The Drawings of Victor Hugo 

at the Royal Academy, London 

until 29 June 

Until now, Victor Hugo was best known to me as a novelist, the author of Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris. The former title seems untranslatable, but is related to the misery of poverty, whereas the latter was translated into English as The Hunchback of Notre Dame - which makes it instantly recognisable to an anglophone audience. Precisely what Hugo would have thought about being remembered for a world-wide Musical Theatre sensation and a Disney cartoon I can't imagine - but it does speak to the power of his imagination that his ideas have been communicated in such diverse ways.

 I'm also not sure how he would feel about an exhibition of his drawings. It turns out he truly was a polymath. He is thought to have made about 4000 during his lifetime, and around 3000 survive - just a few of these are currently on show at the Royal Academy in London. They weren't exhibited during his lifetime, and it is not entirely clear why he made them. Some were gifts for friends, others were observational tools, and yet more seem to have helped him work out ideas for his books. A few eventually became known during his lifetime, as they were published as prints - but they are, almost without exception, truly remarkable.

The drawings range from detailed, naturalistic records of places he'd visited and curiosities he had seen, to the wildest acts of the imagination which pushed the boundaries of what art was. Some of the techniques he employed would not enter the tool box of 'fine art' for another 60 years, and others wouldn't be out of place a whole century later, for all the world resembling the Surrealists, or even the abstract painters of the 1960s. 

As well as being fascinating objects in their own right, they also shed valuable light on Hugo's life and career (as an author), not to mention his strong political convictions. I would really recommend that you try and get to this exhibition before it closes - or at least, come to this lecture!