Khrushchev

Alternative version

Nikita Khrushchev in New York, 1960 

pencil, pen and brown ink and watercolour

Holiday Magazine, New York, 1960.

'Searle's America' update

My publisher Fantagraphics has the final cover art for the book listed on their site. It'll be released late November but pre-order the book there or Amazon.

'This lushly-produced book compiles drawings and illustrations by legendary British illustrator Ronald Searle have been virtually unseen since their original publication in the 1960s. During this golden age of illustrative reportage, Ronald Searle—an influence on historic figures as wide-ranging as Matt Groening, Pat Oliphant, and John Lennon—was sent by American magazines such as Holiday and LIFE to far-flung and exotic locations. He would report back with a raft of drawings detailing his observations and experience in his trademark satirical and matchlessly virtuosic style.

Dispatched to America in the early ’60s, Searle spent several years covering everything from sports to politics, from spreads on Palm Springs and Las Vegas to the Presidential contest between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon for magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post and TV Guide, capturing the essence of the American experience as seen through the eyes of a caustic Englishman. Edited by the passionate Searle scholar Matt Jones, whose Perpetua: Ronald Searle Tribute website has become the foremost resource for Searle fans, the book also features a running commentary by Searle himself (as well as his wife Kaye Webb), including the journal he kept during the JFK- Nixon election, providing historical context to his assignments, recounting funny anecdotes, and making insightful observations about the drawings. This deluxe coffee-table book will be the most lavish treatment of Searle’s work that U.S. audiences have ever seen.'

Howdy Strangers!

From Punch magazine's political comment page

 Preparatory sketches.

(Images courtesy Chris Beetles Gallery)

Secret Agent Searle

The first time I met Ronald Searle I had several key questions about his career that I hoped he would expand on.  Russell Davies' biography of Searle hints at an intriguing commission in the fifties which called upon Searle to contribute to a top secret 'psyop' military operation!

As I related in my report on that first meeting with Searle:

'Searle's reputation as a draughtsman also got him involved in an international political situation-the Suez Crisis of 1956. He was placed under the Official Secrets Act and 'requested' by the War Office to take part in a 'mission'. Stationed at Suez Operations HQ in Cyprus he was part of a five man team in the Department of Psychological Warfare.
Unable at the time to tell even his wife where he was going he still seemed reluctant to discuss details. Serving seven years in the army during & after World War II meant he was qualified as a military man but he refused to re-enlist & chuckled at the memory of being the sole artist in a group including an SAS commander & a pilot. These rare propaganda pamphlets are hard to find these days except probably in Egyptian flea markets!'
These pamphlets were written in Arabic (uncoded) but ultimately never desseminated.

Nasser said: "I am ready to fight until the last drop of blood for the freedom ... of Egypt and the Egyptian people" 1st November 1956

- Fight from one village to another and from one area to another

"On 26 July 1956, Nasser announced the nationalisation of the Suez Canal Company. This created an international diplomatic crisis that culminated in a disastrous military adventure by Britain and France in association with Israel. It ended in a humiliating ceasefire in response to widespread international condemnation.
During the Suez crisis in 1956, the cartoonist Ronald Searle was commissioned to do the art work for a set of leaflets that was to be dropped over Egypt in 1956 in support of the invasion by British and French troops. This leaflet shows Nasser cowering in his trench as the shells burst around him."

 NASSER November 1956

- But Jamal Abdul Nasser said that our Air Force controls Egypt's sky

Jamal Abdul Nassir said: Each one of us has to consider himself a soldier in the military...to protect our honour, pride and freedom

In his appreciation of Searle's career and their friendship David Arkell wrote:

 "In the course of my delving into what is visible of the man I have known for (my God, can it be?) forty years, I find that there is in the archives of the Ministry of Defence, a copy of a letter written to Searle in January 1957, by General Sir Charles Keightley, GCB, KBE, DSO, Commander of Allied Forces, Port Saïd Operations (Suez War), which reads: 

Dear Searle, 

Now that the Allied operations in the Middle East are over, I would like to thank you most warmly and sincerely for the services which you rendered. I was especially grateful to you for coming out at such short notice and being ready to do so much to help us. 

The fact that the operations ended as quickly as they did does not detract from my personal gratefulness to you.  With my best thanks, and with all good wishes for the future. 

Yours sincerely, 

Charles Keightley.* 

Our Ronnie? Up there among the Suez brass? Are we seeing only the tip of the iceberg? 

*When I tackled Searle about this somewhat intriguing discovery, his reply was: that it was an extremely subtle move. That if Nasser came to hear that he (Searle) had joined Bernard Fergusson's staff in the Department of Psychological Warfare at HQ Cyprus, he would die laughing - which would of course, make it much easier to take the canal. I pass that on for what it is worth."

For Punch magazines' political cartoon Searle commented on India's reaction to the Suez Crisis

'Under Nehru's Foreign Policy, India's voice was heard by super-powers, on the global stage. Even though India was militarily and economically weak. This cartoon from a British magazine shows Nehru's position on Suez rankled in Britain. Kashmir was a part of India - and Suez was NOT a part of Britain, but a part of Egypt. (Nehru - on Kasmir - On Suez; artist: Ronald Searle. Published in Punch Magazine 23 January 1957. Cartoon source and courtesy - punchcartoons.com)'


Sources:
-India's Foreign Policy

War Images

PsyWar Org

PN Review 50, Volume 12 Number 6, July - August 1986.

