Xtra Diary: 90th birthday of war artist Ronald Searle

Published: 26 February 2010

Ronald Searle's secret art of war

 
AN invitation has been sent to Diary to celebrate the 90th birthday of that inimitable illustrator and war artist Ronald Searle at a champagne party on Tuesday at the Chris Beetles Gallery in Ryder Street.

Diary has long-admired the imaginative powers and draughtsmanship of Searle.

But this fades into a little bit of insignificance when you think of the four years he spent in the notorious work camps run by the Japanese in the 1940s. 

He recorded his years of captivity with secret drawings that went into the making of one of the most monumentally important books of the last century, To The Kwai – and Back, War Drawings 1939-45. 

He wrote of it as: “…the graffiti of a condemned man, intending to leave a rough witness of his passing through, but who found himself – to his surprise and delight – among the reprieved”.

It is published by the Bloomsbury firm of Souvenir Press.

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Ashley tackles credit crunch

 

An unoriginal promotional trick for an unoriginal film title…

Diary hears that to celebrate the release (why does this phrase always proceed straight-to-DVD fodder) of the how-many-hard-men-can-you-rent-in- one-go movie, Dead Man Running, £10,000 in crisp bank notes are being dropped over London.

What makes such a lavish stunt more amusing in these times of austerity, is that one of the film’s producers is the troubled Chelsea footballer Ashley Cole, a man not exactly famous for his spirit of generosity. 

An attempt to do the drop in Liverpool Street station earlier this week was foiled when undercover police got a tip-off and pulled the plug, presumably because they anticipated a smash-and-grab situation.

Dead Man Running stars 50 “did I tell you I’ve been shot” Cent and Danny “really I’m not that” Dyer as well as Ashley Walters and the new pretender to the one-dimensional thug role, Tamer Hassan. 

“Cashley” has teamed up with fellow premier league star Rio Ferdinand to make what they say is “a heart-stopping gangster thriller”.

A spokesperson from Revolver Films explained the logic of the cash sweetener. “With the public still suffering the credit crunch, what better way to celebrate our film release than with some free cash for all. It’s going to be like the Crystal Maze. Hopefully people will take some of the money they grab and buy a copy of the DVD with it.” 

Somehow we think that’s wishful thinking. 

Diary hears its coming to the West End and hopes to be there. 

For more information on the cash drops visit: www.deadmanrunning.com

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From Abu Ghraib to… Kate Moss

POP art pioneer Gerald Laing this week opened a new retrospective of his work at the Sims Reed gallery in St James’s.

 

Among his subjects, (or should we call them targets), Amy Winehouse, Abu Ghraib and Kate Moss (See Variation on Theme of Kate Moss, above).

Speaking about his enmity for the Iraq invasion, the great master said: “My deep felt distaste for the war took me back to painting. My Astronauts and Pilots were bombing civilians from a safe height; my Starlets appeared to have got jobs at Abu Ghraib, still wearing their green domestic rubber gloves. I painted them in their new roles.”

The exhibition runs until March 19.