Ronald Searle's 1971 Christmas Card

Miss Linda King of Swansea was mailed a Christmas card in late 1971 from Ronald and Monica Searle. It was sold on eBay in March of this year with the original mailing envelope for what I recall was a substantial sum. I seem to have neglected to record the actual sale amount, but I believe it was in the range of the starting bid. The eBay seller reported that the card is a "Ronald Searle original hand drawn pen/watercolour sketch/drawing hand made Christmas Card," then confused the matter by calling it "Possibly one of a kind." Possibly? Well, is it a hand drawn original or not?

After taking a close look at all the photos in the listing, I conclude that the card is printed, not hand drawn. The initials RS are printed too, but the French and British flags are colored by hand.

The trifold card

The trifold card

M and R, for Mô and Ronald

The cover shows a postmark of December 27.

My belief is that out-of-focus pictures add nothing to eBay listings. Or to blog posts.

Signatures of Mô and Ronald

The red braces are drawn by hand and annotated.

Mô writes in blue ink, Ronald in black.

Ronald Searle
eBay listing accessed March 12, 2023

https://www.ebay.com/itm/394508195030?hash=item5bda8554d6:g:iJ0AAOSwhq1kDJhm&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAwKGk48BxWXqpq%2Fyc4CXxj%2FkA66grX%2FQdXKVDvViKsrGz2wsd3IdXEeYpU5tX9f%2FGHAmfNVVSRTVLTwqMxMXmR%2FIKALH0vD9wlY5mcjF8N

ooDVJYO8niuYgvfxmZaqJbDo4TmdGplhnWTOVFqf9KqvJlKKQnVG4qz%2Bqt9SZ6D%2BLTgyyt09UGfOeeSxvMlsaxXnXv2eDmHM2y6EQZB4S50AwzXKNXbjXwh6Fn%2FAut0%2F%2FV3kAR8Zljt%2Bq027Pk9XFSnRA%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR8Li3o7bYQ

Note:  To correct the eBay listing, Searle's wife Mô was the former Monica Koenig. Sorry, Maureen.

For more on Ronald Searle's extraordinary Christmas cards, see Matt Jones's 2010 post here. As of this writing, the 1971 card is not included there.

Cartoonist's personal Christmas cards would make happy additions to this blog, especially if they are not already available online. Scans are welcome. Tricolor and Union Jack optional.

04522

Laddie's Copy of From Frozen North to Filthy Lucre by Ronald Searle

From Frozen North to Filthy Lucre (1964) collects Ronald Searle's North American travel pieces published in Holiday magazine between 1961 and 1964. Much of the art is in color. This was a tumultuous time for Searle after he left his first wife, Kaye Webb, for Monica Koenig who would eventually become his second. The American magazine market paid well enough in those days for Searle, not yet divorced, to travel across the continent—and Hawaii—with Monica.

What's noteworthy about one Laddie's copy of the book, inscribed in 1965 on the day before Searle's 45th birthday, is that the cartoonist describes it as his "favourite Picture Edition." He had been illustrating books and periodicals prolifically since 1946 and was to continue at the top of his field essentially for the rest of his life. As many artists may harbor fond sentiments for their most recent undertakings, one hopes Searle came to feel equally warm toward much of his work that was to follow.

"For Laddie
my favourite Picture Edition
L.A. 2 March 1965.
Ronald Searle"

Ronald Searle
eBay listing accessed February 28, 2023

https://www.ebay.com/itm/134242589014?hash=item1f417b5956:g:HV8AAOSwkwhjKj1j&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAsIDnVJEz%2FsdinPdDURa11g3w2uicTMRFUTbH2OGnsuZlZ1IhXrQu1IVHjJeG1%2FaM0M4BePCUBxgl%2BLnyqsa6DKXFZKM5M0afa1f7NZsHlOfPONNjDWNNp3K%2FEscZUSrTs6I%2FEde2HVaaFt1JldLNsoAvaKEanEunb1SndK1j285buC%2FXccGuXsuPZBJaWoXro6%2Fv1ekxftM0R5gm4%2BAXEt8%2BXq4vU7aMf7hs7XYs2dtr%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4anv6DTYQ

Ronald Searle
eBay item description

04246

Ah yes, I Remember It Well...: Ronald Searle Proposed New Yorker Cover Art

Ronald Searle's magazine cover proposals submitted to the New Yorker often consisted of finished art ready to go to press. Living, as he did, in the south of France, he avoided the cumbersome process of submitting roughs and only later reworking them into finished designs. Some of Searle's New Yorker rejections were never printed anywhere, but he learned he could publish many of them in his own sumptuously-produced collections. Thus I Remember It Well... from 1972 was included in More Cats (1976) and several later collections as well. Alternatively called Ah yes, I Remember It Well..., the title comes, of course, from the well-known duet in Lerner and Loewe's film score "Gigi" (1958).