Heroes of Our Time

In the late fifties Searle made a series of full colour portraits of contemporary 'heroes' for Punch magazine. They were published as 'centre-fold' spreads, twelve in total.




(Photo by Inge Morath)

'Among the 'Heroes', there were several (notably T.S.Eliot, in his office at Faber's) who consented to give Ronald a brief sitting, though they must have known that the heading under which they were destined to appear was heavy with irony.  The selection actually divided itself between Sacred Monsters and Sacred Cows.  Adopting the faded palette of the age of 'Spy' and 'Ape', and toning down his natural spikiness, Searle produced portraits which were the talk of London for weeks. . . '

Russell Davies

1 Sir Malcolm Sargent September 12, 1956

"Our glossiest maestro dominates the scene

With renderings as glossy as his mien.

Let envious, less glossy maestros sneer,

But goodness, how the Promenaders cheer!"

Pencil sketches of Malcolm Sargent made at rehearsal in the Albert Hall

'This 5” x 8” greetings card has a Ronald Searle cartoon of conductor Malcolm Sargent on the cover. Inside is a pre-printed greeting AND one in the conductor’s own hand. PRINTED is: “Sincere Good Wishes from Malcolm Sargent”. To this, Sargent has added, in his OWN HAND: “So grateful for the notes (3 volumes!) – M.”. In addition, in order to make the printed greeting more personal, he has put “Sargent” in brackets. The conductor presumably had a stock of these cards printed for his own use, after Searle’s cartoon appeared in Punch magazine. In good condition with just a few minor signs of wear.' (eBay)

2 Mr Gilbert Harding -television personality.  'Punch' magazine 19 September 1956

'Behold in me the common people's sage, 

The Plato of the television age.

In place of wisdom, piety or grace 

I offer endless prospects of my face.'

3 Lord Goddard

Punch, October 3, 1956

4 Aneurin Bevan ‘Heroes of our Time' 

5 T S Eliot - 'Punch' magazine 14 November 1956

'What we praise most, in your adopted land,

Are all the things we cannot understand.
So stand not on the Order of your Merit;
England has honours yet you may inherit.
Pile fame on fame, reflecting as you go

"Omne ignotum pro magnifico".'

Sketch of T. S. Eliot inscribed by Eliot, 17th July 1956 at Faber & Faber Office, London

Eliot was the only one to actually sit for Searle when making these portraits

6 Lord Beaverbrook / Daily Express / Newspaper mogul / journalism / Canadian tycoon

'Punch' magazine 5 December 1956

The Beaver has a notion that without his guiding hand

Our grand Imperial destiny's a castle built on sand.
Contrariwise, observers of his journalistic capers
Can estimate the influence of an empire built on papers.'

7 Princess Margaret  Dec 19 1956

8 The Dean of Canterbury Hewlett Johnson

 'Punch' magazine 9 January 1957 

'What curious creed does Hewlett preach,

What singular gospel spread?
Perhaps that the doctrines the Christians teach
Should all be taken as red.'

9 Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh January 23, 1957

"In Shakespeare and Coward and Rattigan, what other stars can give
Such prettily turned performances as those of Larry and Viv? 
But the parts they play with a polish that's almost unmatched in our age
Are SIr Laurence and Lady Olivier, First Lady and Gent of the stage."

10 The Marquess of Salisbury 'Punch' magazine 27 February 1957

'I come from haunts of duke and earl;

I ornament the Tories;
Encrowned with strawberry-leaf and pearl;
I shine among their glories.
The House of Lords I may bring low,
And rank from ruling sever;
For peers may come and peers may go,
But Cecils rule for ever.'

11 Brian Robertson

Lord Russell / Conrad / Lib Dem peer.  'Punch' magazine 27 March 1957

'All earthly knowledge finally explored, 

Man feels himself from doubt and dogma free.
There are more things in Heaven, though, my lord,
Than are dreamed of in your philosophy.' 

Inge Morath © The Inge Morath Foundation

Political Portraits

'Papa Doc, Haiti' was published in Status Magazine, New York, November 1968. Pen, wash & watercolour. Reprinted in Ronald Searle: In Perspective, 1983. The original was stolen.

Another drawing attacking military dictatorship in Paraguay.  HOLIDAY magazine, April 1969

Nikita Khrushchev in New York, 1960 

pencil, pen and brown ink and watercolour

Holiday Magazine, New York, 1960.

PUNCH magazine 14th September 1960

Searle captured Churchill orating at the Guildhall, Cambridge & even managed to get the great man to sign the drawing.

Winston Churchill on the way out 
'Ronald Searle/Punch Dec 1954 -'

 Punch April 18, 1956 

'The British Public Knowing what It Likes' 1954

In 1955 Searle was at the House of Commons to record Churchill's last speech. LIFE magazine

Cross Channel Marathon (Winston Churchill), inscribed 'the political endurance test' and no.10 and no.1', pencil, 27.3 x 20.3cm. Illustrated:. Preliminary Drawing for Punch, 12 August 1953, page 193. Exhibited. 'Ronald Searle Remembered', May-June 2012. No.102

Génèrale de Gaulle

The Saturday Evening Post Feb 10, 1968