Tribute to Ronald Searle.

Watercolor cartoon on "population growth" initially published on Steve Heller's blog.

"There was the irresistible impulse to draw. I cannot remember wanting to be anything else other than an artist.” Ronald Searle


Yet his signature method, a curious mix of minimalist detailing and rococo flourishes using a vibrant watercolor palette, exuded a modern air — sometimes realistic, other times abstract, occasionally phantasmagoric. (NYT)


Searle was born in Cambridge, England, he started drawing at the age of five and left school at the age of 15. He trained at Cambridge College of Arts and Technology (now Anglia Ruskin University) for two years.

In April 1939, realizing that war was inevitable, he abandoned his art studies to enlist in the Royal Engineers. In January 1942, he was stationed in Singapore.

He married the journalist Kaye Webb in 1947; they had twins, Kate and Johnny. In 1961, he moved to Paris, leaving his family and later marrying Monica Koenig, a painter, theatre and jewellery designer. After 1975, Searle and his wife lived and worked in the mountains of Haute Provence.

Searle died on 30 December 2011, aged 91. (Wiki)
His family said in a statement that he had died in his sleep after a short illness.

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“His ability to draw in a variety of styles allowed him to master all forms of graphic art,” the caricaturist Edward Sorel said.