Merry Christmas!

Season's Greetings to all with the last post of 2016 featuring some Christms related Searle ephemera.

This original drawing sold at auction earlier in the year. It's actually annotated as a Valentine's Card but depicts a character - the reindeer - that Searle used many times on Christmas cards and advertising work. See more here

Russell Braddon was an Astralian author who survived the POW camps in the Far East with Searle. I wasn't aware of a follow up to his famous account of his POW years 'The Naked Island' until I saw this on Ebay. It looks like he commissioned his old friend to create his Christmas cards.

Another Ebay seller has been trying to off load a cache of private love letters sent from Searle to artist Ruth Cyril for the best part of 2016 including this Christmas card.

Paris

Mike Lynch posted a Searle drawing of Montmatre on his cartooning blog which reminded me to dig out this epic colour version published in the September 1960 issue of HOLIDAY magazine as part of a feature called 'Paris in the Summer'.

 

 Ronald first drew the Place du Tertre (below) while visiting Paris with his first wife Kaye Webb during their collaboration on the 'Paris Sketchbook'.

Here's the rest of the HOLIDAY feature-

Ronald drew the Opera Garniér for the 'Paris Sketchbook' (below). He evidently found a vantage point sitting at the Café de la Paix across the square.