Ronald Searle
Cartoonist, British, 1920 - 2011
Ronald William Fordham Searle (3 March 1920 – 30 December 2011) was an English artist and satirical cartoonist, comics artist, sculptor, medal designer and illustrator.
Searle was born in Cambridge, England. He trained at Cambridge College of Arts and Technology (now Anglia Ruskin University) for two years.
In April 1939, he abandoned his art studies to enlist in the Royal Engineers. In January 1942, he was in the 287th Field Company, RE in Singapore. After a month of fighting in Malaya, he was taken prisoner. He spent the rest of the war as prisoner, first in Changi Prison and then in the Kwai jungle. He was liberated in late 1945 with the final defeat of the Japanese. After the war, he served as a courtroom artist at the Nuremberg trials and later the Adolf Eichmann trial (1961).
He documented the brutal camp conditions of his period as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese in World War II in a series of drawings, "Ronald Searle: To the Kwai and Back, War Drawings 1939–1945". His cartoons appeared in The New Yorker, the Sunday Express and the News Chronicle. His work has had a great deal of influence, particularly on American cartoonists, including Pat Oliphant,Matt Groening, Hilary Knight, and the animators of Disney's 101 Dalmatians.
Searle was born in Cambridge, England. He trained at Cambridge College of Arts and Technology (now Anglia Ruskin University) for two years.
In April 1939, he abandoned his art studies to enlist in the Royal Engineers. In January 1942, he was in the 287th Field Company, RE in Singapore. After a month of fighting in Malaya, he was taken prisoner. He spent the rest of the war as prisoner, first in Changi Prison and then in the Kwai jungle. He was liberated in late 1945 with the final defeat of the Japanese. After the war, he served as a courtroom artist at the Nuremberg trials and later the Adolf Eichmann trial (1961).
He documented the brutal camp conditions of his period as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese in World War II in a series of drawings, "Ronald Searle: To the Kwai and Back, War Drawings 1939–1945". His cartoons appeared in The New Yorker, the Sunday Express and the News Chronicle. His work has had a great deal of influence, particularly on American cartoonists, including Pat Oliphant,Matt Groening, Hilary Knight, and the animators of Disney's 101 Dalmatians.