Art by Ron Embleton
London’s Messum’s Gallery is to host an exhibition of work by Eagle and TV21 Ron Embleton in January, one of Britain’s best known comic and historical illustrators, with a reputation that stretched far beyond our shores.
Ron Embleton
Born in London on 6th October 1930, Ron(ald Sydney) Embleton began drawing as a young boy, submitting a cartoon to the News of the World at the age of 9 and, at 12, winning a national poster competition.
At 17, he earned himself a place in a commercial studio but soon left to work freelance, drawing comic strips for many of the small publishers who sprang up shortly after the war.
His biography on Book Palace notes he was soon drawing for the major publishers. His most fondly remembered strips include “Strongbow the Mighty” in Mickey Mouse Weekly, “Wulf the Briton” in Express Weekly, “Wrath of the Gods” in Boys’ World, “Tales of the Trigan Empire” and “Johnny Frog” in Eagle and “Stingray” in TV Century 21.
Embleton also provided the illustrations that appeared in the title credits for the Captain Scarlet TV series, and dozens of paintings for prints and newspaper strips.
A meticulous artist, his illustrations appeared in Look and Learn for many years, amongst them the historical series “Roger’s Rangers”.
Sadly, Embleton died on 13th February 1988 at the age of just 57.
Ron’s obituary in The Times justly described him as “a grand master of his art” following his death in 1988.
Less well known, however, was his equally energetic career as a painter. In fact, being a painter had been his life’s ambition – his “driving force”, according to his daughter Gillian.
It was only his remarkable success as an illustrator that in the end permanently diverted him from the painter’s path.
Messum’s – who represent the Estate of Ronald Sydney Embleton – are staging the first retrospective of Ron Embleton’s oil paintings in “The Unseen Art of Ron Embleton“, which opens 9th January 2019.
This major exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with an introduction by David Boyd Haycock, the well known author of A Crisis of Brilliance: Five Young British Artists and the Great War, published to critical acclaim in 2009. Haycock’s knowledge of early Twentieth Century British Art is key to understanding the paintings of Embleton, who was a young pupil of David Bomberg and from whom he learnt about form, honesty and a belief in his own vision.
In David Boyd Haycock’s words, “The rediscovery of this long forgotten-post war painter is essential viewing.”
In the run up to this rare exhibition, the Book Palace has been selling a selection of art from the Embleton family archives – including 60 pages of Ron’s racy strip for Penthouse, “Oh, Wicked Wanda“.
Many sold very quickly, so you’ll have to be quick to buy any remaining if you are interested.
A charming painting by Ron Embleton, possibly used to illustrate the book Cinderella and The Sleeping Beauty (London, Collins, 1978)
Art from many more of his projects is also available, though, including some of his terrific illustrations for children’s magazines.
An evocative painting by Ron Embleton used to illustrate the book Children’s Favourite Stories, by Hans Christian Andersen, retold by Lornie Leete-Hodge (London, Dean, 1983)
• The Unseen Art of Ron Embleton 9th January – 1st February 2019 Messum’s, 28 Cork Street, London, W1S 3NG Web: www.messums.com | YouTube | Twitter | Instagram
• You can order The Unseen Art of Ron Embleton catalogue here – or download it as a PDF
• To enquire about available work by Ronald Sydney Embleton, please contact the gallery directly
With thanks for the heads up on this to Dave Elliott, David Roach and Rajesh Shah
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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I have 40 of the 43 paintings Ronald Embleton did of Dickens and the Classics for This England magazine and am looking for estimates before selling them.
You might want to contact ComPal Comics – we regularly plug their auctions, which include artwork. Or the Book Palace/ Illustration Art Gallery… or indeed, the gallery above