Leslie Caswell again!

I love doing this blogging. Take a look at the comment section of this post on Leslie Caswell:

Louise Gibson wrote:

My father, who served in India during WW2, had his portrait painted by Leslie Caswell. Dad died last year aged 93. I love the painting. And I chancing my luck asked if she’d be willing to share the picture….and soon after, this arrived in my Inbox. Many thanks Louise, it certainly is a great piece!

Jack Blackburn 1944 by Leslie Caswell

I promised to upload it with some new discoveries in Home Notes, so without further ado…..

“Dear Stranger” by Jane Causeway was adapted over several weeks and these three illustrations come from Home Notes 19 July, 26 July and 2 August 1956, the latter being the end of the adaptation (I don’t have earlier issues to say when it began). Interestingly the only other work by Causeway I can find is a Woman’s Weekly Library magazine, “Search for a stranger” (# 940 in the series), published by Fleetway Library, London, England, 19 March 1973.  The story was published in 63 Pages. A bookseller helpfully lists this as a line: “Why was it that, whatever she did, wherever she went, her mind always turned back to Adrian?”. Adrian doesn’t appear in any of the three parts of the “Dear Stranger” story but maybe Causeway changed the names! This is one mystery I won’t be worrying about.

However the author’s achievements appear to be few on the Internet.  the British Library only lists the same book as Amazon-  Search for a stranger. London : Hale, 1971. But one strange thing is that RT Book magazine have a single listing which states: Jane Causeway a.k.a. Barry Cook. There is also evidence that Causeway wrote in Home Notes in 1957 but I can’t find anything else on either names.

 

 

Home Notes 19 July 1956 p11 – Leslie Caswell

 

Home Notes 26 July 1956  p11 – Leslie Caswell

 

Home Notes 2 August 1956 p11 – Leslie Caswell

Home Notes: Leslie Caswell

I mentioned Leslie Caswell, whom Mike Noble (the comic artist) knew in the 50s in the last blog post.

Noble is quoted as saying “Caswell showed me how to design a picture within a frame” (Boyd, N. in Khoury, G. ed. 2004, p.152*).

The Net includes reference to his school background (Soham Grammar School). This is a really fascinating period piece and we learn that Caswell exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1940 and was in Burma during the war in the Royal Artillery.

Leslie Caswell at Soham 1937 - 2nd from left on back row - (shamelessly borrowed from: http://www.sohamgrammar.org.uk/midsum_1937.htm)

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My first scan from Home Notes shows a couple with the man almost looking comical! I’m not sure if my wife dressed like that I would be worrying about her ‘tidiness’.

Home Notes 27 July 1951 p6-7

Unfortunately I no longer have this issue to be able to tell you what ‘Linda’ did! But remember this is the early 50s. The affluent growing middle class after the Second World War is definitely the only model of family allowed at this time. Father is the sturdy solid black figure in the foreground towering in proportions over his wife and child. The lighting is interesting in this. The window is ‘in our faces’ but still is balanced by the dark suit

Home Notes 17 August 1951 p28-29

Again here we have the coy wife and her protector. A 1951 ideal.Notice however the strong figure work. He is looking to the right to her, and we follow his eyes to her and wonder then what she is thinking.

Home Notes 7 September 1951 p7

There is scant reference to Caswell on the Net, but interestingly:

Textbook of Operative Gynæcology

By Wilfred Shaw, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.S., Gynæcologist, St. Andrew’s Hospital, Dollis Hill, London, England. Cloth. $19. Pp. 444, with 382 illustrations. Williams & Wilkins Company, Mt. Royal and Guilford Aves., Baltimore 2; E. & S. Livingstone, Ltd., 16 and 17 Teviot Pl., Edinburgh, Scotland, 1954.

This is one of the foremost books on operative gynecology published in any language. It is a pity that Wilfred Shaw did not live to see this book completed. Even though he knew he had a fatal illness, he worked on the manuscript to the very end. Shaw acknowledged inspiration of illustrations from the textbooks of Peham-Amreich, Martius, TeLinde, and Greenhill. He borrowed some excellent original drawings, but the remainder of the illustrations were drawn by Leslie Caswell and are unsurpassed for accuracy and beauty.

Lastly for some of Caswell’s colour work take a look at “The spear thrower” from 1972, an unusual piece to be doing later in life!

So where did he continue illustrating when he moved to Cornwall and is he still alive? Get in touch if you know more
* Boyd, Norman, 2004. in G. Khoury, ed. True Brit: a celebration of the great comic book artists of the UK?, pp.150-155

Home Notes: Fred Laurent

Fred Laurent is another artist who is lost to the Internet “Fred Laurent was born in Brussels in 1922 and trained as an artist, but at the start of WW2 he fled Belgium for England. After service in the British army as a commando, he became a well established illustrator, principally for women’s magazines and romantic book covers.” This line appears all over the place. He doesn’t appear in the usual art dictionaries. Another site states he was born in 1922 which sounds reasonable but where did they get the info? Other artists in Home Notes included the famous Frank Bellamy, Leslie Caswell and Philip Townsend and as can be seen they are more or less talking heads, so not very exciting for the artist.

Fred Laurent in Home Notes 1951 Feb 16 p15

However I feel that Laurent particularly makes a great job of his talking heads.In the shot above, the shine to the picture almost looks like a Mike Noble picture and his ‘master’ Leslie Caswell did work for the same studio run by ‘Billy’ Cooper

Home Notes 1951 July 13 p27

In this illustration, we get a third figure and some background. The printing in these magazines didn’t help make them too clear, but Laurent’s style shines through.

Home Notes 1951 July 27 p29

In this clincher, the lighting is very interesting.

Home Notes 1951 July 20 p27

I love the sureness of the couple in this picture, together with the perspective of the bench. It shows an artist who is in command of his trade. I imagine – and have absolutely no proof – that he didn’t use models. But on a weekly deadline, I expect he would have had to

Home Notes 1951 September 7 p15

Take a moment to look at the light source in this last picture. My father used Brylcreem on his wild hair and that produced a sheen wherever he was, but the lady?

Fred Laurent did  a lot of colour work in John Bull at the same time, Due to the crude cataloguing the very useful Advertising Archives results include too many Laurents click here but you’ll have to wade through the other famous Yves St Laurent (any relations?)

Back next week with some more Home Notes

Home Notes: Ernest Ratcliff

In flicking through loads of 40s and 50s magazines I come across so many nice single illustrations that I like to share. If you follow this blog you’ll know how frustrating it is not to know anything about artists who produce beautiful work. Ernest Ratcliff is another one. I find he illustrated the comic strip ‘Lindy’ in the London Evening News, Rick Random and the Mystery of the Knights of Space (Super Detective 139, November 1958), a Robin Hood book , a 50s detective story cover and as early as 1939 depiction of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot. These jobs were often not liked by artists as there was little scope for any variation from the talking heads. However I loved this scene (and more Home Notes to follow)

Home Notes 16 February 1951 page 34