Wallace and Gromit by Nick Park

Nick Park is surely one of the very few reigning geniuses of stop-motion animation. He graciously donated a drawing of his superb Wallace and Gromit to the "Searle in America" benefit auction, and it sold quite well yesterday. Still it's a bargain compared with what these souvenir drawings fetch at high-powered auction houses like Christie's. But first things first. Here's the drawing from the benefit auction on eBay:


Nick Park, Wallace & Gromit



http://attempblogger.blogspot.com/2013/08/wallace-and-gromit-by-nick-park.html


Sure, that's a lot of money, but it is dwarfed by activity on the London auction block. Each of the following sales results is from Christie's South Kensington:

Nick Park, Wallace & Gromit

http://attempblogger.blogspot.com/2013/08/wallace-and-gromit-by-nick-park.html






Nick Park, Wallace & Gromit


http://attempblogger.blogspot.com/2013/08/wallace-and-gromit-by-nick-park.html

For those who dearly love Wallace and Gromit but are a little overwhelmed by these auction prices, there is one relatively inexpensive, quick sketch still available on eBay. It's a signed drawing of just Gromit from a page in an autograph album. As you can see, it must be quite a challenge to remove these pages without tearing them.

Nick Park, Gromit

http://attempblogger.blogspot.com/2013/08/wallace-and-gromit-by-nick-park.html


[End of eBay Listing]

****


20 Questions with Nick Park


Note:  The eBay benefit auction in support of the "Searle in America" show continues. As you can see, there are some good deals to be had and they're all right here.

The Searle in America blog is dedicated to this fall's exhibition as well as to the eBay fundraiser and it can be seen here.

Then there's Perpetua, the Ronald Searle tribute blog, recommended to everyone with an interest in Searle's art--that's you--and it's over here.
I have one previous post on Nick Park's Wallace & Gromit character models which you can see here.

And, as always, my Searle posts are right here. Don't tell me you have something better to do.

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Ronald Searle: Cats at the Ballet

Ronald Searle published a volume of expressive ballet drawings in 1946. The one reproduced here shows his concern for form, contour, balance, and tension. He was skilled at figure drawing, but his early realistic books proved financially unsuccessful, and he spent much of the rest of his long career producing humorous illustrations.

Four of Searle's humorous cat drawings with a ballet theme were sold at Christie's South Kensington between 2005 and 2009. They are not dated and were not published prior to the auctions, but they may well have been created some five decades after this figurative drawing of a ballerina, give or take a few years.

Searle's much later cat drawings are as far removed from the ballerina drawing as one can imagine, too far for any useful comparison. They are uniquely whimsical; indeed they possess a stylistic individuality scarcely hinted at in the ballerina drawing. They transcend the typical limits of the cartooning genre and project energy, humor, and even poetry that are hard to find in any medium. If one didn't know, don't think one would surmise they came from the same hand as the realistic ballerina drawing.

Ronald Searle, "Ballerina" from Le Nouveau Ballet Anglais, Paris, Montbrun, 1946


Ronald Searle, Night Bird

Ronald Searle, Things That Go Bump in the Night


Ronald Searle, Dreams of Glory


Ronald Searle, Entre-Chats


The auction sale results below are all from Christie's:

http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/searchresults.aspx?entry=Ronald%20Searle%20night%20bird&searchtype=p

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/drawings-watercolors/ronald-william-fordham-searle-things-that-go-5225192-details.aspx?from=searchresults&intObjectID=5225192&sid=e72ce77f-e601-482b-8e49-1e4bd20d2373

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/drawings-watercolors/ronald-william-fordham-searle-dreams-of-glory-5225202-details.aspx?from=searchresults&intObjectID=5225202&sid=f2ab5397-cedd-43c0-be1d-68bf433eec78

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/ronald-william-fordham-searle-entre-chats-4627010-details.aspx?from=searchresults&intObjectID=4627010&sid=e26b5eef-d529-4d72-b94f-056d0dfff056





Note:  An exciting exhibition of Ronald Searle's reportage work for the U.S. magazine market is coming later this year to the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco. The animation community has contributed most generously to an eBay fundraiser for the "Searle in America" show. Check it out here.

The Searle in America blog is dedicated to this exhibition as well as the eBay fundraiser and can be seen here.

Perpetua, the Ronald Searle tribute blog, is your source for everything about Ronald Searle. See it here.


Finally, there are my own Searle posts located here. Jackpot!

