Someone I know who works in a wine shop discovered this at the bottom of a box of wine and knowing that I like to doodle purloined it for me. It's a nice print on cardboard by Ralph Steadman. One of a series of cartoons and drawings he did for the French wine makers Hugel and Fils.
When I thanked my friend and told him that Steadman was my favourite cartoonist (although cartoonist just doesn't do the man justice - illustrator, artist, draughtsman, innovator, and all round genius and splasher of ink) he looked at me blankly. He'd never heard of him.
How could this be? I asked myself. How could anyone go through fifty years of life without knowing the work of Ralph Steadman? He's always been there for me ever since I discovered his drawings for Alice in Wonderland and The Hunting of the Snark.
A few years back on National Doodle day I bid for a doodle of his (a terrified Grood on heat) on-line. I reluctantly gave in at just over two hundred quid and I think it eventually went for over five hundred and worth every penny. That's it below. How I wish I'd kept bidding now.
I did however get an Antony Worrall Thompson for twelve quid, a Raymond Blanc for eighteen, and I just missed Ainsley Harriot when I ducked out at twenty-five (it went for twenty six). I can't wait for next March I think I'll bid again.
We have them on our kitchen wall and they look very nice, but if I'd got the Steadman I'd have built a chapel around it.
Oh well, maybe I'll frame my bit of cardboard and pretend.
I've only got one Ralph Steadman book, but it's a bloody good one... "Between the Eyes" - Well worth seeking out.
ReplyDeleteIt always amazes me how little regard there sometimes seems to be in the "art" world for people who call themselves "cartoonists" as opposed to "illustrators". Sempe, Tidy, Scarfe, Schulz, Bell, Blake... all able to say so much with a few swift strokes.
Lovely stuff! M.
Lovely stuff indeed Martin.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who went through all sorts of hoops (both emotional and financial) in order to get himself an original Mervyn Peake drawing, and you can guarantee that he'll never regret doing so and owning a piece of artwork created by someone whose work he so admires...
ReplyDeleteSadly, I have nothing like that (well apart from my own and that's all rubbish...) M.
As you know martin it isn't rubbish.Nothing anybody makes from the heart and mind is rubbish.
ReplyDeleteI'd never heard of him either I'm afraid!
ReplyDelete