How often does it happen that two cartoonists come up with virtually the same idea? Actually, it's not all that rare, and often it does not involve intentional or even inadvertent copying. Charles Addams (1912-1988) and Ronald Searle (1920-2011) were two of the leading cartoonists of the twentieth century. It happens that they both pursued the idea of a tired clown taking off his shoes at the end of the day and they both arrived at a strikingly similar place. Addams's version is a rough published as a postcard by the Tee and Charles Addams Foundation; Searle's is a finished drawing with watercolor collected in his monograph. Searle's cartoon is dated 1971; the date of Addams's is presumably unknown, but it doesn't particularly matter which came first. The drawings are here presented in alphabetical order by artist.
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| Clown Feet Charles Addams https://www.ebay.com/itm/402724192642?hash=item5dc43b8182:g:vKsAAOSw4NFgPmaK&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4Jn%2B WuJ4wvxUkin0%2FloOIZy3lCSaxCT0IfUNCs69ibIsPe9IS0RYKCDVyTLkg% 2BmbrbBWttaCmso3xJoJgTGYr2pJACyR6%2F3ZpzNh3N7auZWYhTg m1aPj%2F0ar1b%2Frf%2BVAgNMgqSVRHOGQdWkYjSeZcibDAXe ThPiKPdbmSB7GBe9Qnww9iGZ%2FJ2ylPs0uzz4NUCMF7yqtJ sxrZKb4KIvgxHHG2RvQrxPFfLEHkMmlGS8qh%2FK8zb3 OZi23U36t4Y4e%2BV%2FXbNWl5qxMt3ROECRE99rr kCac1xlxEizcdEgp7ree%7Ctkp%3ABFBMhp-KzsRh |
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| Clown, 1971 Ronald Searle |
First off, Addams gets a lot of points for subtlety. Just hinting at the size of the clown's feet, rather than showing them to us outright, is ingenious. Searle, as is his wont, gives us a lot of extraordinary detail that is ultimately extraneous to the main point of the drawing. We're shown the clown's newspaper, Le Monde, his ash tray full of spent cigarettes, and his liquor. We even get to see his street clothes and his umbrella. And what a wonderful water pitcher Searle has given us!
So, which do you prefer?
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