We are thrilled to be back in the USA with a brand new Ralph Steadman exhibition. A casualty of COVID, the last exhibition, Ralph Steadman: A Retrospective was returned to the UK before the tour could be completed. Now with an amazing sponsorship from United Therapeutics a brand new exhibition, Ralph Steadman: And Another Thing will be touring venues across the USA. The first venue sees us returning to the American University Museum at the Katzen Art Center in Washington DC from 7th September until 8th December 2024.
The exhibition explores the dynamic between real events and fiction and how, so frequently in Steadman's work, one influences the other. The viewer will witness his early observations and sketches as a student at the East Ham Technical College, and how they informed his first cartoons and submissions to publications like Punch and Private Eye. In his illustrations for Alice in Wonderland he created a modern classic, transferring characters that he witnessed in 1960's London to Lewis Carroll's bizarre, upside-down world. World events and artistic influences creep into his depiction of characters in his children's books and illustrations of Animal Farm.
On display will be pieces that demonstrate his emersion in literature and politics and his complete dedication and commitment to any subject that he tackles. Steadman has been doing his 'filthy scribbling' for nearly 70 years, collaborating across the decades with a diverse band of individuals including Hunter S Thompson, Will Self and Ceri Levy. Each collaboration pulled different elements from Steadman. His penmanship is visceral on projects with Hunter S Thompson such as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and his coverage of the Watergate trials for Rolling Stone Magazine. His illustrations of Will Self's weekly travel column in the Independent, Psychogeography are inventive and energetic. His treatment of extinct and endangered birds and animals with Ceri Levy in the Gonzovation Trilogy show sensitivity and sorrow for the loss of and threat to so many creatures.
Ralph Steadman is a true polymath much like his hero, Leonardo da Vinci, and has worked in multiple disciplines, creating set designs, film posters, sculptures, writing and performing his own songs, an eco opera and writing and illustrating his own books. He is one of a kind. Ralph Steadman: And Another Thing... showcases his amazing talent and imagination.
We could not bring you this amazing new exhibition without the help of our amazing sponsors, United Therapeutics. We are so grateful for you ongoing support.
For Anna Steadman - 21st March 1944 - 2nd February 2022
We are proud to dedicate Ralph Steadman: And Another Thing… to Ralph's beloved wife, Anna. She always supported him in all of his artistic endeavours, and said that early on in their relationship she realised that there were three people in their marriage, herself, Ralph and his art. As soon as she accepted that she could always be there, in the background, making a home for him and their daughter Sadie, as well as being a loving Stepmother to his older children, Suzannah, Theo, Genevieve and Henry.
Anna was a creative force herself, creating expansive embroideries of the Field of the Cloth of Gold, painting scenes from their garden in Kent in media including watercolours, acrylic, pastels, oil pastels and collage, and building fanciful paper mache models and sculptures.
She was a dedicated diarist on all of their trips whether for pleasure or on worldwide trips for Obbbins exploring the wineries of the world and always surrounded by a plethora of close friends whom she adored to 'hang' with.
We are pleased that she made the trips out to New York, Washington DC and San Francisco for the exhibition Ralph Steadman: a Retrospective. She took great delight in seeing Ralph's work enjoyed by such broad and varied audiences and we know that she would have blessed this incarnation with all her heart.
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