John Glashan
Encyclopedia
John Glashan was a Scottish
cartoonist
, illustrator and playwright. He was the creator of the "Genius"
cartoons.
Glashan's cartoons typically included small pen-and-ink figures drawn over a fabulous backdrop often featuring fantastic Gothic
or imaginary architecture, surreal landscapes or gloriously impractical ingenious-looking machines.
and the son of a portrait painter, McGlashan studied painting at the Glasgow School of Art after national service in the army. He moved to London with the intention of making a living from painting portraits, but was unable to do so. After switching to cartooning and illustrating he curtailed his name to "Glashan".
Glashan's cartoons appeared in Lilliput
, Harpers & Queen, Private Eye
, Punch, and various London newspapers, as well as Holiday
and the New Yorker
.
A series of humorous guidebooks created with Jonathan Routh
in the late 1960s allowed extensive expression of Glashan's graffiti-like style, combining small figures (often bearded men) with scrawled text - but, even here, often with elaborate backdrops.
The "Genius
" cartoons, which allowed Glashan to use colour and a great expanse of space, ran in the Observer Magazine from 1978 to 1983, whereupon he concentrated on landscape painting. His cartoons reappeared from 1988 in the Spectator.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
, illustrator and playwright. He was the creator of the "Genius"
Genius (cartoon)
Genius was a newspaper cartoon series by Scottish artist John Glashan that appeared in The Observer newspaper in the United Kingdom from 1978 to 1983.The chief characters were Anode Enzyme and Lord Doberman...
cartoons.
Glashan's cartoons typically included small pen-and-ink figures drawn over a fabulous backdrop often featuring fantastic Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
or imaginary architecture, surreal landscapes or gloriously impractical ingenious-looking machines.
Life and work
Born in GlasgowGlasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
and the son of a portrait painter, McGlashan studied painting at the Glasgow School of Art after national service in the army. He moved to London with the intention of making a living from painting portraits, but was unable to do so. After switching to cartooning and illustrating he curtailed his name to "Glashan".
Glashan's cartoons appeared in Lilliput
Lilliput (magazine)
Lilliput was a small-format British monthly magazine of humour, short stories, photographs and the arts, founded in 1937 by the photojournalist Stefan Lorant. The first issue came out in July and it was sold shortly after to Edward Hulton, when editorship was taken over by Tom Hopkinson in 1940....
, Harpers & Queen, Private Eye
Private Eye
Private Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop.Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deemed guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency,...
, Punch, and various London newspapers, as well as Holiday
Holiday (magazine)
Holiday was an American travel magazine published from 1946 to 1977. Originally published by the Curtis Publishing Company, Holidays circulation grew to over one million subscribers at its height....
and the New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
.
A series of humorous guidebooks created with Jonathan Routh
Jonathan Routh
Jonathan Reginald Surdeval Routh co-starred in the British version of the television show Candid Camera and co-starred with Germaine Greer and Kenny Everett in a later attempt at a revival, Nice Time...
in the late 1960s allowed extensive expression of Glashan's graffiti-like style, combining small figures (often bearded men) with scrawled text - but, even here, often with elaborate backdrops.
The "Genius
Genius (cartoon)
Genius was a newspaper cartoon series by Scottish artist John Glashan that appeared in The Observer newspaper in the United Kingdom from 1978 to 1983.The chief characters were Anode Enzyme and Lord Doberman...
" cartoons, which allowed Glashan to use colour and a great expanse of space, ran in the Observer Magazine from 1978 to 1983, whereupon he concentrated on landscape painting. His cartoons reappeared from 1988 in the Spectator.
Books
- The Eye of the Needle. London: Dennis Dobson, 1961. A hardback of about eighty (unnumbered) pages. Some stories spread over as many as seven pages; many others are just single frames. Glashan's style already seems fully formed: little bearded men (by themselves, in small groups, or even in their thousands) are rendered even smaller by lovingly drawn but oppressive neo-renaissance or rococo backdrops. In the inner rear flap, we are told that Glashan was previously a brain surgeon. Much, perhaps all of the content of the book had previously appeared in Lilliput (a fact that goes unmentioned).
- Speak Up You Tiny Fool. New York: Dial, 1966. A hardback of about ninety (unnumbered) pages, in a larger format than The Eye of the Needle and duplicating much of the content of the earlier book, with additions. Jules FeifferJules FeifferJules Ralph Feiffer is an American syndicated cartoonist, most notable for his long-run comic strip titled Feiffer. He has created more than 35 books, plays and screenplays...
provides an introduction. - The Penguin John Glashan. Harmondsworth, Middx: Penguin, 1967. A paperback of about a hundred (unnumbered) pages, duplicating much of Speak Up You Tiny Fool.
