The work of British illustration icon Ronald Searle, who passed away two years ago at the age of 91, has influenced countless illustrators, designers, cartoonists, and animators for the past sixty years. One of the artists who can claim to being inspired is veteran story artist Matt Jones, who works at Pixar by day and curates the Ronald Searle Tribute blog by night.
What sets Matt apart from the average fan is that he became friends with Searle during the last years of his life, visiting him numerous times in the south of France and exchanging frequent letters. Now, Jones has hatched a plan to shine greater attention onto Searle’s work in the United States by staging the first-ever West Coast art show of Searle’s artwork. The show, “Searle in America,” will exhibit the drawings that Searle made in America while on reportage assignments for Holiday magazine, like this view of American sailors in Honolulu:
…or this view of a slot player in Las Vegas:
Jones is collaborating on the exhibit with San Francisco’s Cartoon Art Museum. However, the cost of shipping Searle’s artwork from Europe and printing a catalogue are prohibitively expensive for the non-profit museum. To help raise money for the show, they are organizing an auction of new illustrations and paintings inspired by Searle. The Cartoon Art Museum will begin the auction later this month on eBay and all the money raised will go directly toward the costs of presenting the show.
I’m rooting for them to pull this off because it’ll provide a benefit to the entire visual arts community on the West Coast who will have an opportunity to see Searle’s original artwork. Jones is inviting artists to mail their own Searle-inspired contributions for the auction by July 15th. For more details, you can contact him via this page.
Here’s a preview of some of the artwork that will be auctioned, a lot of it which is created by artists who work in the animation industry:
![Artwork by Matt Cruickshank Searle In America" by Matt Cruickshank](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/MattCruickshankRS-108x81.jpg)
![Artwork by Avner Geller Commuting" by Avner Geller](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/searle_avnergeller-108x81.jpg)
![Artwork by Uwe Heidschoetter Artwork by Uwe Heidschoetter](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Uwe_searle-108x81.jpg)
![Artwork by Willie Real The Astonishing Anatomy of Ronald Searle" by Willie Real](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/WillieReal-searle-108x81.jpg)
![Artwork by Charles Santoso I Did Nothing" by Charles Santoso](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/CharlesSantosoRS-108x81.jpg)
![Artwork by Eric Zettlemoyer You're Driving Me Crazy" by Eric Zettlemoyer](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Eric-ZettlemoyerRS-108x81.jpg)
![Artwork by Matt Jones Mr Lemonhart's Hawaiian Vacation" by Matt Jones](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/MattJones-searle-108x81.jpg)
![Artwork by Glenn Hernandez Chinatown" by Glenn Hernandez](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/GlennHernandez-108x81.jpg)
![Artwork by Meg Park Girls Room" by Meg Park](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/MegParkRS-108x81.jpg)
![Artwork by Wouter Tulp Artwork by Wouter Tulp](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/WouterTulp-108x81.jpg)
![Artwork by Uli Meyer The Swine Bon Vivant" by Uli Meyer](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/UliMeyerRS2-108x81.jpg)
![Artwork by Stephane Kardos Sailor's Chick" by Stephane Kardos](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/sailors-chickBlog-108x81.jpg)
![Artwork by John Musker Dame Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey" by John Musker](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/JohnMuskerRSblog-108x81.jpg)
![Artwork by Lauren Airriess 'The artist at a young age" by Lauren Airriess](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/LaurenAiriessRSblog-108x81.jpg)