[Original signed caricature portrait of Art Historian and Broadcaster Kenneth Clark, Lord Clark]

Auberon WAUGH (1939-2001, previous owner). - Ralph STEADMAN (.

[Original signed caricature portrait of Art Historian and Broadcaster Kenneth Clark], titled “Michelangelo's Kenneth”, pen and ink on two joined sheets of paper, signed. Size: 36 x 19 1/2ins; 915 x 495mm.

Condition: some old dampstaining.

Provenance: Auberon Waugh (Langton Gallery label to reverse of frame, noting that the purchaser was Auberon Waugh, and that the drawing had been exhibited in Nov /Dec 1975, as catalogue number  44. in the “The Great British Cartoon” Exhibition).

The provenance is particularly appropriate. Auberon Waugh’s writing was an integral part of the satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’. Ralph Steadman was also a regular contributor. Lord Clark (aka Baron Clark of Saltwood) was one of the ‘Eye’s’ targets: his actions (real and ?imagined) were recorded, in typical ‘Eye’ fashion using a wafer-thin pseudonym: ‘Lord Clark of Civilization’.

“Ralph is a world renowned artist that has a unique abstract style that is strikingly unique with his gonzo style. Ralph was born in 1936 in Wallasey Chesire. Ralph attended East Ham Technical College and the London College of Printing.

Ralph has published numerous political satire illustrations and caricatures in publications such as the Rolling Stone, Punch, Private Eye, Scanlans, Running, Kotori Magazine, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, and the New York Times. Ralph's unique style was the focus of the 2014 movie For No Good Reason which was narrated by actor Johnny Depp.

Ralph has won numerous awards for his cartoons and illustrations from books like Alice in Wonderland, I Leonardo, Inspector Mouse and That's My Dad. He has illustrated numerous other books including Animal Far, Treasure Island, The Poor Mouth and Fahrenheit 451 to name a few!

Ralph is very well-known for his longtime partnership with Hunter S. Thompson. Hunter and Ralph famously collaborated on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas for the Rolling Stone in 1971 in the two issue series in which feature some of Ralph's most iconic illustrations. The story was made into a movie in 1998 starring Johnny Depp and directed by Terry Gilliam. They also famously chronicled the Kentucky Derby for Scanlans.

Other well-known works include the labels for The Flying Dog Brewery, numerous wine labels including the banned Cardinal Zin, album covers for Frank Zappa and the Who and the special edition box set art for the TV series Breaking Bad.In 2017 Ralph Steadman was named to the Society of illustrators Hall of Fame.” (SteadmanClassics.com).

“Kenneth Mackenzie Clark, Baron Clark OM CH KCB FBA (13 July 1903 – 21 May 1983) was a British art historian, museum director, and broadcaster. After running two important art galleries in the 1930s and 1940s, he came to wider public notice on television, presenting a succession of programmes on the arts during the 1950s and 1960s, culminating in the Civilisation series in 1969.

The son of rich parents, Clark was introduced to the arts at an early age. Among his early influences were the writings of John Ruskin, which instilled in him the belief that everyone should have access to great art. After coming under the influence of the connoisseur and dealer Bernard Berenson, Clark was appointed director of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford aged twenty-seven, and three years later he was put in charge of Britain's National Gallery. His twelve years there saw the gallery transformed to make it accessible and inviting to a wider public. During the Second World War, when the collection was moved from London for safe keeping, Clark made the building available for a series of daily concerts which proved a celebrated morale booster during the Blitz.

After the war, and three years as Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford, Clark surprised many by accepting the chairmanship of the UK's first commercial television network. Once the service had been successfully launched he agreed to write and present programmes about the arts. These established him as a household name in Britain, and he was asked to create the first colour series about the arts, Civilisation, first broadcast in 1969 in Britain and in many countries soon afterwards.

Among many honours, Clark was knighted at the unusually young age of thirty-five, and three decades later was made a life peer shortly before the first transmission of Civilisation. Three decades after his death, Clark was celebrated in an exhibition at Tate Britain in London, prompting a reappraisal of his career by a new generation of critics and historians. Opinions varied about his aesthetic judgment, particularly in attributing paintings to old masters, but his skill as a writer and his enthusiasm for popularising the arts were widely recognised. Both the BBC and the Tate described him in retrospect as one of the most influential figures in British art of the twentieth century.“ (wikipedia).