Donald McGill

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For the American politician, see Donald S. McGill.

Donald McGill
Black and white image of a man wearing a suit, seated in front of a desk.
Donald McGill in his studio
Born(1875-01-28)January 28, 1875
London
DiedOctober 13, 1962(1962-10-13) (aged 87)
Burial placeStreatham Park Cemetery
NationalityBritish
OccupationArtist
Known forDesigning cartoon postcards

Donald Fraser Gould McGill (28 January 1875 – 13 October 1962) was an English graphic artist whose name has become synonymous with the genre of saucy postcards, particularly associated with the seaside (though they were sold throughout the UK).

The cards mostly feature an array of attractive young women, fat old ladies, drunken middle-aged men, honeymoon couples and vicars.[1] He has been called 'the king of the saucy postcard', and his work is collected and appreciated for his artistic skill, its power of social observation and earthy sense of

guineas a design,[2]
but by the 2000s his original artwork could fetch thousands of pounds.

Early life

McGill was born in London in 1875. He lost a foot in a school

Campbell Richard Hone, a future Bishop of Wakefield, McGill spent most of his life in the Blackheath area of southeast London, living at 5 Bennett Park, SE3 – a blue plaque
location.

He was a naval draughtsman until his career in postcards began accidentally in 1904 when an in-law encouraged him after seeing an illustrated get-well card he had made for a sick nephew. Within a year it was his full-time occupation. He studied art and married the daughter of the owner of Crowder's Music Hall in Greenwich.

Artistic career

One of the cards used in evidence against McGill in 1954

McGill spent virtually the whole of his career creating the distinctive colour-washed drawings which were then reproduced as postcards. He ranked his output according to their vulgarity as mild, medium and strong, with strong being much the best sellers. His family, however, was steadfastly respectable. He said of his two daughters, "They ran like stags whenever they passed a comic postcard shop."[citation needed]

During the

First World War he produced anti-German propaganda
in the form of humorous postcards. They reflected on the war from the opinion, as he saw it, of the men serving, and the realities facing their families at home. Cards dealing with the so-called "home front" covered issues such as rationing, home service, war profiteers, spy scares and interned aliens. Recruitment and "slackers" were other topics covered.

Many cards were designed to appeal to the soldier who wished to send a card home to his sweetheart and these cards showed couples. Cards showed soldiers in training, and there were many light-hearted jokes about the Scottish soldier and his kilt. A few cards showed images of nursing sisters, and at least one showed three female munitions workers. There were relatively few cards depicting a soldier in action, and some depicted men in the Navy. Only a few of the military-themed cards were serious, such as one showing a British Red Cross medic caring for a wounded German soldier. In 1941, author George Orwell wrote an essay on McGill's work entitled "The Art of Donald McGill".[3] Orwell concluded that in spite of the vulgarity and the low artistic merits of the cards, he would be sorry to see them go.

Approaching 80,

bankrupt
, as they had traded on very small margins.

In the late 1950s, the level of censorship eased off and the market recovered. In 1957, McGill gave evidence before a House of Commons select committee set up to amend the 1857 Act.

McGill produced an estimated 12,000 designs, of which 200 million copies are estimated to have been printed. He died in 1962 with all his designs for the 1963 season already prepared. He was buried in Streatham Park Cemetery in an unmarked grave.[4] Despite their wide circulation, McGill earned no royalties from his designs; in his will, his estate was valued at just £735.[2]

One of his postcards, featuring a bookish man and an embarrassed pretty woman sitting under a tree, with the caption: "Do you like Kipling?" / "I don't know, you naughty boy, I've never kippled!", holds the world record for selling the most copies, at over 6 million.[5]

Museum

On 10 July 2010, McGill's grandson Patrick Tumber opened the Donald McGill Postcard Museum, created by James Bissell-Thomas in Ryde, Isle of Wight.[6] In 1953, Ryde had witnessed police raids on five shops in the town and the seizure of over 5,000 postcards, the majority by McGill.[7]

In popular culture

McGill's Kipling joke is used in a 1962 episode of

Miss Scarlet (Lesley Ann Warren) and Col. Mustard (Martin Mull
).

Bibliography

References

  1. ISBN 0-7137-1400-X
    .
  2. ^ a b c Ian Herbert (8 September 2006). "Postcards kept under wraps for 40 years set to fetch £50,000". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 12 November 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2006.
  3. ^ George Orwell (September 1941). The Art of Donald McGill. First published: Horizon, London. Retrieved 1 July 2007.
  4. ^ Randall, David; Anderson, Tom (16 October 2005). "Comic Postcard Legend Lies in an Unmarked Grave". The Independent. London.[dead link]
  5. Guinness Book of World Records
    . Since that time, records related to postcards have been discontinued.
  6. ^ Donald McGill 'king of saucy postcards' celebrated, BBC News, 10 July 2010, Accessed June 2012
  7. ^ Nick Collins (5 August 2010). "Bawdy seaside postcards on display". The Telegraph. Retrieved 12 September 2011.

External links

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