The Angel of Inspiration: Ronald Searle Proposed New Yorker Cover Art

The Angel of Inspiration is a title provided by the Chris Beetles Gallery for a cover submission to The New Yorker by Ronald Searle. The original art looks as if it dates from the early 1960s, a time when Searle already had established himself as one of the star cartoonists of Punch but before his first successful New Yorker cover appeared in 1969. The inspiring angel has inadvertently caused ink to spatter over a beatnik's manuscript. Creative people may well relate to this.

Ronald Searle
Chris Beetles listing accessed December 31, 2022

https://www.chrisbeetles.com/artwork/21443/the-angel-of-inspiration

This work was first exhibited by Chris Beetles in 2020 with no indication from the gallery of its likely date or intended purpose. It was priced at 6,500 GBP. It has since been sold, apparently fairly recently.

I call it a New Yorker cover submission because of the telltale strap running vertically down the left side of the artwork. My basis for dating it to the early 1960's is a different Searle drawing, this one with collage elements. It appeared in a 1961 number of Punch and I believe it to be very comparable in style. It features a very similar color palette and a very similar beatnik; therefore I assign it to a similar date.

"Are you sure this is Chris Barber's place?"
Ronald Searle and George du Maurier
Punch, July 19, 1961

https://www.topfoto.co.uk/contributors/punch-cartoon-library-exclusive-licensing-from-topfoto/

Chris Barber was a well-known English bandleader and jazz trombonist.

Note:  Earlier today Attempted Bloggery reached a total of seven million page views. 

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Ronald Searle: Strength Through Joy

Strength through joy?

I suppose Ronald Searle did indeed give his drawing of a wicked St. Trinian's girl flipping over her teacher the title of Unarmed Combat—twice, it seems—and that certainly describes the action well enough. But that is not how it appeared in print.

The titles of Searle drawings were generally afterthoughts. In his classic collection Souls in Torment, as promising a name for a cartoon book as one could hope to find in 1953, the present work is one of three drawings under the alternative heading Strength Through Joy.

The term "unarmed combat" actually appears as part of a caption on the page opposite. Thus, grouping these three drawings under an Unarmed Combat heading would have detracted from the caption on the following page. At least, that's a conjecture of what went on, and why Searle abandoned his presumptive title for this drawing when it was published in a book even though it fit perfectly.

The signature appears to be later than 1953 by more than a decade. Searle must have signed it whenever the drawing eventually left his studio.

Ronald Searle's signature

In 1991, this piece was offered by London dealer Chris Beetles. Despite Beetles noting the publishing history, the title he listed is the one that Searle wrote on the work. After all, it is a better title. 

At auction, many a tempting work seems reasonably priced before the bidding gets underway.

Ronald Searle
Chiswick Auctions listing accessed March 21, 2026, ten days before the sale

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/Ronald-Searle-C.B.E.-British,-1920-2011-Unarm-168-c-BEBFCC408C?utm_source=alerts&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=artistalerts&utm_content=378696&utm_term=378696

Ronald Searle
Chiswick Auctions item description

And yet it sells on March 31 at Chiswick Auctions for more than twice the high estimate.

Here it is on the printed page as one of a trio of Strength Through Joy drawings. On the opposite page is "Some little girl didn't hear me say 'unarmed combat'." The captioned cartoon shows an earlier version of Searle's signature.

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T3RcLoQuSZA/TrHj7rZjIFI/AAAAAAAAX7k/-SmvpXssYq0/s1600/Searle11.jpg

Image added July 5, 2026

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Peter Arno: Former Femme Fatale

The life of Mata Hari informs our views of the alluring secret agent as seductress to this day. In 1917, the exotic dancer was convicted as a German spy and killed by firing squad in France.

Come 1940 and a second World War, cartoonist Peter Arno revisited the idea of the femme fatale as spy, giving her a new code name and her story a decidedly different ending.

"That's Q37, in her day one of the most effective secret agents this country ever had."
Peter Arno
Original art
The New Yorker, August 24, 1940, p. 17

The original art came to light at Halls in early 2016.

