for these talks will also be announced shortly.
The museum looks forward to welcoming visitors to the new exhibition from 18 January to 31 August 2025.
