Ronald Searle was sympathetic to the plight of European refugees, having experienced wartime deprivations of his own. While incarcerated at Changi Gaol, Singapore in 1942, he managed to produce a visual record of life in the prison camp, exhibiting his powerful drawings on his return to Britain. In 1959 he was invited by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to record the plight of European refugees in camps in Austria, Italy and Greece to help stir public sympathy. Forty of his drawings were published in Refugees, Penguin Books, 1960, with a graphic text by Kaye Webb describing the plight of his subjects. The proceeds were donated to the United Kingdom Committee of the World Refugee Year. The following lots are the original drawings for that project.
Ronald William Fordham Searle (b.1920)
Details
Ronald William Fordham Searle (b.1920)
Hungarian Children. Traiskirschen Transit Camp, Austria
signed, numbered 3, inscribed as title and dated 'Ronald Searle - 3 November 1959'; pen and brown ink, framed
15 x 21in.
Hungarian Children. Traiskirschen Transit Camp, Austria
signed, numbered 3, inscribed as title and dated 'Ronald Searle - 3 November 1959'; pen and brown ink, framed
15 x 21in.