Ralph Steadman

Ralph Steadman 2006

Ralph Steadman (born May 15, 1936 in Wallasey, County Cheshire, England ) is a British author, illustrator , cartoonist and caricaturist .

Life

Steadman graduated from East Ham Technical College and the London College of Printing and Graphic Arts during the 1960s. During this time he freelanced for Punch , Private Eye , The Daily Telegraph , The New York Times and the rock music journal Rolling Stone .

Steadman is known for his ironic, politically and socially accented caricatures and cartoons, as well as for his illustrations in a number of illustrated books, such as Alice in Wonderland , Treasure Island and Animal Farm . In addition to writing and illustrating his own books, Steadman has worked with a number of writers, including Hunter S. Thompson , Ted Hughes, and Brian Patten . He was named Illustrator of the Year in 1979 by the American Institute of Graphic Arts . In 1989 he wrote the libretto for an eco-oratorio called Plague and the Moonflower , which was performed in five cathedrals in Great Britain and was made into a film by BBC 2 a few years later (1994).

He has visited the winemakers and distilleries all over the world, always looking for the extraordinary (Oddbins). This resulted in two award-winning books, The Grapes of Ralph and Still Life With Bottle .

The University of Kent has awarded him an honorary doctorate .

Self-statements

• "Gonzo is the essence of irony. You dare not take it seriously. You have to laugh. "
• "Nobody I have read knows what GONZO is, was, or ever could be, not even Hunter , and if he doesn't know what it is, I do. I am the only one who does. Gonzo make you feel GOod rather than BAD, which is BANZO. "
• "Today cartoon imagery has been flogged to death. Electronic wizardry has devoured it, digested it and spat out the bits left stuck in its teeth. What is unacceptable in the world is served up as light entertainment in every living room in the land. "

Awards (selection)

• Francis Williams Book Illustration Award for Alice in Wonderland ,
• American Society of Illustrators ' Certificate of Merit,
• WH Smith Illustration Award for I Leonardo ,
• Silver Paintbrush Award (Netherlands) for Inspector Mouse ;
• 1987: Bologna Ragazzi Award (Italy) for That's My Dad ;
• BBC Design Award for Postage Stamp Design;
• Black Humor Award in France;
• and various awards from the British Designers and Art Directors Association .

Works (selection)

• The Little Red Computer , 1968
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas , 1971 (Text: Hunter S. Thompson )
• Two Donkeys and a Bridge , 1972
• Emergency Mouse , 1978 (Text: Bernard Stone )
• Sigmund Freud , 1979
• The Curse of Lono , 1980 (Text: Hunter S. Thompson)
• Inspector Mouse , 1980 (Text: Bernard Stone)
• I Leonardo , 1983
• Quasimodo Mouse , 1984 (Text: Bernard Stone)
• Treasure Island , 1985 (Text: Robert Louis Stevenson )
• That's My Dad , 1986
• The Complete Alice , 1986 ( Through the Looking Glass and The Hunting of the Snark , Text: Lewis Carroll )
• No Room to Swing a Cat , 1989
• Near the Bone , 1990
• The Grapes of Ralph. Wine according to Ralph Steadman , 1992
• Still life with bottle. Whiskey according to Ralph Steadman , 1994
• Teddy! Where are you? , 1995
• Animal Farm , 1995 (Text: George Orwell )
• Gonzo . The art of Ralph Steadman , 1998
• Kleiner.com (from 6 years), Gerstenberg Verlag, Hildesheim 2001, ISBN 3806749353
• Doodaaa. The Balletic Art of Gavin Twinge . A Novel, Bloomsbury Publishing , London 2003
• The Joke's over , 2006

Web links

• Literature by and about Ralph Steadman in the catalog of the German National Library
• Own web presence
• Review of Ralph Steadman's "Kleiner.com"