In 1977,
Ronald Searle published
Zoodiac, a series of full-color illustrations, a different animal appearing on two facing pages for each sign of the zodiac. The illustrations were all created specifically for the book and are among the funniest and most technically-brilliant ever created by the artist. It could have been Searle's last word on the subject—but it wasn't.
More than twenty years later, Searle revisited the same territory—one full-color, full-page illustration of an animal for each sign of the zodiac—and the series appeared in
Town and Country magazine. In the case of
Taurus in the China Shop, we can now compare the original magazine art published in 1998 with an alternative version offered last month at Sotheby's London. The published version of the art has a more physically-active and more casually-dressed bull, a more concerned saleswoman, and a more varied collection of animal figures.
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Ronald Searle, Taurus in the China Shop, 1998
Original art, Town and Country, 1999 |
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Ronald Searle, Taurus, 1998
Alternative version to that in Town and Country, 1999 |
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Ronald Searle
Sotheby's London
July 11, 2017 Lot 231
Unsold |
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Ronald Searle
Sotheby's London
July 11, 2017 Lot 231
Details and Cataloguing |
Taurus, from Ronald Searle's
Zoodiac, 1977:
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Ronald Searle, Zoodiac, 1977, title page
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Ronald Searle, Zoodiac, 1977, endpaper
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Ronald Searle, Zoodiac, 1977, procession
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Which version of the 1998 illustration do you prefer?
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Ronald Searle, Taurus in the China Shop, 1998
Original art, Town and Country, 1999
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Ronald Searle, Taurus, 1998
Alternative or preliminary version to that in Town and Country, 1999
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Note: Attempted Bloggery is looking for submissions of published and unpublished original book and magazine illustrations by
Ronald Searle and other
New Yorker artists. Alternative or preliminary versions are especially welcome. You break it, you bought it.
Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:
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