Searle's Dogs

Ronald Searle was, of course, famous for his cat drawings but he told me he was never particularly fond of cats they were merely "what sold".  His various depictions of dogs over the years are just as funny and he produced a whole book on the canine personality "With four lugubrious verses" written by 'Molesworth' creator Geoffrey Willans in 1958.

Searle lived in Paris for the best part of the sixties. A city of dog lovers, it commissioned Searle in the eighties to illustrate a campaign to keep its sidewalks clean!

'Particularly revolting dog glowing under the impression that it is man's best friend'

Searle's covers for the New Yorker usually featured his famously laconic felines but this one, published Sept 19, 1970, depicts a site often observed in the richer parts of large cities.

Early examples from the 1950s published in News Chronicle

'First Class'

'Stately homes' NY Times

'Palm Springs' feature HOLIDAY magazine February 1965

Mr Punch had a curious canine companion decades before Wallace & Gromit.  His dog was called Toby. 

See more from 'Squires Gin' & the Post Office in the Advertising section pt.2