Ronald Searle: Portrait of Fredrick Alexander

Fredrick Matthias Alexander (1869-1955) or F.M., as he was known,  developed the Alexander Technique, an alternative therapy designed to teach habits that promote good posture and improved health. Illustrator Ronald Searle (1920-2011) benefitted from Alexander's methods and was understandably grateful. His ink portrait of the practitioner was published in the News Chronicle of February 26, 1953.

Searle gave the original drawing to Alexander adding the inscription "For 'F.M.' from the reconstituted artist with thanks." It is after this inscribed drawing that a lithographic edition of 50 was published, numbered but not signed, making this possibly unique among Searle's prints. It seems unlikely he personally was involved in the lithograph's production. Print no. 34/50 was sold on April 23 at Roseberys, London.

Ronald Searle
Roseberys London auction April 23, 2024 accessed April 14, 2024

https://www.roseberys.co.uk/a0680-lot-563499-ronald-searle-cbe-rdibritish-1920-2011portrait-of-fredrick-alexanderoffset?el=563499&pn=1&pp=25

Sold!

Note:  For a far more comprehensive look at Ronald Searle's relationship with Fredrick Alexander, see Matt Jones's 2012 post "The Alexander Technique" in Perpetua, the Ronald Searle Tribute blog. It's right here.

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The Lovers' Keepsake by Raymond Peynet

The French take pride in knowing a little something about love. French cartoonist Raymond Peynet's les amoureaux, or the lovers, became exceedingly popular in the postwar period. Through their imprint Perpetua, the couple Ronald Searle and Kaye Webb introduced Peynet's work to the British public. The Lovers' Keepsake (1958) was the fourth book in the series. Searle himself wrote the foreword. An exceptionally nice copy complete with dust jacket showed up recently on eBay, but was ended by the seller because of a supposed error in the listing.

Which lover is speaking in these cartoons?

Raymond Peynet
eBay listing ended January 31, 2022

https://www.ebay.com/itm/373905988119?mkpid=0&emsid=e11021.m43.l1120&mkcid=7&ch=osgood&euid=7bbcfd17c3bb4555a5a1862ae850e24e&bu=43186000575&ut=RU&osub=-1%7E1&crd=20220128013704&segname=11021

&sojTags=ch%3Dch%2Cbu%3Dbu%2Cut%3Dut%2Cosub%3Dosub%2Ccrd%3Dcrd%2Csegname%3Dsegname%2Cchnl%3Dmkcid&nma=true&si=WEtIFz5%252FkfY9UxP8WWeB%252FCaqeVQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Raymond Peynet
eBay item description

 

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Ronald Searle: Sex Shows in Hamburg

A funny thing happened on the way to the MoCCA Arts Festival for 2018. While on the train into midtown Manhattan on April 7, I encountered a drawing by Ronald Searle offered on AbeBooks that I did not recall seeing on the market before. Dated I think 1967 (and probably not 1964), the drawing is from Searle's visit to the St. Pauli quarter of Hamburg researching a risque travel piece that would be published in Holiday magazine early in 1968. The Große Freiheit, or Great Freedom, is a side street in the red-light district off the Reeperbahn in Hamburg. A number of well-fed and well-wrinkled older men are shown thoughtfully considering the various commercial sex shows on offer.

Ronald Searle
Gr. Freiheit, Reeperbahn, Hamburg, 1967

The price—of the art, not the sex shows—was under $400, simply too good to be true. The shipping cost from Germany to the States was, in a word, ridiculous. I had not been looking for a drawing from Searle's jaunt to Hamburg, but how on earth could I pass this up? I took the plunge and made my first purchase of the day from my seat on the train still many miles away from MoCCA Fest. Clearly I would not be adhering to any sort of a budget for the day.

Too good to be true?

Ronald Searle
The AbeBooks listing as it appeared after I bought the item

https://www.abebooks.com/Ronald-Searl-Original-Zeichnung-Tinte-Papier-Motiv/22826721582/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&cm_ite=viewbook

And so I arrived giddy at MoCCA Fest having already made a very shrewd purchase. Almost immediately though I was hit up for an extra $43 in shipping and insurance fees:

Then the bookseller chimed in as well. The shipping charges had been adjusted "because of the weight of the book." Book? Wasn't it a drawing I was buying? Was it framed? Were they sending me a form letter? Was something being lost in translation? Anyway, I knew I had been undercharged for shipping so I accepted the extra charges while bemoaning AbeBooks' regrettable lack of of user feedback. 