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Ronald Searle: Le Nouveau Ballet Anglais

Le Nouveau Ballet Anglais (1946) is a scarce book title by Ronald Searle published for the French market. It contains sixteen drawings, of which only one is reproduced in this recent eBay listing. In the immediate post-war years, Searle had hoped to establish himself as a serious artist chronicling the times. It was in humorous illustration that he was to achieve his greatest success.

Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. puts this period of Searle's life in context for us:
http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/searle.htm

Cover to Ronald Searle's Le Nouveau Ballet Anglais, Paris, Montbrun, 1946

Title page to Ronald Searle's Le Nouveau Ballet Anglais, Paris, Montbrun, 1946

Limitation page to Ronald Searle's Le Nouveau Ballet Anglais, Paris, Montbrun, 1946.
Exemplaire No. 490 of 650 numbered copies plus four lettered copies.

Ronald Searle, "Ballerina" from Le Nouveau Ballet Anglais, Paris, Montbrun, 1946

Hand-written copy of the book review from the Edinburgh Evening News, 




Note:  Stop me if you've heard this before. A world-class exhibition of Ronald Searle's reportage work for the American magazine market is planned for San Francisco's Cartoon Art Museum this November. The animation community has contributed brilliantly to an eBay fundraiser for the "Searle in America" show. There are still some fine items to be had here.

The Searle in America blog is dedicated to this forthcoming exhibition as well as the eBay fundraiser and can be seen here.

Of course, Perpetua, the Ronald Searle tribute blog, should be your first stop in exploring the work of this amazing cartoonist, and it's right here.


And once you're done with all that, my own Searle posts are right here. Yes indeed!

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My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #390

Here's my entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #390 for August 5, 2013. The cartoon is by Drew Dernavich, but the musical caption is all mine.

"My apologies. Was it tuna you ordered then?"


I came up with two additional captions that didn't quite make the cut, but I've grown fond of them, so I'll share them with you just the same.
"Any requests that go oom-pah-pah?"
"It's my very own transcription of 'The Ring.'"

Note:  My previous somewhat fishy entry in the Cartoon Caption Contest can be found here.

My previous blog posts with Drew Dernavich's work are here.

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Ronald Searle: "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines"

What is one to do when a fantastic illustration comes along but it is offered at a stratospheric price? As might be expected, the artwork receives no bids, and when the item is relisted the price slowly begins to drop--but not nearly enough to elicit any bidding activity. At some point, one expects, the price may be lowered to a reasonable level and find a buyer, but the owner, who turns 100 during this time period, decides he would rather keep it hanging on his wall than drop the price any further.

That's what happened to a terrific illustration by Ronald Searle from the title sequence of "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" (Twentieth Century Fox, 1965). Initially offered in the $18,000 to $20,000 price range, it subsequently failed to sell for $13,000 to $17,000 and has not been relisted. Sale prices for Searle illustrations occasionally may reach this range, but it is far from the norm.

Ronald Searle, Title Sequence Illustration, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes, Twentieth Century Fox, 1965 





April 2, 2013 Original eBay Listing Price



May 9, 2013 Final eBay Listing Price
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RONALD-SEARLE-ORIGINAL-WATERCOLOR-LARGE-Those-Mag-Men-In-Flying-Machines-MOVIE-/140971264207?ViewItem=&ssPageName=ADME%3AB%3ASS%3AUS%3A1123&item=140971264207&nma=true&si=VJo29%252F7WbHpl1SY9gWmnl4%252FkT80%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557







Ronald Searle, Title Sequence Illustration, "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes," Twentieth Century Fox, 1965
[End of eBay Listing]


Ronald Searle, Bill Richardson, and Allen Andrews. Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes (London:  Dennis Dobson, 1965), Pages 22-23



Elmo Williams:  A Hollywood Memoir (2006)
Mr. Williams is the owner of this artwork.


Note:  As I've been writing, a major exhibition of Ronald Searle's reportage work for the American market is coming to San Francisco this fall. The eBay fundraiser for the "Searle in America" exhibition can be viewed here.

The Searle in America blog can be seen here.

Perpetua, the Ronald Searle tribute blog, is right here.


In addition to all this, my own Ronald Searle posts are right here. Happy reading.

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Ronald Searle: The Day the Truth Got Out

I've been following cartoonist Ronald Searle's work dutifully, even obsessively, for more than 35 years now and there are still countless published drawings I've never seen. On eBay, this undated (but apparently 1953) supplement to the April-May Lilliput has just been sold. The price isn't bad but the 15 GBP international shipping seemed a bit excessive to me. The good news is that of the six published Searle drawings, the seller has included two of them in his listing. This is how eBay sellers make the world a better place, well, one of the ways.

