The British Cartoon Archive is pleased to announce that it has added the Carl Giles Archive to its collection. This is one of the largest and most comprehensive archives of any British cartoonist, and covers every aspect of Giles’ working life. The British Cartoon Archive is currently organising the collection, and applying for funding to create an archival catalogue, and to add digital images of the original artwork to its online catalogue.
The British Cartoon Archive would like to thank the Giles Cartoon Trustees for their generosity in transferring this archive here.
Carl Giles
Ronald Giles - nicknamed “Carl” - worked for Reynolds News between 1937 and 1943, and for the Daily Express and Sunday Express from 1943 to 1991. He was self-taught, but became the most famous cartoonist of his generation, and had a considerable influence on the style of British social and political cartooning. He died in 1995, but continues to be remembered, and a collection of his work is still published each year. In 2000 Giles was voted Britain’s favourite cartoonist in a public poll, and in 2005 the Press Gazette chose him as one of the forty journalists in its Newspaper Hall of Fame.
Carl Giles in his studio - a photograph from the Giles Archive
The Giles Archive
Giles lived and worked in Ipswich, far away from the staff and resources of the Daily Express and Sunday Express. Living and working outside London, he had to maintain his own reference archive of photographs and cuttings, on which to base his drawings, and also to conduct most of his business by letter. He kept in touch with his editors and art editors, and with his readers, in writing, and his wife Joan carefully filed his correspondence. He also kept the majority of his original cartoons from 1943 onwards.
Giles assembled a vast studio archive, containing not only 6,500 original cartoons dating from the 1940s to the 1990s, but also filing cabinets of business correspondence with the Daily Express and Sunday Express and others, and of “Studio Correspondence” with readers and admirers. He also built up an image reference library of cuttings, filling several cabinets. The total is about fifteen linear metres of paperwork, in addition to which there is a book collection, a huge archive of duplicate copies of annuals, cards, and other ephemera based on his work, photographs, films, and much more.
Giles died in August 1995, but under his will his entire studio archive passed to a group of Cartoon Trustees. When boxed up it occupied over fifty linear metres of deep shelving. The Giles Archive remained in storage until September 2005, when the Trustees transferred the Giles Archive to the British Cartoon Archive in two pantechnicons.
The Giles Archive arrives at the British Cartoon Archive - September 2005
Access to the Giles Archive
The Giles Archive has never been open to research. During Carl Giles’ life he maintained close control of his originals and documents, and very little was open to outsiders. In the decade since his death the material has been in storage, and the Giles Archive has remained totally inaccessible. At present the majority of the collection remains boxed, just as it was put into storage in 1995.
Since September 2005 the British Cartoon Archive has been able to provide some limited access. In March 2006, for example, the original coloured artwork for a Giles annual cover was included in the opening exhibition of the new London Cartoon Museum. However, until the collection has been properly accessioned and catalogued, access to it is very restricted.
Giles Exhibition 1st December 2006
An exhibition of original drawings, books and objects from the Carl Giles Archive will run at the Canterbury Royal Art Gallery and Museum from 20th December 2006 to 3rd February 2007.
Competition 30th October 2006
The Centre will be running a competition throughout November to encourage people to contribute to the online catalogue. The winner will be able to choose 3 items from the Cartoon Centre's publications page.
Corny Pastiche 15th June 2006
The Centre's exhibition for the 2006 Canterbury Festival will feature cartoonists'
homages to, and copies of, famous paintings. Entitled "Corny Pastiche: the art
of political cartooning", it will run in the Centre's gallery from 7 October
to 19 November.
Peter Schrank donation 15th June 2006
In May 2006 the Centre was very pleased to receive a donation of over a hundred
cartoons and sketches from Peter Schrank, cartoonist of the Independent and
Independent on Sunday.
Haro Hodson donation 15th June 2006
A new exhibition has opened in the Centre's gallery. "Meet the Art Students:
A Brief History" contains Les Coleman's cartoons of his students, in black
and white "and now in glorious crayon." The exhibition runs until 2 April
2004.
