Mirror & Echo

The UK National Archives online database has some early Searle cartoons here. The drawings are credited as having been published in the 'Mirror & Echo' and 'Blick in die Welt'. They are particularly interesting for their relevance to Searle's wartime experience and the culture he returned to after surviving incarceration as a POW of the Japanese.

The 'General Collapse' series would most certainly have been based on Searle's wartime experience. His POW 'gag' sketchbooks contain many sketches poking at the officer class and the clueless privates.

'Not having the tourist mind' is a light-hearted, series of tableau on a theme that Searle explored on other occasions throughout his career- the hapless tourist - most notably the 'Mrs. Dyson' series for Punch magazine in the late 1950s.

'German soldier and French couple in farmyard.'

Without his signature I struggle to authenticate this as Searle although it does bear some similarities to the style he employed for illustrations made for the Radio Times in the late forties.

'Do you hate the people you draw '

An early self caricature reflecting on the savagery of his cartooning.

 'Family bugbear'

This appears to be another self-caricature and, I would say, a representation of Searle's first wife Kaye Webb. Out of context it seems to depict domestic tension of some kind but it's hard to say without the accompanying article. To continue the self referential symbolism are the slanted eyes of the male figure a racist remark? Is it the smoking? Are those unpaid bills on the table?

Two pictures follow of certain dubious racial stereotypes and again it's hard to decipher the 'oriental man' leaving the house without his trousers!

'Oriental man leaving house Artist'

'Oriental man using chopsticks'

 'Mord in der Stube'

Illustration for Joyce Carey's Bush River

Searle and Cambridge

Searle was featured on the BBC's 'The Great Antiques Map of Britain' in its stop at Cambridge where the artist was born. He studied at the Cambridge School of Art now part of the Anglia Ruskin University. Professor of Illustration Martin Salisbury is interviewed and displays the school's collection of Searle ephemera including his art class score cards, nibs, sketchbooks and the original printing 'line blocks' used to print Searle's first collection of his wartime POW sketches. There are also several original drawings on display.

'By Rocking Chair Across Spain'

London gallery owner and illustration specialist Chris Beetles is consulted on the value of a drawing of 'Grand Central Station Commuters'. He says he would sell the drawing in his gallery between 4500-5500 British pounds.

The show can be viewed in the UK on the BBC i-player here for the next month.

Memories of Searle written by Prof. Martin Salisbury

Exhibition of Searle's work at Anglia Ruskin

Tapestry

Here's a great feature on Searle from The Sketch magazine 1949. Alongside the St.Trinians drawings the article portrays the artist and his family. His first wife Kaye Webb and their (non-identical) twin children Kate and John in the bath!

That's a good shot of Ronald in front of a tapestry made in his style. I've see that in other photos and assumed it was from his design. This confirms it.  The picture's caption hints at the artist's true passion 'Like many other successful humorists, he is really more keen on serious work.' He would kill off his famous creations only a few years after this and pursue acceptance by the fine art world with a move to Paris in the early 1960s.

These early pictures seem to show the original design on paper. By the time the Searles moved to their modern, Denys Lasdun-designed, house at 32 Newton Rd. a woven tapestry was hanging on the wall. As you can see in the photos below it was part of an eclectic collection of artifacts that Ronald gathered including the Benin Bronze that he later sold.

I believe the tapestry was woven at the Edinburgh Tapestry Co. under the supervision of Ronald Cruickshank. (Artistic Director of the Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh, woven at The Golden Targe Tapestry Studio, Chester Street, Edinburgh).

(Thanks to Merfyn Jones for the magazine article scan)