- Private Eye Cartoon Library 7: The Jokes of John Glashan. London: Private Eye & André Deutsch, 1975. ISBN 0-233-96723-0 (On the front cover: "Private Eye Cartoon Library 7 / John Glashan / The Meths Festival and Other Celebrations".) Contains about one hundred (unnumbered) pages of cartoons, of which most were drawn from the book rather than reproduced from Private Eye (or so the copyright page informs us). Perhaps three quarters of the book is devoted to "The Meths Festival and other celebrations", a story about what transpires during one annual festival held in "the sleepy pig iron town of Grinding Mallet", a grim place whose every brick is lovingly delineated. While the Head Methner of the Meth Chateau shows around an appreciative group of Japanese businessmen, festival-goer Filbert learns to walk with his head tilted to one side.
- John Glashan's World. London: Robinson, 1991. ISBN 1-85487-104-8
Illustrations in other people's books
- Tonight and Other Nights. By Alistair Sampson. London: Dennis Dobson, 1959.
- The Perpetual Pessimist: An Everlasting Calendar of Gloom and Almanac of Woe. By Sagittarius and Daniel George. London: Hutchinson, 1963.
- Refer to Drawer. By Nicholas LuardNicholas LuardNicholas Lamert Luard was a writer and politician, but is perhaps best known for his activities in the early 1960s: co-founding The Establishment with Peter Cook and being one of the Lords Gnome of Private Eye....
and Dominick ElwesDominic ElwesBede Evelyn Dominick Elwes was an English portrait painter whose much publicized elopement with an heiress in 1957 was a scandale célèbre.-Biography:...
. London: Arthur Barker, 1964. - Sex and the Single GirlSex and the Single GirlSex and the Single Girl was written in 1962 by Helen Gurley Brown, as an advice book that encouraged women to become financially independent and experience sexual relationships before or without marriage...
. By Helen Gurley BrownHelen Gurley BrownHelen Gurley Brown , is an author, publisher, and businesswoman. She was editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine for 32 years.-Personal life and career:...
. London: Four Square, 1964. (This edition has "£ove $tory", an unpaginated 32-page supplement by Glashan, between pages 128 and 129.) - The Good Loo Guide: Where to Go in London. By Jonathan RouthJonathan RouthJonathan Reginald Surdeval Routh co-starred in the British version of the television show Candid Camera and co-starred with Germaine Greer and Kenny Everett in a later attempt at a revival, Nice Time...
with Brigid Segrave. London: Wolfe, 1965. Second (expanded) edition: Wolfe, 1968. - Good Cuppa Guide: Where to Have Tea in London. By Jonathan Routh. London: Wolfe, 1966.
- Guide Porcelaine to the Loos of Paris. By Jonathan Routh. London: Wolfe, 1966. French translation: Guide Porcelaine des "lieux" de Paris (Editions de la Jeune Parque, 1967).
- The Better John Guide: Where to Go in New York. By Jonathan Routh with Serena Stewart. New York: Putnam, 1966
- Private Eye's pSecond Book of Pseuds. Ed. Richard IngramsRichard IngramsRichard Ingrams is an English journalist, a co-founder and second editor of the British satirical magazine Private Eye, and now editor of The Oldie magazine.-Career:...
. London: Private Eye, André Deutsch, 1977. ISBN 0-233-96945-4 - Sweet and Sour: An Anthology of Comic Verse. Ed. Christopher LogueChristopher LogueChristopher Logue, CBE is an English poet associated with the British Poetry Revival. He has also written for the theatre and cinema as well as acting in a number of films. His two screenplays are Savage Messiah and The End of Arthur's Marriage...
. London: Batsford, 1983. ISBN 0-7134-3792-8 - Small Parts in History. By Sam LlewellynSam LlewellynSam Llewellyn, born in 1948, is a British author of literature for children and adults.-Biography:Sam Llewellyn was born on Tresco, Isles of Scilly, where his ancestors lived for many years. He grew up in Norfolk. He attended Eton College and later St. Catherine's College, Oxford...
. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1985. - Journal of a Collector. By Alistair McAlpineAlistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West GreenRobert Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West Green , is often known as Alistair McAlpine.He became a life peer in 1984 as Baron McAlpine of West Green of West Green in the County of Hampshire. In the 1990s he had a high-profile business collapse in Australia.McAlpine was a prominent...
. London: Pavilion, 1994. ISBN 1-85793-433-4
Partial list of anthologies including cartoons
- The Best of Private Eye. London: Private Eye, André Deutsch, 1976.
- 30 Years of Private Eye Cartoons, ed. Ian Hislop. London: Private Eye & Corgi, 1991. ISBN 0-552-13859-2 (paper), ISBN 0-552-13862-2 (hard)
External links
- Official website
- Guardian newspaper obituary by Michael McNay