Ronald Searle in Perspective

In this retrospective, dating from Searle's singular figurative sketches of the 1930s to the recent tightly jammed and highly ornamental tableaux which are identifiably his, will be found as bizarre a cast of beasts, birds, insects, and humans as has been assembled since Through the Looking Glass. Searle is essentially a satirical draftsman and fantasist. He can establish a contour, fill it with all manner of untiring squiggles, and create a scene that cunningly expresses a nightmarish vision. His paintings are ungainly yet handsome, mysterious yet clear, warm and sensuous, fearful, exuberant, and ironic. He belongs in every collection of pictorial humor.