MR. GEORGE MORROW'S " PUNCH " DRAWINGS.*
Ix writing an introduction to a most delightful collection of Mr. Morrow's drawings Mr. E. V. Lucas describes himself as one of those who open Punch backwards. We may expand this statement and say that with the ordinary Punch drawing we first read the joke underneath and laugh, and then we look at the picture, but with Mr. Morrow we first look at the picture and laugh, and then read the inscription and laughagain. lathe one case the picture is the illustration of a joke, in the other it is the joke itself. The astonishing thing is the way the artist makes every line in his drawing add to the effect. Even the beautifully drawn cumulus clouds in the scene of the castaway men on the raft become somehow wearied listeners of the bore who persists in telling his experiences at golf ; and is not the greatness of Beau Brummel perfectly expressed by the army of cravats and their bearers which pass before him only to be rejected ? Another of Mr. Morrow's qualities is that he convinces us as we study his drawings of the reality of the scene. While looking at one of the series of " Unknown London " who can doubt the actuality of the instruction in the mispronunciations of the names of stations given to conductors of underground railways ? But equally satisfying are the worries of the Middle Ages, for instance those of the amateur magician's friend who instead of having his warts charmed away has been turned by mistake into a rabbit. The expression on this rabbit's face is quite inimitable. He is being told that this kind of spell takes three years to work off. Wherever we turn the pages something delightful is to be found, and something fresh, for variety is Mr. Morrow's possession, and not merely variety of subject, but, what is more difficult to attain, variety of artistic treatment. Too many of the Punch artists have one way of drawing. Mr. Morrow's technique varies with his subjects, and is always fresh, appropriate, and expressive. Incidentally, too, he gives us exquisite little glimpses of landscape in the backgrounds. Let us hope that this collection is only the first of many.
• George Morrow. to Book. London : Methuen. Leed
Previous page