Ronald Searle, "The Day the Truth Got Out," The First Long Story by Patrick Campbell,
Spring Supplement to Lilliput, April-May (1953)

Ronald Searle, "The Day the Truth Got Out," by Patrick Campbell,
Spring Supplement to Lilliput, April-May (1953), Inside Front Cover and Page 1




Note:  As I've already mentioned in recent posts, a major showing of Ronald Searle's reportage work is coming to San Francisco. The exciting eBay fundraiser for the forthcoming "Searle in America" exhibition can be viewed here.

The Searle in America blog is here.

Perpetua, the Ronald Searle tribute blog, is here.


In addition to all this, my own Searle posts are all here.

0831
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I Dream of Siri

I spend a lot of time composing these blog posts, of course, but I believe I am now ready for some new technology to come into its own. Here's how I foresee myself embracing the latest blogging software in the not-too-distant future:


"'Evening, Siri."

     "Good evening, Doc."

"What do I have on my schedule?"

     "You have a benefit tonight for the eradication of hunger, disease, and poverty."

"All three, eh? But not ignorance? Anyway, it sounds as if it's a very good cause. But I am a bit sluggish this evening. Instead, I think I'll simply stay home and work on tomorrow's blog post with you. Any ideas for it, Siri?"

     "Here is a list of today's top news stories. Would you like me to turn it into a concise but powerful blog post for you?"

"Your help would be appreciated, as always. But I was thinking we might do something a little, well, lighter for tomorrow. You know, use a humorous illustration or drawing, something like that."

     "Do you have any original content, Doc?"

"Siri, by now you should know better than to ask me that. Let's just find something amusing on eBay. Then you can fluff it up a bit with some choice writing."

     "Doc, I have 26,451 humorous drawings on eBay."

"Any really funny ones?"

     "OK, I have a very funny one. There's this man and a woman and a cat."

"Great! Now compose something insightful or clever and we're done."

     "Very good, Doc. I'll post it tomorrow on the blog."

"Not too wordy now."

     "Of course not."

"Just a touch of sarcasm would be all right."

     "As you wish."

"Good. Phew! That was a lot of work, Siri. Now, have you come up with anything for the Cartoon Caption Contest this week?"

     "I'm still working on that one, Doc."

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Ronald Searle Roller Skater

Right now there's a lot of interest in the reportage work of Ronald Searle. An exhibition of the artist's original illustrations for Holiday magazine and for the American market in general is slated to open this November in San Francisco and should be brilliant. To help raise funds for this project, including shipping vintage Searle illustrations to San Francisco and producing an exhibition catalogue, many prominent animators have contributed original works of art inspired by Searle. There are currently multiple such works listed on eBay as well as a couple of German fountain pens that belonged to Searle himself and were donated to the auction by his estate.

There was, of course, a whimsical side to Searle's artwork as well. For example, this lithograph of an uninhibited roller skater is from the 1970 suite Meilleurs Voeux [Best Wishes] published by Michel Cassé, Paris. The suite consisted of five small lithographs trimmed from the usual 50 x 65 cm sheet and published in a numbered edition of 200 for the Galerie La Pochade in Paris. An additional seven were set aside for the printer and there were ten artist's proofs numbered in Roman numerals. The set of lithographs is Gurlitt no. 72 in the catalogue which erroneously gives the date of 1971 for the suite. The black-and-white 1971 catalogue illustrations as well as this eBay listing both support the 1970 date.

Ronald Searle, Meilleurs Voeux, 1970, 106/200, Gurlitt (1971) No. 72 (5)

Ronald Searle, Meilleurs Voeux, 1970, 106/200, Gurlitt (1971) No. 72 (5)

Ronald Searle Signature

Ronald Searle, Meilleurs Voeux, 1970, 106/200, Gurlitt (1971) No. 72 (5) Detail


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ronald-Searle-original-lithograph-1970-numbered-hand-signed-in-pencil-/111035564865?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&nma=true&si=VJo29%252F7WbHpl1SY9gWmnl4%252FkT80%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

Ronald Searle, Meilleurs Voeux, 1970, 106/200, Gurlitt (1971) No. 72 (5)





Note:  All the animators' original artwork and other items up for bidding on eBay to raise funds for the "Searle in America" exhibition can be viewed here.

The Searle in America blog is here.

Perpetua, the Ronald Searle tribute blog, is here.


My own Searle posts are all here.

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