Art

An eccentric gadfly of the left, Woodrow Wyatt had recently had a falling out with the Labour Party weekly Tribune, for which he had written in the past, over his attack on TGWU secretary Frank Cousins. The "snake-dancing" and banzai references relate to the curious demonstrations which had recently caused the cancellation of President Eisenhower's visit to Japan. The cartoons and illustrations of Nicolas Bentley (1907-1978) were part of the warp and weft of English popular culture in the 1950s and 60s. Never savage, though often waspishly accurate and exuding an urbane air of amusement at the foibles of his fellows, Bentley's work was familiar to the public from a wide variety of publications. Between 1952 and 1954 he drew regular cartoons for the weekly Time and Tide, and after that for the daily News Chronicle. Between 1958 and 1962 he drew topical cartoons for the Daily Mail under the title "Watch My Line." He also drew many portraits, in black and white line, of famous people, for various papers, including over sixty for the Sunday Telegraph, which began publication in February 1961. Sheet size: 192 x 140 mm. Pen and black ink with blue pencil crayon on wove paper. Stamped on verso for publication in the Daily Mail, 17 June 1960, and with pencil reproduction instructions recto.