Donald McGill
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Donald Fraser Gould McGill, (January 28 1875 – October 13 1962) was an English graphic artist whose name has become synonymous with a whole genre of saucy seaside postcards that were sold mostly in small shops in British coastal towns. The cards feature an array of attractive young women, fat old ladies, drunken middle aged men, honeymoon couples and vicars. His work was the object of a 1941 essay by George Orwell.
He has been called 'the king of the saucy postcard', and his work is still collected and appreciated for his artistic skill, its power of social observation and earthy sense of humour. Even at the height of his fame he only earned three guineas a design, but today his original artwork can fetch thousands of pounds.
McGill was born in London in 1875. He lost a foot in a school rugby accident, and, having studied at Blackheath Proprietary School, spent most of his life in the Blackheath area of south-east 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.
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".
During the First World War he produced anti German propaganda in the form of humorous post cards.
In 1941, the renowned author and commentator George Orwell wrote an essay on his work entitled "The Art of Donald McGill". Orwell stated that he was not sure if McGill was a real person or simply a trade name.
At the age of 80, McGill fell foul of several local censorship committees which culminated in a major trial held in Lincoln on 15 July 1954. The charge was breaking the 1857 Obscene Publications Act. He was eventually found guilty and made to pay a £50 fine and £25 costs. The wider result was a devastating blow to the saucy postcard industry. Many postcards were destroyed as a result and retailers cancelled orders. Several of the smaller companies were made bankrupt as they survived on very small margins.
In the late 1950s, the level of censorship eased off and the market recovered. In 1957, McGill gave evidence before the House Select Committee set up in order to amend the 1857 Act.
Over the span of his career 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. Despite their wide circulation, McGill earned no royalties from his designs; in his will, his estate was valued at just £735.
One of his postcards, "Do you like Kipling?" "I don't know, you naughty boy, I've never kippled!" holds a world record for selling the most copies at over 6,000,000.<ref>1978 American paperback edition of the Guinness Book of World Records. Since that time, records related to postcards have been discontinued.</ref>
References
- Censored at the Seaside: The Censored Postcards of Donald McGill, Exhibition at Cartoon Art Gallery, London, May 25–July 31 2004.
- Buckland, Elfreda ,"The World Of Donald McGill" , Blandford (1984 ) ISBN 0-7137-1400-X
- Sutton, David , "A chorus of raspberries: British film comedy 1929–1939", Exeter: University of Exeter Press, (2000).
- Orwell, George, "The Art of Donald McGill" essay, First published: Horizon Magazine, London. — September (1941).
- Calder-Marshall, Arthur , "Wish You Were Here, The Art of Donald McGill" , Hutchinson of London, (1966). ISBN 0-09-080061-3