But this watercolor does not depict a duet. One window, indeed, remains darkened with the blinds down. In the other window a lone cat sits solitary in his chair, violin close at hand, a wistful far-off gaze in his  eye, as he contemplates days gone by. The original artwork was in the collection of Searle's wife Monica and was later given to E. and V. Caloutsis. Artist Valerios Caloutsis was born in Crete in 1927 and is an abstract painter.

Ronald Searle, I Remember It Well..., 1972
Proposed New Yorker cover art
More Cats, 1975, as Oh yes, I remember it well . . . , pages 18-19
Ronald Searle, 1979. as Ah yes, I remember it well . . . , page 143
 Ronald Searle's Big Fat Cat Book, 1982, as
Ah yes, I remember it well . . .
Searle and Searle, 2001, as I remember it well . . . , cat. no. 20

Ronald Searle
Christie's South Kensington, November 23, 2016

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/drawings-watercolors/ronald-william-fordham-searle-i-remember-it-6039333-details.aspx?from=searchresults&intObjectID=6039333&sid=3ec29850-26a4-4e1c-a096-8a53dfe6c59e

Ronald Searle, I Remember It Well..., 1972
Proposed New Yorker cover art
More Cats, 1975, as Oh yes, I remember it well . . . , pages 18-19
Ronald Searle, 1979. as Ah yes, I remember it well . . . , page 143
 Ronald Searle's Big Fat Cat Book, 1982, as Ah yes, I remember it well . . .
Searle and Searle, 2001, as I remember it well . . . , cat. no. 20

"I Remember It Well"

"Gigi" (1958)

Book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner

Music by Frederick Loewe

Maurice Chevalier as Honoré

Hermione Gingold as Mamita

The MGM Studio Orchestra

André Previn, conductor

Note:  While not all cover concept proposals are deemed worthy of subsequent publication, the New Yorker was in the enviable position of receiving far more outstanding cover submissions than they could possibly use. Original New Yorker cover submissions are eagerly sought after here whether or not they're as evocative as the current work by Ronald Searle.


Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Ronald Searle

Proposed New Yorker Covers

Violins

Attempted Bloggery's Misremembered Index

02246

Ronald Searle: Birthday Birds

A 1974 letter from Ronald Searle conveys slightly belated birthday wishes from him and Monica to Jean Ellsmoor, Searle's former secretary. The letter was typed and illustrated by Searle as only he could. It is available from Chris Beetles Gallery in London.

Ronald Searle, Typed Birthday Letter to Jean Ellsmoor, August 10, 1974

http://www.chrisbeetles.com/gallery/arts-performing-arts/art-artists/letter-jean-ellsmoor-10-august-1974.html

Ronald Searle, Typed Birthday Letter to Jean Ellsmoor, August 10, 1974

http://www.chrisbeetles.com/gallery/arts-performing-arts/art-artists/letter-jean-ellsmoor-10-august-1974.html

Ronald Searle, Typed Birthday Letter to Jean Ellsmoor, August 10, 1974

http://www.chrisbeetles.com/gallery/arts-performing-arts/art-artists/letter-jean-ellsmoor-10-august-1974.html

Note:  The film Searle refers to in the letter is "Dick Deadeye" (1975), an animated travesty, I'm sorry to say, for which Searle provided brilliant character design and backgrounds. You can see for yourself how good it should have been here. You can also see the outstanding medals he created for the French Mint here and here.

0716

From Ronald Searle to R. O. Blechman

Ronald Searle used the artwork for his January 1989 New Yorker cover as a Christmas card. Here's the one he and his wife Monica sent to cartoonist R. O. Blechman's family in 1990, as sold on eBay.

Ronald Searle, Christmas Card to R. O. Blechman, 1990

Ronald Searle, Christmas Card to R. O. Blechman, 1990

Ronald Searle, Envelope for Christmas Card to R. O. Blechman, 1990

Ronald Searle, Christmas Card to R. O. Blechman, 1990, eBay Winning Bid

 Ronald Searle, Christmas Card to R. O. Blechman, 1990, eBay Item Description

http://www.ebay.com/itm/250990629036?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_564wt_1413

Ronald Searle, The New Yorker, January 23, 1989

 http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Yorker-cover-Searle-bouquets-dancing-bird-1-23-1989-/390509849447?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5aec336b67

0545

Ronald Searle Welcomes Midge Home

This undated piece was made by Ronald Searle for Midge Locke when she returned home after a hospital stay. Midge was the wife of John Locke, Searle's North American agent, and their home, which was also John Locke's place of business, was located in Manhattan on East 76th Street. The drawing features two of Searle's devoted cats. It is signed by Searle and by his wife Monica, perhaps in the late 1980's or 1990's. 

Note:  If you haven't seen Searle's cats before, this is is a good place to start.

By the way, if you've been thinking of leaving your body to science, perhaps you should check out my previous Searle post.

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