By Terence Parkes with Mark Bryant
Publisher: Park Art Books
ISBN: 978-0-948817861
At 128 pages, this is a decent-sized cartoon book in itself, but it's also partly autobiography and packed full of anecdotes so you end up with a rather tidy package – and certainly your money's worth.
Larry was a member of the CCGB, but sadly before my time, and one of the most popular cartoonists working in the UK until his death in 2003. Over the course of his career he developed a a very loose and minimalist style, largely thanks, says Larry, to the encouragement and direction of Russell Brockbank, one-time Art Editor of Punch. This almost scribbled approach to his cartoons, along with a very deadpan sense of humour, makes Larry's work instantly recognisable and always enjoyable.
The book is broken down into themed chapters, with Larry setting the scene with a memory or experience, and then the cartoons doing the rest. The cartoons themselves cover his whole working career, so the style changes significantly, often on the same page, but is always recognisably his work. There are plenty of his trademark gags based around the art world, bizarrely including one of Rodin's Hospital Visitor which only fails to amuse the patient in the bed. Larry's stories are peppered throughout and include gems such as defacing a Lloyds Bank advertising hoarding during the last days of Punch and the tedious judging of an international cartoon competition where he got so bored that he ended up calling out random numbers to cartoons. I suppose it made somebody happy.
Larry On Larry is published by Park Art Books, so CCGB members are entitled to a 10% discount when ordering from www.cartoonbooks.co.uk and Mark Bryant, co-author of the book, will happily sign and dedicate your copy.
And if you liked that: Try Larry At War
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