Ronald Searle: Satirist
An exhibition at the Cartoon Research Library’s Reading Room Gallery
27 West 17th Ave.
January 15 – March 31, 2009

Ronald Searle: Satirist showcases examples of this great British cartoonist’s work at the height of his career as a graphic reporter during the 1950s and 1960s. Born March 3, 1920, to a working class family in Cambridge, Searle quit art school to join the Territorial Army as an Architectural Draughtsman in 1939. He was shipped to Singapore in October 1941, was captured by the Japanese a month after his arrival, He spent the remainder of World War II in a prisoner of war camp. Searle began cartooning for Punch in 1946 and was so successful there that he became a member of Mr. Punch’s Table, a very high honor, only a decade later. During this time, Searle also worked frequently for American magazines such as Holiday and Life. In 1960 he was the first non-American artist to receive the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben Award, its highest honor.

In the early 1960s Searle moved to France and began cartooning less and painting more. He created several limited edition prints over the last 40 years. Searle collaborated on numerous book projects, as documented by the 84 titles associated with him that are held in this library.

The Cartoon Library and Museum was fortunate to purchase a collection of almost 50 pieces by Searle in 1995. Most of works in this exhibition are selected from this purchase.

About the Cartoon Research Library: The Cartoon Research Library’s primary mission is to develop a comprehensive research collection of materials documenting American printed cartoon art (editorial cartoons, comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, sports cartoons, and magazine cartoons) and to provide access to these collections. The library is open Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. See http://cartoons.osu.edu/ for further information.