King of the Beasts

Searle was, of course, known for his cat drawings but their larger feline cousins were also a recurring motif- here are Searle's LIONS!

'The King of Beasts' aka 'The Situation Is Hopeless'

The Searle lion is a bewildered, often lackadaisical creature, bemused or bored by his status as King of the Beasts.

'The King of Beasts and Other Creatures' detail (1979)

'Feeble-minded Circus Lion'

'Zoodiac' (1977)

'Young Elizabethan' magazine, 1957

Punch magazine (1960)

 (Original Wilhelm Busch - Deutsches Museum für Karikatur und Zeichenkunst)

One of Searle's best lions; 'The Peaceable Kingdom' (1974)

Of course, the 'Venice Lion' Travel & Leisure magazine cover detail (1972)

'Burma Today, or: Whatever Happened to the Empire? (1987)

 (Original Wilhelm Busch - Deutsches Museum für Karikatur und Zeichenkunst)

Let's Have a Bite!' (2010)

Americana

Ronald Searle fans can follow the progress of my forthcoming book 'Searle's America' on the Facebook page here. I post updates and rare examples of American themed Searle work. Pre-order the book here.

Belles

Searle relaxes off-set with Sandra Alfred during the filming of 'The Belles of St. Trinian's' (1954)

Searle and his first wife Kaye Webb on the set of  'The Belles of St. Trinian's' (1954) with actress Joyce Grenfell.

Ronald sketches British starlet Sabrina on the set of 'Blue Murder at St. Trinians'. 'If you look at the CREDITS, you'd think Sabrina was the star : in the opening credits she was billed as "Guest Artiste" and in the end credits, she billed just after Alistair Sim. However, in spite of the film's publicity stills showing her in uniform, she never got out of bed (in in this case, gentlemen, that is not a good thing.) And she never said a word. Featuring as the school swot, she lounges with a good book as a JEWEL THIEF and several policemen revolve around her. It's unfortunate that the plot did not do the same.' - Nylon.net

Searle with actress Lisa Gastoni

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

Marseille

The March 15th, 1963 edition of Marseille Magazine carried an intriguing profile of Searle accompanied by a couple of photos and a drawing I'd not seen elsewhere. The article states he was in the city on assignment for Life magazine to cover the trial of the 'pétanque gang' but missed the appointment due to being bedridden with flu since arriving in France. He made do with the testimony of lawyers, judges and press photographs.

' . . . pour assister, à Marseille, au procès du 'gang de la pétanque', il a traverse l'Atlantique, comme envoyé special du magazine 'Life'. Mais il a dû réaliser son reportage-dessiné à travers les témoignages des avocats, des juges, des journalistes at à l'aide de documents photographiques, une grippe l'ayant cloué au lit dès son arrivée en France.'

I don't think the drawings were ever published in Life but I believe these are the drawings Searle made. The pétanque players are in the collection of the Wilhelm Busch – Deutsches Museum für Karikatur und Zeichenkunst, Hanover.

This stunning panorama of the Marseille palais de justice is held at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at OSU, Columbus, Ohio. It's a large format drawing and Searle took great care with the likenesses of all the accused and the defender and prosecutor, noting their names along the bottom edge of the picture.

Signed and dated lower right. Caricatures identified by the artist: Voiron, Bonacorsi, Maitre Paoli (defense), A. Ceccaldi, Maitre Tramoni (defense), Donnat, Ricci, Quaranta, Bernasconi, Hugues, Bontempi, David, E. Ceccaldi, Alardon, Agaccio, Maitre Grisoli (defense)

The Billy Ireland Library also has this depiction of the judges presiding over the case: Gaudaire, Vincentelli (President), Lucciardi

 The article is somewhat obsessed with the artist's financial rewards since becoming 'le dessinateur le plus féroce du monde' stating that his drawings for French, American, English, Italian and German magazines reap at least 1,500 francs and that Life offered 10,000 francs for a drawing of Winston Churchill's last speech in Parliament  (a drawing of staggering detail that deserved the price).

The article estimates that in the past decade the Searle produced 3000 drawings which I can only conclude is no exaggeration after seeing so many in collections around the world.
Revealingly the last sentence drops this bombshell: 'his last humorous story was devoted to the US Department of Foreign Affairs. President Kennedy phoned him to ask him for three drawings : one for Nixon, one for (Secretary of State) Dean Rusk and one for himself.'
This was published in the December 1961 issue of Holiday magazine and one can only speculate as to which of those famous politicians chose which drawing . . . ?