Animal Farm

Here's a tantalizing prospect: imagine Orwell's 'Animal Farm' illustrated by Searle... he never did it of course but a second-hand bookseller turned up this item - a 1962 edition, Seaerle's own copy, with notations in his hand and a folded sheet with notes. 

Ralph Steadman illustrated a marvelous edition in the 90s but a Searle version would've been something, no? 

Ronald Searle's America *UPDATE*

My book on Searle's American era work is printed and looks fantastic.  It would never have happened without the team at Fantagraphics; head honcho Gary Groth believing in the project; Kristy Valenti wrangling my text and designer Keeli McCarthy who made my unwieldy 500 image rough layout look like a real book! You can pre-order it at Fantagraphics' site here and it ships January 11th

'Just got my copy of Matt Jones' Ronald Searle tribute book and I'll agree with everyone else who has seen it. It's really fantastic. It's huge, too! A great coffee table book with sketches and finals for those who love to study him. It's a collection of his impressions of America, most done for British magazines. Wouldn't be surprised if it leads to a Searle resurgence, and maybe another book, because the previous 'Art of...' book from the 80s is not very impressive. Buy it!' - Kevin O'Brien, Pixar

 'One of my favorite collections of Searle...ever! Congrats, Matt Jones, and Fantagraphics ( and the esteemed Ronald Searle) on an absolutely stellar book!' - John Musker, director Disney's 'Moana'

' The book is really fantastic . . . And it’s so huge: I have to extend the height of my shelves to fit the book in … I know what I will read and study the next days and I am sure that it will help me with my own archive work.' - Elisabeth Reich, Ronald Searle Archive, Hanover

'This Ronald Searle book is astounding. Each page is a breathtaking art lesson & joy. Bravo!' 
- Mo Willems, childrens' book illustrator & author

'It’s Christmas early!!! 'Ronald Searle's America' is AMAZING.' 
 - Pete Docter, director of Pixar's 'Inside Out'

'Ronald Searle's America should become THE reference book for any Searle fan and/or illustrator.' 
 - Uli Meyer, animation artist and Searle collector
 
'Got ours and it is fabulous!!!'  - Susan Goldberg, ex Disney artist

'Just got my advance copy of your book and am stunned by its beauty and content.  What an amazing publication. All that hard work and persistence sure resulted in something extraordinary.' 
- Howard Green, Disney Publishing

'I honestly can't get enough of this. Ronald Searle's America is an amazing collection of the artist's work from his time in the States. If you're a fan of him or of drawing at all, you should check it out. Thanks Matt Jones for putting together this treat!' - Avner Geller, character designer, Dreamworks Animation

'Just received Ronald Searle's America. It's a beautiful book. I'll be buried in it for months to come. Thank you!' -Oliver Maltman, writer & actor 


'RONALD SEARLE'S AMERICA IS FINALLY HERE! Matt Jones’ new book on the seminal cartoonist exceeds expectations. Enormous and overflowing with masterful works by the great Searle, this book is gorgeous. Smartly curated, it's also a wonderful time-capsule: America through the astute, inventive and hilarious illustrations of a rarely-gifted observer. Searle, from the UK, is in peak form as he takes us on a tour of our United States.
Permit me a really envious aside: I'm astonished that this magnificent tome represents only a sliver of Searle’s unparalleled career, as any artist would be delirious with joy if by the end of their life they had produced the contents of this book alone. (...and a really true aside: All the flowery words are not only deserved, they're guaranteed!) Matt Jones has lovingly (and obsessively) created a worthy monument to the remarkably influential father of three generations of cartoonists. And counting.'

- Nick Galifianakis , cartoonist  Washington Post

'This book is incredible. I bought it on pre-order because the deal was great - but this book is well worth the 85 dollars listing price. It is GORGEOUS. Both the quality of the printing and the size/weight of the pages is great. But of course MOST importantly - this book is chock-full of beautiful illustrations. Ronald Searle was a wonderfully prolific and hugely inspirational artist, and this book showcases his work beautifully. I suspect I'll be taking this one off the shelf quite often.' 

- Amazon reader review

'Searle book is fabulous.  Great job!!!!!!'
-Ralph Eggleston, Pixar Production Designer



'The book is so damn good!!Thank you for putting it together.'
-Jesse Aclin, Feature Animation character designer

Florida exhibition

The Mary Alice Fortin Children’s Art Gallery in Palm beach, Florida is exhibiting Searle's illustrations for Robert Forbes' childrens' books.  (Organized by The Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, Florida).  More info here

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)

Dragons

This cropped up on Twitter- E. Nesbit’s 'Book Of Dragons'. I'm unfamiliar with this book but it looks great and has been in print for a century! I'm not sure which edition features these wonderful Searle dragons but it looks like early Searle-perhaps late forties?

