The Life and Work
of Ralph Steadman
“I really thought, ‘if I ever learnt to draw properly I
would try to change the world…for the better’” – Ralph Steadman [1]
Ralph Steadman is a British born artist and cartoonist known
for his satirical interpretations of fictional and real world events. He is
best known for his work with journalist Hunter S. Thompson and his
illustrations in the book “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”. Ralph uses a variety
of pens, inks and other materials such as masking fluid to create dynamic,
cerebral images to leave a lasting impression on its viewer.
Steadman was born in Wallasey, Cheshire in
1936 and was raised in North Wales. He
went to Abergele Grammar School but left when he turned 16 due to the
headmaster and the “fear and hatred of authority” that he imposed on his
students. After a few unsuccessful jobs, Ralph completed his service in the
Royal Air Force where he worked as a radar operator and learnt technical
drawing and draughting. He took these new skills and moved to London to pursue
a career in cartooning. He would send illustration after illustration to
different publishing agents and constantly be rejected until he was finally
published in “Punch” magazine. Alongside working as a freelance cartoonist,
Steadman
Studied under his art tutor Leslie Richardson.
He took a job working for “The
Kemsley Newspaper Group” where he met fellow cartoonist Gerald Scarfe. “He
said, ‘I like your line; I’d like to come see you’”, Steadman recalled: “So he
came up one day in his car and he brought his drawings with him and they were
awful...commercial art drawings...he showed me these things and said, ‘Can you
help?’ I said, ‘I’ll introduce you to my teacher Leslie Richardson.’” [2] They became good friends, studied
together and their work became very similar. “Neither of us liked to accuse the
other that we were copying each other, but you can’t help it when your styles
are somehow similar.”[3] They
fell out after Steadman’s wife accused Scarfe of “copying and faking everything
from me, and now preventing me from submitting my own work”[4]
In
1969 Ralph published his first book titled, “Still Life with Raspberry, or the
Bumper book of Steadman”. It was a collection of his work to date since he had
taken drawing seriously. Then in 1970 Ralph went on a trip to New York where he
came up with the idea of doing 1000 pictures of New York and to look for
drawings within the images. “What it does for me, it freezes a moment that when
I look back on it I think, ‘goodness me, did that really happen?’”[5] It was in New York
that Ralph gained confidence and realised that this was what he was meant to be
doing and was on the right path.
“It was the essence of my work to distort
yet maintain the likeness” [6]
He
was in New York when Ralph received a call asking him to cover and illustrate
the Kentucky Derby with journalist Hunter S. Thompson. While both in attendance
at the Derby neither of them could see the race, so they decided to write and
draw what they could see and it became about the “decadence and depravity of
the event and those who attended it.” [7] This became the birth of “Gonzo Journalism”, a form of
journalism, which instead of reporting on an event, you become part of the
story itself.
A year
later, in 1971, Hunter called Ralph up and asked him to create some
illustrations for a manuscript titled “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage
Journey to the Heart of the American Dream”. It was a critical and commercial
success with a movie being made in 1998 starring Johnny Deep,
In May 1980, Hunter asked Ralph to
accompany him to the “Honolulu Marathon Boat Race” where they would create further
stories using Gonzo Journalism. Ralph had the idea to spray paint “Fuck the
Pope” on one of the main boats, the Gretel. [8] Unfortunately Ralph was prone
to seasickness so Hunter gave him something to help settle his stomach. Hunter
was a well-known drug user and advocate so Ralph was actually given LSD, the
one and only time he had ever taken any drugs apart from alcohol. When they
arrived at the boat Ralph shock the spray paint can to start painting the boat
and someone over heard the little ball in the can rattling. Hunter said, “We’ve
failed! We must flee!” and preceded to bring out a flare gun which he fired and
caused chaos when some of them landed on nearby boats in the harbour. [9]
In Ralph’s own words he says he,
“became a visual chronicler of a part of Hunter. I had personified him, like a
comic book character.” [10]
In 1972 Ralph illustrated the Lewis
Carroll classic, Alice in Wonderland. Steadman’s visceral drawing technique
matches Carroll’s make believe fantasy world perfectly, taking inspiration from
the modern world. Ralph took inspiration from John Tenniel’s original fairy
tale illustrations for “Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland” and the unusual
anthropomorphic creatures created by Carroll. Steadman’s cerebral, exaggerated
style compliments the subject matter in a way that brings it up to date and
modern.