Halls, 16th March 2016

https://issuu.com/jammdesign/docs/h107-085_listing/44

Given a presale estimate of 600-800 GBP, it sold for a healthy 2,100 GBP.

https://www.lotsearch.net/artist/peter-arno/archive?orderBy=dollarBasedPrice-startPrice&order=ASC&perPage=50&page=1

The buyer, in all probability, was London illustration dealer Chris Beetles. The work was included in the catalogue for Beetles's annual The Illustrators sale for 2016:

Chris Beetles The Illustrators 2016 Catalogue

https://issuu.com/chrisbeetles/docs/the_illustrators_2016_cover_text_co

Michael Maslin's biography Peter Arno: The Mad, Mad World of The New Yorker's Greatest Cartoonist had just been published, and it was cited by Beetles under Further Reading.

A scanned image shows some of the details. Arno's plaza seems German or Prussian. The two paired men, military and civilian, walk in lock step. That uniform of the man in front is impressive right down to the spurs. As we read left to right, the men lead our eyes to Q37 herself, in widow's garb, looking after her six children. The big joke is not merely the number of progeny but that they represent so many different races. Such racial caricatures were deemed acceptable in the pages of The New Yorker of 1940 by the editorial staff, the readership, and the advertisers. 

"That's Q37, in her day one of the most effective secret agents
this country ever had."
Peter Arno
The New Yorker, August 24, 1940, p. 17

https://www.ebay.com/itm/166922564572?mkpid=0&emsid=e11021.m43.l1120&ch=osgood&euid=d2fd7229aaae45b9

163679d70c0ff7d&bu=43186000575&ut=RU&osub=-1%7E1&crd=20240817013610&segname=11021

Here then is how the cartoon appeared in the magazine:

A spot drawing and a cartoon by Peter Arno

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1940-08-24/flipbook/016/

* * *

Horse in a blanket
Spot drawing
Artist Unidentified
The New Yorker, August 24, 1940, p. 1

Note:  I would appreciate hearing from anyone who retains a price list from the Chris Beetles 2016 catalogue for The Illustrators show. The item in question is no. 119. 

Also, the spot artist's initials may be recognizable to someone in the know.

Do I need to keep asking for original art by Peter Arno to display in these pages? Yes, I think I do.

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James Thurber: A Dog and a Globe

A dog by cartoonist James Thurber attentively contemplates the state of the globe in a drawing made more than a year before America's entry into the Second World War. Behind the dog there is a bird—perhaps it is a hopeful sign, the dove of peace.

Thurber's art bears the notation "For Thursday / (no caption)." If, as seems likely, this was created for The New Yorker, why was it needed for Thursday? The magazine, in those years, carried a Saturday publication date and the art meetings, I believe, were held on Tuesdays.

The Chris Beetles Gallery of London offers the original, calling it "Possibly drawn for The New Yorker, 1940." That certainly sounds reasonable enough. The title A Dog and a Globe comes from the gallery, which first showed the piece in 2024 in the annual exhibition The British Art of Illustration.

James Thurber
Chris Beetles Gallery listing accessed July 12, 2025

https://www.chrisbeetles.com/artwork/44058/a-dog-and-a-globe

https://issuu.com/chrisbeetles/docs/illustrators_2024

Note:  Naturally, I would like to hear from anyone who can take a break from contemplating the state of the globe and instead document this James Thurber cartoon's appearance in print.

At this moment in time, 1,450 pounds sterling is about $1,958.60 US.

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Edward Sorel: Dining Al Fresco

An original Edward Sorel illustration created for Reader's Digest is currently listed with the Chris Beetles Gallery. It salutes the tradition of outdoor grilling. Safety first, everyone.

Edward Sorel
Chris Beetles listing accessed July 22, 2025

https://www.chrisbeetles.com/artwork/2603/dining-al-fresco

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Glen Baxter: The Advent of Spring

Glen Baxter's original artwork from 1992 is currently listed with Chris Beetles in London. Right now it seems as timely as it's ever likely to be.

