Courtesy Northampton Borough Council.

Northampton Museum and Art Gallery is hosting the first ever public exhibition of artwork by celebrated artist and author Denys Watkins-Pitchford (1905-1990), otherwise known as 'BB'.

Opening to the public on March 12, the exhibition is running until May 8 and includes over 100 exhibits on loan from owners of BB's work across the country including oil paintings, watercolours and black and white scraperboard illustrations.

Courtesy Northampton Borough Council.

"It is a real honour for the Northampton Museum and Art Gallery to be selected to host this exhibition," said Councillor Judith Lill, Northampton Borough Council cabinet member responsible for museums. "Mr Watkins-Pitchford is well loved and admired in the county and I would urge people to visit this incredible exhibition."

Denys Watkins-Pitchford was born in 1905 in the Rectory House, Lamport village. One half of twins, he spent much of his childhood exploring the woodlands and ponds that surrounded him, until a blossoming artistic talent secured him a place at Northampton School of Art from where he went on to gain a scholarship to Paris and later the Royal School of Art.

After art school he penned his first books: Manka - The Sky Gypsy the story of a goose in migration and Wild Lone the adventures of a Pytchley fox called Rufus.

Courtesy Northampton Borough Council.

Illustrating the tomes under his real name, Watkins-Pitchford later developed the pen name 'BB' as the writer of the works.

Throughout his lifetime he published 60 books including children's titles, countryside travel, carp fishing, wildlife and nature writing. He also illustrated around 60 books by other authors and wrote and illustrated countless magazine and newspaper articles.

In 1942 BB won the prestigious Carnegie Medal for his children’s story about the last four gnomes in England, The Little Grey Men, which enabled him to give up teaching to become a full time writer and artist.

Courtesy Northampton Borough Council.

By the late 1980s he had been appointed MBE and was a well-known broadcaster and conservationist who did a great deal of work to prevent the extinction of the Purple Emperor butterfly.

He died in 1990, but in 2000 the BB Society was formed to keep his memory alive and a weekend event has been organised to take place in Lamport Village from July 25 to 26 to celebrate his centenary.

The museum is arranging a number of other events to coincide with the exhibition of his work including a lunchtime talk by society member Gordon Wright on April 12.