A similar dragon design appeared in this illustration for a Patrick Campbell story in Lilliput magazine.

This next one appeared in 'Haven't We Met Before Somewhere?' (1966)

A much later design featured in this 1982 drawing for a Lloyds Bank Brochure. 

#3 'Coping With the Unexpected in Farming' 1982

The Inconstant Moon

In 1949 Searle illustrated Noel Langley's 'The Inconstant Moon', again in a classical style.  A retelling of the story of Dante and Beatrice.

Scans from the always excellent illustration resource  FULL TABLE website

Another Searle exhibition!

Robert Forbes has one of the largest collections of original Searle artwork in the U.S. and several pieces in 'Searle In America' were generously loaned from the Forbes Gallery, NYC.  Mr Forbes collaborated with Searle on several books of poetry for children and now Forbes has 60 of the pictures on display in Palm Beach, Florida. Read this article for more details

"Forbes, who has been writing poetry for about 15 years, has three books with drawings by Searle. He was known as one of the world’s top illustrators until his death in 2011. Searle produced work for Life magazine, The New Yorker, Holiday magazine, TV Guide and numerous British publications.

“I would send him three to six poems at a time,” Forbes said. “He never did preliminary sketches. Two or three months later, his package would arrive, and inside would be these glorious depictions of what was in my imagination and how he interpreted them and brought them to life. It’s rich, it’s whimsical, it’s silly, it’s lighthearted, it’s fun.”

Forbes said his fourth book with Searle needs about six more drawings. He plans to have another illustrator finish the book."

NYC exhibition

'This exhibition features the poetry of Robert Forbes and the drawings of Ronald Searle, featured in three books, BEASTLY FEASTS! A Mischievous Menagerie in Rhyme; LET’S HAVE A BITE! A Banquet of Beastly Rhymes, and the latest, BEAST FRIENDS FOREVER! Animal Lovers in Rhyme.

Robert Forbes writes:

All the drawings are done by the great Ronald Searle, and I think you will agree that they bring magic to the poems. When I first had enough poems to think about doing a book, I asked myself, who is the top, who is the best illustrator I could possibly get to do these? The answer for me was Ronald Searle, so I just asked. I have learned in life that if you don’t try, you will never know what could have been.

I am very grateful to him for interpreting all my creatures so brilliantly, with such zest and wit. By the way, if you look closely at each drawing you will see a mouse who shows up in every one! See if you can spot him

How does a book like this come together? What I did was write a bunch of poems and then I send them to Ronald.

A few months later, a large package arrives. I felt like a little boy at Christmas opening a highly anticipated present! Imagine my delight and wonder as my creatures sprang to life under his pens and inks, pastels and paints.

The key to these books, then, is imagination. When I read in schools and libraries, that is what I tell the children right away, that we are entering this world created by imagination but they must remember that they too have imaginations as good as mine or anybody else’s. So do you! .'

Through August 3, 2013

Beastly Books

'Beast Friends Forever' is available from U.S. publishers Overlook Press. I'm assuming it's the American edition of 'Beastly Romances' ?

ROBERT L. FORBES AND RONALD SEARLE (Overlook Duckworth £12.99)

It is one the biggest scandals of our Honours system that Ronald Searle was not knighted. I suppose the bureaucrats in Whitehall thought he was ‘only a cartoonist’. Yet he was on the high shelf with graphic satirists like Hogarth, Gillray and Cruikshank.

Searle was a major artist - a million times superior to Damien Hirst or Tracey Emin or any of those. I am proud to say the cover he did for my book What Am I Still Doing Here? was his final commission. In a typically generous gesture, he gave me the original painting.

As for this particular book, all we are told is that ‘the drawings happily were completed a while ago’. What a delight they are. Flirting elephants, strutting peacocks and blushing peahens, intertwined snakes, a boar serenading a simpering sow.

The drawings are so sunny and romantic - amazing to think that Searle was in his 90s when he died, and had once been a Prisoner of War in Singapore, witnessing and enduring the worst Japanese atrocities. He had every right to be bitter and twisted, but was the opposite. A genius.

Daily Mail