"Country Diary Drawings" By Clifford Harper (published by Agraphia Press, London 2003), Part 2

 

 

I thought I'd lost this book for ever and I was so annoyed with myself for not remembering where I had placed it some three years ago! I was preparing to order another one when luckily it appeared behind a bookshelf (where else?) as I was relocating my art books to another room.

 

The book is a collection of 36 drawings done for The Guardian's Country Diary articles, beautifully reproduced in every detail, each one standing in its own page for better appreciation. I love the narrative in them as well as their style and craftsmanship. There's always a bit of mystery and allegory in Harper's work which makes it so much more interesting and special than any other illustration. 

 

 Agraphia Press Ltd (www.agraphiapress.com ) is owned and run by Harper himself as far as I understand - an ideal situation for an artist, to be able to control publications (and profit, hopefully) of his own work. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Harper

 

 

 

Margaret Thatcher Cartoons by Gerald Scarfe, Chris Riddell and Steve Bell (1991)

 

 

I forgot I had these in my newspaper cut-outs collection from two and a half decades ago. The one above is of course by the legendary Gerald Scarfe (published in the Radio Times) who is still working today, producing ever more striking and funny caricatures of politicians! Here is a link for his official website with dozens of amazing cartoons and books by the artist: http://www.geraldscarfe.com/

 

The second one, from the Guardian, is not portraying the real funeral of Lady Thatcher that we've just had even though many of the characters in this drawing were at present (John Major, Norman Lamont, Michael Heseltine etc)! It's referring to the events after she was forced to stand down as a Prime Minister. Steve Bell's very funny cartoon website is at:  http://www.belltoons.co.uk/

 

The last one is by Chris Riddell, another veteran British illustrator and political cartoonist (published in The Independent). Thatcher along with the other two major political leaders of the eighties, all retired and reminiscing. Chris Riddell's official website, featuring a wealth of illustrations from his long career is: http://www.chrisriddell.co.uk/

 

 

"2004 Olympiad", Cartoon by Kipper Williams, The Guardian Guide, 2004

With the 2012 Olympics approaching I thought this very funny cartoon about the 2004 event would be just the thing to remind us for what's to come... Here's Kipper Williams' excellent website for more laughs:  http://kipperwilliams.com/

More Clifford Harper (illustrations from the Guardian Saturday Review)

Got my brand new computer last week with a brand new operating system (Windows7). My old scanner doesn't work on it though because new drivers are needed for it to work with this new system and because when I did eventually manage to download them they didn't install properly - in other words I can't scan anything for the time being! Slightly annoyed with that (all in the name of progress) but at least I've got these to show. Excellent work by Harper that I've been collecting - and scanning - for years.