Ronald Searle: City Bird

City Bird is a 1969 lithograph by the English caricaturist Ronald Searle. He created a number of prints in this period with pointed observations set off by imposing cityscapes. This example, sold by Heritage Auctions on April 9, is no. 64/99. There are also ten numbered artist's proofs. The colors are black, gold, and red according to the 1971 Munich exhibition catalogue of Galerie Wolfgang Gurlitt where it is listed as no. 46. It is numbered 132 by Editions Empreinte.

As is typical with Searle, the closer you look, the more you see. At 65 x 50 cm, it's quite an imposing image. 

I saw an example of this print at a downtown Manhattan gallery in the late 1970s. I think the price was $200 but i could be wrong. The gallerist condescended to inform me that Searle was "a major illustrator," which, as you might surmise, I already knew. But I had no intention of buying this one at any price.

I can't really say I've changed my opinion with the passage of time although I have grown more tolerant of Searle's grotesqueries as the world itself has gotten more repugnant. Still, the figure attracts and repulses me at the same time. To me, she looks like a prostitute—which, to be fair, is legal in France. 

The estimate was $200-$300. Bidding started at $1 with no reserve. Eighteen days before the sale, no bids had yet been placed.

Ronald Searle
Heritage Auctions listing accessed March 21, 2026, 18 days before the sale

https://fineart.ha.com/itm/prints-and-multiples/ronald-william-fordham-searle-british-1920-2011-city-bird-1969-lithograph-in-colors-on-wove-paper-25-3-4-x-19-3-4/a/13238-28088.s?type=wantlistid-562622!creatorid-cewl!linkclicked-lotlink!emailid-03212026-080247.395PM-1315592-562622!itemid-13238_28003!wlem#13238-28003

Ronald Searle
Heritage Auctions item description

Last week, the print was sold for a bid of just $1, which comes out to $50 with Heritage's minimum buyer's premium. I hate to see such little interest in a Searle lithograph, many of which are quite wonderful, but this one clearly isn't for everybody. Not even me.

Gurlitt catalogue

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Barbara Westman: Hanover Street, Boston

Before she illustrated seventeen covers for The New Yorker between the years 1983 and 1992, much of Barbara Westman's art celebrated on the city of Boston. Her woodblock print, Hanover Street, was published in an edition of fifty in 1967. Print no. 8 was sold last year on eBay.

My personal favorite:

Barbara Westman
eBay listing ended August 24, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/364837588168?_skw=Yorker+signed&itmmeta=01JCYHXBY28EM00FFCW7YVZPFW&hash=item54f203ccc8:g:2RAAAOSwen9mDxva&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAAwHoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKm%2FuuD9Z1Uc%2F9L6Vs6zpy6sxwTVshCl%2Bmd3KMwCvMwN4Be4UYucaO1ZvqXVZM%2

FazUhk7Bocjexiq87S63bKz4lLgEbnJUKP6t3l288DCWlrGHzRnlYoBRNKlRZAThuplyRor3pDVXrMGo%2FgLoQsAErv%2Bw6UMLSedeLJQofXSpm7zuXxfMNrkRqpYiSZudAgtZmbws3j7l0jt14OwjirFrXx5aqSGDsa2LdTSAB0gh4LEQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR5a_9dHnZA

Barbara Westman
eBay item description

Note:  For more informative reading, see "The Wild Art of Barbara Westman."

05127

Benoît van Innis: That Evening They Had Decided Not to Talk About Contemporary Art

Earlier today in Bruges, an auction lot consisting principally of items by Benoît van Innis reflected the somewhat haphazard way collectors accumulate the work of illustrators they admire. The sale by Auctions Van de Wiele of Bruges included two signed and numbered prints, two books, a folder, and two New Yorker magazine covers, one by van Innis and the other of a cat by Gürbüz Doğan Ekşioğlu.

That Evening They Had Decided Not to Talk About Contemporary Art
Silkscreen, 1990, #54/100
Benoît van Innis

Untitled
Etching, 1994, #13/15
Benoît van Innis

Benoît van Innis
Auctions Van de Wiele sale accessed October 6, 2024—twelve days before the sale

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/VAN-INNIS,-Benoit-1960-2024-567-c-6E74E14BD7?utm_term=new%20yorker&utm_source=alerts&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=keywordalerts&utm_content=310880

English translation

Sold!

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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.

04640

Ronald Searle: The Coming of the Great Cat God

The Coming of the Great Cat God is a 1968 color lithograph by Ronald Searle. It combines his popular cat imagery with one of those calamitous urban landscapes he was rendering at the time. A colossal smiling cat radiating garish colored light towers over the imposing cityscape and extends its right front paw downward. Terrified men in business suits jump from buildings and flee from the cat. It is not unusual for Searle's lithographs of this period to contrast elements from nature with an overbuilt urban landscape featuring panic-stricken inhabitants.

The Coming of the Great Cat God
Ronald Searle
Original lithograph no. 86/95, 1968
Gurlitt catalogue no. 34
EE cat. no. 94

Ronald Searle
Swann Galleries listing ended May 22, 2014

https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/Lots/auction-lot/SEARLE-RONALD-The-Coming-of-the-Great-Cat-God-Color-lithogra?saleno=2351&lotNo=250&refNo=689681

The 1971 Galerie Wolfgang Gurlitt catalogue lists the four-color lithograph (no. 34) and two black-and-white exhibition posters (nos. 35 and 36) from 1968 made from the same plate.

The Gurlitt catalogue does not list a promotional poster for Editions Empreinte. The poster does not have Searle's signature or his distinctive writing, but it does attribute copyright to him in small printing at the bottom:

Ronald Searle
Quinn's Auction Galleries listing ended December 20, 2022

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/roland-searle-lithograph-poster-1968-237-c-55d482cafe?objectID=176250941&algIndex=upcoming_lots_prod&queryID=5f78cbb9aa93f70f04630c19a515ee67

The color lithograph was included in Ronald Searle's Big Fat Cat Book (1982):

04428