Munchausen

French readers & Searle collectors will be interested in a new edition of Baron Munchausen.
'Les Aventures du Baron de Munchausen' is available from Editions du Lampion here.

 'The adventures of Baron Munchausen', by R.E. Raspe and others, profusely illustrated by RonaldSearle was first published in 1969.  The style of the illustrations was informed by a series of almost abstract expressionist ink drawings Searle made the previous year entitled 'Anatomies & Decapitations'.

The following images are photographed from the original artwork in the Ronald Searle archive, Deutsches Museum für Karikatur und Zeichenkunst-Wilhelm Busch in Hanover.

Previous French edition

'Inscribed by the artist in blue ink with an original drawing of Baron Munchausen on the front free endpaper “To Jacqueline and Remo / with love / en tout[e] amitié / Ronald / 1969”. The recipients are Jacqueline Voulet and Remo Forlani.' - Lucius Books

REPORTAGE

Wendy Coates-Smith taught illustration at Cambridge and Central St.Martins in London for many years and now writes on the subject, co-editing LINE magazine.  She is also preparing a new publication on the subject of Searle's reportage work.  I'm grateful for permission from Wendy to reproduce her extensive essay on Searle's reportage that was published in the first issue of LINE.

Copyright Wendy Coates-Smith/APU Cambridge/LINE magazine

Wendy's excellent essay refers to an article on reportage in the AOI magazine, a copy of which she kindly also furnished me.  It contains more insightful quotes from Searle on his working methods and also Paul Hogarth.

 LINE issue 3 is due to be published imminently.  Wendy's book on Searle's reportage will be published sometime in 2011.

See more of Searle's reportage work at the following links:

• Searle in Morocco for HOLIDAY magazine here.

• HOLIDAY magazine overview here.

• Searle's experience as a POW here.

• Searle's approach to reportage here. 

• Report on my first meeting with Searle & his thoughts on reportage here.

Update

 Kenneth Bird aka Fougasse was art editor at Punch during the 40s then later became editor of the magazine when Searle worked for it.  An accomplished cartoonist in his own right his work became familiar to the British public with a series of wartime posters. An exhibition of this work opens at the Cartoon Museum this week.




I've updated the Advertising section,  Take One Toad , Dick Deadeye,   Investigator and LemonHart Rum.

Searle in Hannover

'What! Already?' Searle at 90 the Wilhelm-Busch museum in Hanover is the largest exhibition this year to mark Ronald Searle's birthday.
Last week I had the oppurtunity to see the show and explore the Searle archive with fellow Searle fan Uli Meyer.  The exhibition is unmissable for Searle fans; almost 200 works on show plus several sketchbooks, posters and interesting photographs and paraphenalia.

Many thanks to Ronald Searle, Frau Dr Gisela Vetter Liebenov and Uli Meyer for making the trip possible.

For German speaking readers here are some links to articles about the exhibition  here , here and here.

Brit cartoonist Mike Roberts has posted his thoughts on visiting the exhibition here

A Visit To The Seaside

The Cultural Clippings blog recently posted some very interesting examples of early colour Searle illustrations. Originally published in the August 1947 issue of Lilliput Magazine.

Early examples of colour reportage, they're quite different to Searle's later colour work for HOLIDAY magazine.  Obviously less overtly 'cartoony', stylistically they're closer to the drawings of the time by Henry Moore and Graham Sutherland.

Many thanks to Chris for allowing me to re-publish these here on the Perpetua blog.  He also sent me another Searle spot illustration from the same issue which I've posted on my Lilliput blog here.

Latest news

 A second volume of Robert Forbes' poems is to be published in the autumn again illustrated by Ronald Searle. Let's have a Bite! will be available soon from Overlook Press.  They previously collaborated on Beastly Feasts!

Searle has contributed a deck-chair design to a project run by the Royal Parks Foundation in London. The designs will also be on display at a pavilion in Shanghai Botanical Gardens in China. Click to enlarge the image left to see Searle's witty take on this year's theme- 'seeds'.

Read more on the project's website here.

The BBC ran a story here.


(Thanks to Stephen Nadler)

In the comments section Searle aficionado 'Docnad' pointed out the deckchair design's similarity to a New Yorker cover from June 1991.

One more exhibition for Ronald Searle's 90th birthday year!

Searle fans living in Devon will get a chance to see a reduced version of the retrospective held at the Cartoon Museum in London this summer.  It's on at the Burton Art Gallery in Bideford in Devon from the 25th September to November 1st.

 I've updated the Punch theatre section, published St. Trinians part 4 and added a YouTube link to the the Scrooge page.  I've added a search function at the bottom of the blog for easier browsing.

Toujours Provence

In 1991 Searle illustrated a series of articles by Peter Mayle in the Telegraph Magazine.

3 Toujours Provence 'The Lost Dog'

pen and black ink, coloured crayon and watercolour, heightened with white, with scratching out,16 x 21¾ in. (40.7 x 55.2 cm.)

13 April 1991.

4 Toujours Provence 'The forest became thicker and the track narrower'

pen and black ink, coloured crayon and watercolour heightened with white, 16 7/8 x 21 5/8 in. (42.6 x 55.2 cm.)

20 April 1991.

(Photographed from the original artwork)

'Going native'

27th April 1991

Glyndebourne

Original artwork