Finally, the seller woke up and canceled the entire transaction "because we have had a massive pricing error with this article in our database, which we have not seen before." AbeBooks allows sellers to cancel transactions because bookstore inventories are naturally subject to prior sale, but this is a seller having second thoughts because of incorrect pricing.

Anyway, it's not the first time I've been disappointed by a cancelled transaction on AbeBooks. The drawing, I later discovered, was also offered on eBay with additional images. That listing was ended abruptly by the seller on April 8.

Ronald Searle
Gr. Freiheit, Reeperbahn, Hamburg, 1967

Ronald Searle
Gr. Freiheit, Reeperbahn, Hamburg, 1967

Signed and Annotated
"Gr. Freiheit - Reeperbahn
Hamburg.
Ronald Searle, 1967"

Ronald Searle
eBay Listing Ended April 8, 2018

https://www.ebay.de/itm/Ronald-Searl-Original-Zeichnung-Tinte-auf-Papier-Motiv-Reeperbahn-Hamburg-S-/263591892657?hash=item3d5f4d16b1%3Ag%3AY-UAAOSwAghax963&nma=true&si=%252FOZOjWSsECKQVsHgR7g0G9JTfPA%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Ronald Searle
eBay Item Description

Searle blogger Matt Jones obtained a much brighter image some years ago.

Ronald Searle
Gr. Freiheit, Reeperbahn, Hamburg, 1967

http://ronaldsearle.blogspot.com/2013/06/kabarett.html

Incidentally, that Tabu sign in the left upper portion of the drawing was to appear very prominently on Searle's cover for Holiday in January of 1968.

Ronald Searle
"Wild and Wicked Hamburg"
Holiday, January 1968

http://ronaldsearle.blogspot.com/2007/10/magazine-illustration-part-2-holiday.html

Note:  To better understand this drawing in the context of Searle's reportage in Hamburg, see Kabarett! on Perpetua, the Ronald Searle Tribute blog written by Matt Jones.

Attempted Bloggery is the other blog to which collectors may send further examples of published and unpublished original art by Ronald Searle. Special consideration will be given to drawings from Hamburg so I can put the phrase sex shows in the title again. My readers are only human, after all, and the flesh is weak.

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives

Ronald Searle

Holiday

Attempted Bloggery's Taboo Index

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Ronald Searle Signed Photo

I have no idea how many cartoonists sign glossy photos of themselves just as any celebrity would, although I suspect not all that many. Ronald Searle certainly was a celebrity by any definition, but even for him it must have been a little unusual to sign this modern print of a vintage photo some 55 years after the fact. It's hard to determine its individual worth, as it was sold with a small, uncommon volume in German as well. The book illustrations provided by Searle seem to be reused from other sources. Still, the entire package seems like a reasonable deal to me.

Ronald Searle Signed Photograph

The back of the photo paper. Clearly, this is not a vintage photograph.

Ronald Searle Signature, January 2011

Oscar Wilde,  Elisabeth Schnack, translator, and Ronald Searle, illustrator. Kleiner Seitensprung (Zurich, 1954) Cover

Oscar Wilde,  Elisabeth Schnack, translator, and Ronald Searle, illustrator. Kleiner Seitensprung (Zurich, 1954)

Oscar Wilde,  Elisabeth Schnack, translator, and Ronald Searle, illustrator. Kleiner Seitensprung (Zurich, 1954)

Ronald Searle, "I'll just die and then you'll be sorry." [1947 or earlier], Oscar Wilde,  Elisabeth Schnack, translator, and Ronald Searle, illustrator. Kleiner Seitensprung (Zurich, 1954)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-RONALD-SEARLE-BOOK-IN-GERMAN-AND-HAND-SIGNED-PHOTO-SEE-SEVEN-SCANS-/290917819837?pt=Antiquarian_Books_UK&hash=item43bc0da5bd&nma=true&si=UB68sj2DvLx%252F9kdb54zXrlCgzYs%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

-/290917819837?pt=Antiquarian_Books_UK&hash=item43bc0da5bd&nma=true&si=UB68sj2DvLx%252F9kdb54zXrlCgzYs%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Note:  Searle's work is still important to illustrators, but today much effort to promote his legacy is coming from the animation community. Storyboard artist Matt Jones, who curates Perpetua, the Ronald Searle tribute blog, has organized an exhibition of Searle's American reportage work. "Searle in America" will take place in San Francisco in the fall. Some 75 members of the animation community have contributed original works inspired by the master in order to raise money to ship artwork to the West Coast and produce a catalogue. The sale is currently under way on eBay.

The eBay sale of works inspired by Ronald Searle to support "Searle in America" can be found here.

Perpetua, the Ronald Searle tribute blog, is right here.

The Searle posts on my own blog are here.

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