Glen Baxter
Chris Beetles listing accessed January 14, 2024

https://www.chrisbeetles.com/artwork/24192/with-the-advent-of-spring-i-set-about-one-or-two-minor-improvements-to-the-nursery

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Ronald Searle: The Ref

"Football: The Beautiful Game" was an online-only auction held at Bonhams London on December 13. All the works related to a sport known here in the States as soccer. The sale featured works from Chris Beetles, Ltd.

The Ref is an undated work by Ronald Searle that looks to be from the 1950s. It was published in the Tribune, a democratic socialist newspaper based in London. The referee looks over his left shoulder for a possible infraction, whistle at the ready. His hanging right arm ends in what Searle referred to as a "medieval" hand in the Russell Davies biography. 

Ronald Searle
Bonhams London listing accessed December 6, 2023, seven days before the sale

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/166600970_ronald-searle-british-1920-2011-the-ref-28-x-16-cm-11-x-6-14-in?from=alert&utm_source=SavedAlert&utm_campaign=SearchAlert_20230912_B&utm_medium=email&utm_content=itemendingsoon

Ronald SearleBonhams London item description accessed December 6, 2023

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/29222/lot/44/ronald-searle-british-1920-2011-the-ref-28-x-16-cm-11-x-6-14-in/

Sold!

Note:  I don't follow what every other nation calls football and I don't keep copies of the Tribune in my home library. Still, I would like to hear from anyone who may chance to come across this work in its pages.

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A Bank Manager's Copy of The Terror of St Trinian's by Timothy Shy and Ronald Searle

Those wicked Searle schoolgirls! A copy of The Terror of St. Trinian's (1952) by Timothy Shy and Ronald Searle was dedicated by the illustrator to his bank manager at Christmas in the year of publication. Searle added a full-length drawing of one of his St. Trinian's girls in the act of—what else?—robbing a bank.

The book was offered for sale Thursday at Forum Auctions in London. With a presale estimate of 1,500 to 2,000 GBP, bidding started at 1,000 GBP. Is the British public still taken with Searle's St. Trinian's drawings? You bet.

July 12, 2023

Ronald Searle
Forum Auctions lot 172

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/155968406_searle-ronald-timonthy-shy-the-terror-of-st-trinian-s-or-angela-s-prince-charming-original?from=alert&utm_source=SavedAlert&utm_campaign=SearchAlert_20230626_A&utm_medium=email&utm_content=item

November 27, 2023 Update:  The dedication page alone is offered at Chris Beetles in The Illustrators sale for 2023. The price of 6,500 GBP is a 200% markup over the 1700 GBP hammer price plus the 26% buyer's premium.

https://chrisbeetles.com/artwork/36258/bank-robbery

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Ronald Searle: Maestro

Jeffrey Archer's short story collection, his fifth, Cat O' Nine Tales (2006) came to my attention through its illustrations by that consummate expatriate English artist Ronald Searle. Of the twelve stories included, nine were based on tales the author had heard while in prison. There seem to be a fair number of glowing reviews of the book. I wanted to like it, but frankly the collection didn't do much for me. The illustrations were in full color, and they were published as such in an early gift edition, but even there I found some were far better than others. The illustration of the story "Maestro" from page 51 depicts the Italian restaurateur who "could not explain away 3,000 table cloths." Nor could he explain his yacht, his Ferrari, and his Florentine villa to the tax assessor. The illustration was sold last Thursday at Dawson's Auctioneers in Maidenhead.

Ronald Searle
Dawsons June 29, 2023

https://www.dawsonsauctions.co.uk/auction/lot/lot-107---ronald-searle-1920---2011-could-not/?lot=70430&so=4&st=Searle&sto=0&au=&ef=&et=&ic=False&sd=1&pp=48&pn=1&g=1

Note:  Clearly, I'm not the right person to extol the virtues of this book. For more information on Ronald Searle's illustration work for Cat O' Nine Tales, see Matt Jones's 2006 post on the subject here.

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