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© Yevonde Portrait Archive
Mary Evans Picture Library |
The son of a railwayman, Ronald Searle was born in Cambridge on 3 March 1920, and educated in the town at the Boys' Central School. He started work as a solicitor's clerk, and then joined the hire purchase department of the co-operative Society, studying in the evenings and later full-time at the Cambridge Daily News from the age of fifteen.
Enlisting in the Royal Engineers at the outbreak of the Second World War, he spent time in Kirkcudbright, where he encountered evacuees from St. Trinian's, a progressive girls' school situated in Edinburgh.
This resulted in his first cartoon for Lilliput, published in October 1941, and later developed into one of his most famous creations, through a series of books and their cinematic spin-offs. Remarkably, he survived the horrific experiences of the Changi Camp, Singapore as a Japanese prisoner-of-war and managed to produce a visual record of life in a prison camp.
On his return to England in 1945, he exhibited the surviving pictures at the Cambridge School of Art, and published Forty Drawings. The exhibition and volume together established his reputation as one of Britain's most powerful draughtsmen, and led to several opportunities to record the atmosphere of post-war Europe. He contributed to Punch and these drawings crystallised in, The Female Approach (1949). Throughout the fifties, he produced a large variety of illustrations, which together seemed present a guide to life in Britain in the 1950's.
Such was his success that his rejection of family and country in a move to Paris in 1961 came as a great surprise. However, it offered a fresh start, resulting in several solo shows, including a major exhibitions at the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, the Berlin-Dahlem Museum and the Wilhelm-Busch-Museum, Hanover. He also reached a new audience with his contributions to film and television, most notably The Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (1965).
Note: Searle did so many works that I want to post here, that I will post them in two separate series: 1940-1960, and at a later date: 1961-2007.
For a more detailed biography see part 1, and for earlier works, see parts 1 - 11 also.
This is part 12 of a 13-part series on the works of Ronald Searle, dated 1940-1960:
1959 By Rocking Chair Across America by Alex Atkinson & Ronald Searle published by Perpetua Books:
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| Front Cover |
1959 USA for Beginners by Alex Atkinson & Ronald Searle published by Perpetua Books:
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| Front Cover |
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Also used in 1959 as a cover for Holiday magazine
(see further below) |
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| Reference to "American Gothic" (below): |
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American Gothic by Grant Wood 1930
oil on board 78 x 65.3 cm
Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
1960 Russia for Beginners by Alex Atkinson & Ronald Searle published by Perpetua Books:
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| Front Cover |
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| Moscow |
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| My Meeting with Kruschev |
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| My Meeting with Kruschev detail |
1959 Calender for 1960:
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| Front Cover |
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| January (1) |
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| January (2) |
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| February (1) |
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February (2)
"May I have the pleasure?" |
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| March (1) |
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| March (2) |
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April (1)
"Help! Help!" |
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| April (2) |
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May (1)
"I'm afraid it's the weather" |
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May (2)
"I don't know who he is - but he turns up every feeding time" |
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June (1)
"Wish you were here!" |
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| June (2) |
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| July (1) |
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| July (2) |
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August (1)
Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible |
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August (2)
"I was born like it" |
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| September (1) |
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| September (2) |
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October (1)
"- and don't point, it's rude" |
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October (2)
"Racing results up yet?" |
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| November (1) |
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| November (2) |
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| December (1) |
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| December (2) |
1960 Mr Tompkins and the Professor (Relativity Film):
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Mr Tompkins and the Professor
Wilhelm Busch – Deutsches Museum für Karikatur und Zeichenkunst
© The Ronalad Searle Cultural Trust |
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Mr Tompkins fighting the sock
Wilhelm Busch – Deutsches Museum für Karikatur und Zeichenkunst
© The Ronalad Searle Cultural Trust |
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Mr Tompkins flying
Wilhelm Busch – Deutsches Museum für Karikatur und Zeichenkunst
© The Ronalad Searle Cultural Trust |
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Mr Tompkins on platform 2
Wilhelm Busch – Deutsches Museum für Karikatur und Zeichenkunst
© The Ronalad Searle Cultural Trust |
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Mr Tompkins shooting down the formula
Wilhelm Busch – Deutsches Museum für Karikatur und Zeichenkunst
© The Ronalad Searle Cultural Trust |
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Mr Tompkins standing on bones
Wilhelm Busch – Deutsches Museum für Karikatur und Zeichenkunst
© The Ronalad Searle Cultural Trust |
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Mr Tompkins threatened by the sock
Wilhelm Busch – Deutsches Museum für Karikatur und Zeichenkunst
© The Ronalad Searle Cultural Trust |
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Mr Tompkins waiting
Wilhelm Busch – Deutsches Museum für Karikatur und Zeichenkunst
© The Ronalad Searle Cultural Trust |
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1959 Destined Meeting by Leslie Bell
published by Odhams Press |
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| 1959 Germany |
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1959 Holiday magzine July issue
"American Summer" |
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1959 Pappa Hotel, Piraeus
Punch magazine 30 December 1959 |
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1959 Pierre Bertin as the baron in "La Vie Parisienne", Théâtre du Palais-Royal
Punch magazine 15 April 1959 |
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1959 The Anger of Achilles translated by Robert Graves
Front Cover |
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1959 The Anger of Achilles translated by Robert Graves
Title Page |
