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.
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| Ronald Searle Chris Beetles listing accessed December 31, 2022 |
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.
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| "Are you sure this is Chris Barber's place?" Ronald Searle and George du Maurier Punch, July 19, 1961 |
Chris Barber was a well-known English bandleader and jazz trombonist.
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