“The
thing about ralph work was just the energy, the anger, the venom that was just
spewed out”. [11] Over the following years Ralph would be a constant contributor
to Rolling Stone magazine, commenting a lot on American politics and what was
happening in the world. “Fear and Loathing at the Watergate” was a collection
of articles written again by Hunter S. Thompson and illustrated by Steadman.
The cover was a satirical image of the American president, Richard Nixon. “What
I doing was try to draw things because I was angry at these people who cheated
and swindled, that’s who my enemy is, that’s my object…I just wanted to be
taken seriously as an artist who was doing serious cartoons.”[12]
Being
around Hunter so much, Ralph was inspired and wanted to not just be an artist
and illustrator, but he also wanted to write his own books too. Taking
inspiration from one of the world’s most famous artists and inventors, and who
ralph calls a “genius”, Leonardo Da Vinci. Ralphs website describes the book as
“full of breath-taking images which turn the artists life
into a visual voyage of discovery.”[13] Ralph decided to write the book
in the first person, “Only I will know what he felt like. No experts would tell
me. This allows me artistic license and affords me the luxury of telling my
life story without all the doubt that accompanies most biographies about me.”
[14] Ralph saw something in Da Vinci, which he also saw in himself, “In a way I
recognised something of me in him that I was trying hard to be something rather
special… trying to do something as definitively as I possibly could that served
the purpose it was intended to serve.”[15] A lot of Ralph’s illustrations stems
from da Vinci’s own ideas and inventions. “Funny, poignant,
sometimes gory, sometimes optimistic, always intensely intelligent”[16]
In
1996 the actor Richard E. Grant published a book titled “With Nails”, a
collection of personal diary entries following his acting career. He asked
Steadman to create something to go on the inside pages. Ralph invited him to
his home where they took a series of Polaroid pictures. “I was after getting
the real person and then doing something to it”[17] Ralph would take a photo
and then draw on top of the image while it was drying to distort and manipulate
a real image. This made the photograph look like one of his own drawings, which
has always been the essence of his work. Ralph decided to carry on with this
method of working and applied it to other well-known people in the media. He
released another book called “Paranoids” using this technique.
Images in
the book involve pictures of Margaret Thatcher, Woody Allen, John Lennon,
William Shakespeare, and Princess Diana. Alive or dead no one is exempt from
Steadman’s savagery and wit.
In 2010
Ceri Levy, a documentary filmmaker, asked Ralph to create a single piece of
work for an exhibition to raise awareness for endangered birds and he just
couldn’t stop. Creating over 100 painting Ralph released a book in 2012 called,
“Extinct Boids”.
Most
recently Ralph was approached by Sony Pictures to create a series of paintings
to accompany the Blue Ray release of the cult classic TV series Breaking Bad.
Ralph has
been a constant, relentless voice in the world of art since the early 1960’s
and hasn’t stopped working. His satirical, political stances have been noted by
the masses and have made a difference. His work for various novels and books
will forever be remembered as revolutionising modern illustrations and inspiring
generation after generation. Ralph has been a big inspiration for me and
changed the way I look at the world. So yes Ralph, you have changed the world.
1.
Taken from the documentary “For No Good
Reason” released 2012
5.
Taken
from the documentary “For No Good Reason” released 2012 Sony Pictures
6.
Taken
from the documentary “For No Good Reason” released 2012 Sony Pictures
8.
http://nypost.com/2014/04/19/lsd-trip-with-hunter-s-thompson-sparked-artists-famous-career/ Taken from an interview by Larry
Getlan answers by Ralph Steadman
9.
Taken
from the documentary “For No Good Reason” released 2012 Sony Pictures
10.
Taken
from the documentary “For No Good Reason” released 2012 Sony Pictures
11.
Taken
from the documentary “For No Good Reason” released 2012 said by Director Terry
Gilliam Sony Pictures
12.
Taken
from the documentary “For No Good Reason” released 2012 Sony Pictures
14.
Taken
from the documentary “For No Good Reason” released 2012 Sony Pictures
15.
Taken
from the documentary “For No Good Reason” released 2012 Sony Pictures
16.
http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/07/11/ralph-steadman-i-leonardo/ Review by Maria Popova published 2014
17.
Taken
from the documentary “For No Good Reason” released 2012 by Sony Pictures
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