| Description | Les Coleman's collection of British art, illustration and humour publications and related material is expansive, diverse and provides testament to his eclectic aesthetic taste. Arguably more diverse in style and context than his American and European collections, Coleman was interested in artists as varied as Victorian-era cat portratist and painter Louis Wain to contemporary Northern Surrealist Glenn Baxter. If there are any uniting traits between these artists it is their work is all individual, unusual and demonstrates a unique sense of humour, either explicitly or implicitly.
HM Bateman, or Henry Mayo Bateman, (15 February 1887 - 11 February 1970) was an Australian-born British cartoonist considered to be one of the most successful and pioneering cartoonists of the 20th Century. Finding recognition and popularity at an early age Bateman found regular work with newspapers, journals and humour magazines, particularly 'Punch' and 'Tatler'. A skilled and diverse artist, Bateman satirised contemporary social behaviours and traditional class structures. Moreover Bateman was a highly sought after commercial artist in the UK and in the USA, completing work for Guinness, 'Life' and Lucky Strike. In retirement he became a keen sportsman, with fishing and cricket being recurring subjects in his work. Coleman's collection of Bateman cartoons and illustrations, primarily consisting of hardback anthologies, is varied and comprehensive.
Glenn Baxter (4 Mar 1944 - present) was a friend and contemporary of Coleman from Leeds College of Art. Within the collection there is a significant bibliography of Baxter's published work, numerous postcards and prints, exhibition literature and related ephemera. Additionally there is a significant amount of personal correspondence from Baxter to Coleman; these include letters, invitations and a multitude of Christmas card featuring Baxter's own designs. Their correspondence reveal a close friendship based on shared artistic tastes and an admiration of each other's work. Like Coleman, Baxter is a Surrealist and his work incorporates various absurdist elements. His images and their corresponding captions employ art and language inspired by pulp fiction and adventure comics as well as literary and philosophical references. Baxter's books and merchandise have sold internationally and his work continues to be exhibited in galleries and museums across the world.
Ivor Cutler (15 January 1923 - 3 March 2006) was a Scottish poet, songwriter and humourist. Cutler's output was prolific and he counts poetry collections, fiction, children's books and music releases amongst the media he produced. Whilst Cutler did have his own naïve child-like drawing style, he usually collaborated with a range of British artists and illustrators in providing accompanying art for his work. In addition to being a huge fan and collector of Cutler's work, Coleman was a close personal friend and pen pal. There is a significant volume of correspondence from Cutler to Coleman in the collection which shows that they frequently visited each other, shared a love of art, poetry and literature, and once attempted to collaborate on a project together. Coleman amassed a large collection of Cutler's written work and several items are personally signed by the author.
Terence Parkes aka 'Larry' (19 November 1927 - 25 June 2003) was a renowned British cartoonist who frequently appeared in newspaper, journals and humour magazines in the UK. As a freelance cartoonist he contributed to 'Punch', 'Private Eye',' the 'Guardian' and the 'Daily Telegraph'. He also worked in advertising. He worked on campaigns promoting Double Diamond, Newcastle Brown and Heineken Beers. His style was extremely minimalist. No speech bubbles or captions were used, and he often used a few lines to suggest the outline of some feature, such as an arm or a leg, preferring to concentrate on the main idea of the drawing. As well as being a dedicated fan Coleman knew Larry personally and the two communicated via post. Their relationship was such that Larry gave Coleman three original drawings despite the fact that his gallery representative 'would take a dim view of me giving away one of his cartoons'.
Heath Robinson (31 May 1872 - 13 September 1944) was a British cartoonist best known for drawings of ridiculously complicated machines doing mundane or simple tasks. In addition to producing his own picture books, Robinson regularly published his crazy invention drawings in 'The Sketch' and 'The Tatler'. His invention drawings were unlike anything seen before and were used to advertise everything from shoe polish to Guinness. Their popularity and ubiquity led to the term 'Heath-Robinson contraption' becoming official dictionary use in 1912. During World War One, Robinson produced many popular satirical cartoons showing unlikely secret weapons and scenarios. Coleman's Robinson collection is comprised of collected drawings of his commercial and illustration work.
Louis Wain (5 August 1860 - 4 July 1939) was dubbed the 'Man who drew Cats' due to his favoured subject matter which he portrayed in a multitude of contexts, styles and mediums. The scope and breadth of Wain's obsession with cats is evident in Coleman's collection, which is comprised of books, exhibition catalogues, postcards and photo transparencies depicting the artist's feline illustrations, paintings and sculptures. From postcards in the collection it is evident that Coleman and his mother both shared an interest in Wain's work. Moreover it is possible from the photo transparencies and research papers, such as Wain related internet printouts and newspaper clippings, that Coleman taught a class on the artist.
Additional British artists, illustrators and humourists present in the collection vary significantly in style, content and medium. Amongst the collections are several anthologies of the popular satire magazine 'Punch', the bawdy sea-side postcard comedy of Donald McGill and gag newspaper cartoons of artists like Anton and Sam Gross. Elsewhere the collection features more enigmatic and esoteric art and literary-inspired work of Mervyn Peake and Chris Orr. Coleman's taste and appreciation of all kinds of art and literature extended to the more gentle humour of Posy Simmonds and to the children's literature of Raymond Briggs and Tony Blundell. |