Ralph Steadman’s last retrospective was cut short by COVID-19. But luckily his work is a moveable feast, and now Ralph Steadman: And Another Thing—a collection of 149 artworks and memorabilia chronicling the artist, satirist and Gonzo illustrator’s prolific and culture-shifting career—is debuting at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center. The exhibition invites visitors to witness his legacy in the arts of caricature and journalism, as well as children’s books and graphic biographies. It features a mash of sketchbooks, magazines spreads, photographs and handwritten notes that tell a fuller story of how the art was born—from the drawings Steadman created as a student and his creative “Paranoids” caricatures made from reworking Polaroids, to a recent book trilogy about extinct and endangered animals produced in collaboration with documentary filmmaker Ceri Levy.
The exhibition is co-curated by Sadie Williams, director of the Ralph Steadman Art Collection (and Steadman’s daughter), and Andrea Lee Harris, curatorial and exhibitions coordinator. Also available is a beautiful full-color, eponymous 207-page companion publication.
Below, Williams and Steadman tell us more.
Sadie, as co-curator and also Ralph’s daughter, how did this exhibition come together?
Williams: Between 2016 and 2019 we were touring a retrospective of 110 original artworks to venues in the USA, including the Society of Illustrator in New York and the Jordan Schnitzer Art Museum in Eugene, OR. It was incredibly well-received, but in 2020 the pandemic meant we had to cancel the last two venues. That exhibition was sponsored by United Therapeutics because their incredible CEO, Martine Rothblatt, is a fan and has become a friend over the years.
Early in 2023, Martine said she would like to see a new exhibition put together and that, once again, United Therapeutics would sponsor it. It was great to assemble the team again including co-ordinator Andrea Harris (she’s a force of nature), and start booking in venues. It is so special to launch it at the AU [American University] Museum, where we had such an amazing reception in 2017, and also get the Bates College Museum of Art in Maine into the schedule, as that was one of the venues we had to cancel.
Was the scope of the material always as retrospective and encompassing?
Williams: Yes, we always planned it would be a retrospective, but last time I had less input, as the exhibition was originally curated by Anita O’Brien at the Cartoon Museum in London and then adjusted slightly to travel to the USA. This time I could put in some of my personal favorites and tell some different stories. The writers portrait section is a particular favorite, especially the portrait of Frederico Garcia Lorca. It is a collage using old pieces of backing sheets from Dad’s drawing board, which Dad has then drawn into. It is an intense piece and I love it.
How does it feel seeing the full measure of the work in real life and time?
Steadman: I did not realize how much I had done. I am a serial polluter. It is strange to see some of these pieces that I had almost forgotten I had done.
Williams: I hope people, even dedicated fans, will be surprised by the scope of his work. At the launch I overheard some ladies comment as they went around, “Surely, that’s not a Steadman?” It was very gratifying.
I worked with Ralph when I was art director of The New York Times Op-Ed page, so I’m fairly familiar with his political side and some of his apolitical narrative and fantasy work. What were the criteria for what would be included in the show?
Williams: Anita O’Brien did such an amazing job with the original exhibition that I used that as a template. I am quite practical in these things, and I find having something visual to work with very helpful. I literally took one of the old catalogues from the last exhibition and replaced like with like, sticking in print-outs of pieces to replace the existing ones with. Then I pulled in a few additional pieces to bulk out some areas, like the writers, and the presidents of the United States. Then Andrea came over for a week and helped edit it and add in some alternatives. Some choices are quite personal. Finally, we handed the mockup over to Dad and he made his comments.
Ralph, you were influenced early on by Ronald Searle. Searle, of course, was less abrasive in his humor. How does your work differ otherwise?
Steadman: Searle was definitely an inspiration to me. I met him once and we drew each other. I think his drawing of me was kinder than mine of him, but he did not seem to mind. He is less messy than me. I just loved his wit and poise in what he did. There is an elegance to his work that really influenced me.
What has been the public response to the exhibit and the more “angry” pieces?
Williams: So far, it’s all been great. I have not heard any negative comments, but then Trump has not seen his Rotten Blot portrait yet! You have to be ready for the criticisms, though.
Steadman: Ugh, Trump is one of the worst human beings I have ever seen. I hope he gets upset by the drawing! But these are only drawings, after all; I am not physically hurting anyone. I hate bullies, and that is what I try to unmask. At school I had this terrible headmaster who regularly caned the boys, including me. It was terrifying. I have always carried that with me and the thought that “authority is the mask of violence,” and I loathe it
When the Rolling Stone/Hunter S. Thompson drawings were first published in the late 1960s, they represented the intense feelings of my generation—a kind of churning in the brain. How do they seem with the passage of time?
Steadman: I think we were both very driven back then. We were on our own mission to pull back the hypocrisies in politics and we jumped into every situation completely without fear or worry. Every drawing was a direct response to the situations we encountered and to Hunter’s writing. He just had this way of saying things that I responded to. Nobody could capture a moment quite like him. I miss him, a lot.
I’m also glad to see the “Paranoids.” They beg the question: Are there any other experiments now that digital media is so prevalent?
Steadman: I played around with Photoshop a bit. I used to use the paint bucket tool a bit, and it’s good that I can send images digitally now instead of sending the originals. That’s how so many went missing in the early days. They never got sent back.
Williams: I know it’s a bit controversial, but we have done a few NFT projects, too. I love engaging with an entirely new audience, most of whom were not even born when the original artworks that we turn into NFTs were created. I am sure there is some irony in that. There is a place for them, and there is a very creative community working in that field, so I remain optimistic.
What is the future of the work on view? Where will it go next? Is there a provision made for securing and archiving this important collection?
Williams: Yes, we have three more venues lined up and are looking for more on the West Coast to take us through to 2027. I love traveling to these places I might not otherwise visit. Washington D.C. is iconic, of course, but I like visiting smaller, more obscure areas. I am excited to travel to Stillwater in Oklahoma next year.
We also have an archivist, Holly Craven, who researched and wrote all the copy for the exhibition catalogue, working on a full digital archive. It is a slow process, but we hope to be listing the beginnings of it in a dedicated online archive in a few months’ time. Also, we work with Bridgeman Images on licensing artworks and trying to get the art to realize its commercial potential. It is exciting to see works get a second or third life in that way.
