THE EARLY DRAWINGS OF DAVID LOW

Turnbull Library Record, Volume IV, 1 July 1941, Page 1

THE EARLY DRAWINGS OF DAVID LOW

Pat Lawlor

it is fitting that the Turnbull Library should be the repository of what is probably the most comprehensive collection in existence of the very early work of our world famous cartoonist, David Low.

This collection was recently discovered in a small bookshop in Ghuznee Street, Wellington, and purchased by the Librarian for a modest sum. It comprises about thirty drawings representative of all aspects of the artist’s early efforts—caricatures, cartoons, joke blocks and even advertising drawings and at least one straight portrait. Many of the drawings are topical and nearly all were drawn while David Low was in his teens and still in this country. Taken in conjunction with biographical facts these pictures completely disprove the reiterated claim made in overseas journals that Low is an Australian. By the best of rights he is a New Zealander: he was born and educated here, his first drawing was published in Christchurch and his first pictures published overseas were drawn in New Zealand. I am convinced from a study of these early drawings that except for the brief and inevitable influence of a local idol, or of an international idol like Phil May, David Low was David Low from his very first drawing. He has remained so ever since. This is unique. You look at these early drawings and see in the elemental stage Low’s acute powers of observation of men, moments and influences, his merciless wit and his unerring strength of line.

Although only one drawing in the collection is dated we are able to trace from the signature, style and printer’s directions that they were nearly all done while the artist was still in his youth. It was obvious also that David Low did not have to learn to draw. It was simply a case of budding genius. Low stated in later life that the only drawing lessons he had ever received were at the Canterbury School of Art at about the age of eighteen. The instructions he said did him more harm than good. “Art schools," he remarked, "have a tendency to strip you of your original approach and to substitute a reverence for conventional technique.” Looking at these early pictures I can see the force of this statement.

I will refer first to the only two pictures 1 found to be imitative. The first, which is reproduced here, was drawn when Low was fourteen years of age and at a time when the work of Phil May was the be all and the end all of line drawing. The May technique is as you will see rather noticeable in this picture. More interesting still, however, is another drawing, an uncompleted one. It is undated but I should say is one of Low’s earliest attempts at a cartoon. It pictures Seddon in kilts, in a war-like attitude, surrounded by political figures of the period.

As Seddon died in 1906 and the drawing is signed “David A. C. Low’’ this picture was probably attempted very early in the century, and remember, Low was born in 1891. At about this time another N.Z. artist, F. W. Hiscocks, was flourishing, and although Hiscocks was never to reach even the fringe of the fame eventually to come to Low, it was only natural that young David should be influenced by his popularity. Perhaps the independence of Low was even then asserting itself, for the drawing was never completed or published. He must have realised that it was not 100 per cent. David Low.

I have already mentioned two signatures. These early drawings show others. There is “D. Low,’’ a simple “L.,” LOW divided between the legs of a caricature, and then the progressive development of the simple Low signature strengthened as the years drew on to the magic symbol of three letters famous to-day as the hallmark of the world’s greatest cartoons.

In one drawing in the collection the signature is “Low M.L.” signifying, of course, his entry into the pages of the paper that was first to announce his matured genius to London— the Sydney Bulletin. This picture is typical of “Bulletinese” of the period and is reproduced with this article.

Low’s power as a caricaturist was developing rapidly in his youth. Even at that period he had none of the benevolent frivolity of the London Punch school and yet there was nothing cruel (nor has this ever been present) in the terrific truth and humour of his exaggerated portraiture. His sense of observation, even at this stage, was merciless. Also as an enduring example of his thoroughness, we find him experimenting on the reverse side of one picture on W. M. Hughes. Conceivably, in that very pencil drawing, the famous Billy Book was in progress of germination.

In one caricature we find him satirising a N.Z. Governor of many years ago. The troops are lined up for inspection and a sorry lot they are, but His Excellency is obviously more interested in making an impression on the crowd that we feel is watching him. Perhaps, the editor handling this drawing feared lese-majeste, for he has reduced the picture, per medium of blue pencil, to a bust, leaving in only two or three of the more presentable soldiers.

There is an unsigned cartoon showing the late Sir Joseph Ward in bed, his sleep being troubled by a variety of political mosquito pests. In this picture Low appears to have been unmoved by the translation to his board of the folds of pillow and bed clothes, the recurring pitfalls of all young artists.

Another picture of Ward is obviously an attempt at a straight portrait. There are numerous caricatures of well known political figures of the past. There is one of the late Sir Maui Pomare in which I was interested to note that Low has used cut out stipple paper to reproduce the dusky complexion of his subject. There is a characteristic picture of the late Hon. J. W. Hanan, one of “Thompson M.P. Dunedin”— this is signed with an “L.” There is a very large picture of a gentleman who looks very like the late Mr. L. M. Isitt. This is drawn in ink and shaded roughly in pencil. On the back of the picture the young artist has extemporised in several interesting “thumbnails.”

A later caricature is entitled “The Hon. Jimmy Allen goes after anti-militarists.” A decorative star on the subject’s chest is labelled “It.”

The several joke blocks all suggest that young Low was in good training for the hundreds of pictorial jokes he was shortly to draw for The Bulletin. The topical subjects also show Low’s marvellous sense of humour, particularly two pictures depicting The Tango, one a la Continental fashion and the other N.Z. fashion. Even to-day one may find a laugh in these pictures. There is another humorous picture that many editors would accept and pay for to-day. It is entitled “The Judgment of Solomon” and shows a pawnbroker examining a pair of trousers offered for sale and saying grudgingly: “I gif you two bob.”

Finally, to complete the varied interest in this collection there are several drawings, advertising, in serious or humorous vein, famous pills, ointments and teas of the period. I should say that these date of the period when Low embarked on a paper on his own. He was then eighteen, and in his own words he “persuaded a printer to stake the cost of production against the advertising revenue of the paper.” The advertising pictures in the collection are so good that I can only presume that the insertion rates were so low as to account for the early failure of this enterprise. One important picture, that is not in the collection is Low’s first published drawing. This picture was printed in the

Christchurch Spectator when Low was eleven years old. He received 2/6 for it. Perhaps it was his Scot’s caution, inherited from his father, that inspired young David to claim the original of this drawing. It is now in his possession and although he has declared that he will not part with it, I am hoping that if he reads this article he may, influenced by the New Zealand spirit inherited from his mother, send it to Mr. Taylor, Turnbull Librarian, so that it might be added to the collection described above.

That David Low has the New Zealand patriotic spirit has been evident on many occasions since he left this country. For one, I can never forget his interest in and practical support of my “N.Z. Artists’ Annual” during its seven years’ existence. He contributed gratutiously to it and never uttered a word of complaint when I resurrected and published a number of his very early drawings contributed to London Scraps in 1911! In this and in other ways David Low has proved that although he is one of the biggest names in the world to-day, although he is immortalised in Madam Tussauds, although his war cartoons have been “Penguin-ised” in millions throughout the world, he is sufficiently great to remember in practical affection the little land where he was born.