Tennants Auctioneers in North Yorkshire have been instructed to sell an important private collection of original artwork by the bawdy seaside postcard designer Donald McGill.  The collection numbering some 82 original watercolour drawings will be sold on 25th October 2006 in a specialist sale devoted to postcards, stamps, coins and cigarette cards.

The collection was stored for many years in a bank vault and is being sold by a private vendor from York who recently inherited them.

Donald Fraser Gould McGill (1875-1962) was a graphic artist whose name has now become synonymous with the saucy seaside postcards he designed.   The postcards were sold in small shops in seaside towns throughout Britain and typically portray busty young woman, fat old ladies, drunken red faced middle-aged men, honeymoon couples and vicars.

Donald McGill’s career spanned six decades from before the First World War into the 1960’s, and he produced an estimated 12,000 designs with an estimated 200 million cards being sold.  However, even at the height of his popularity he never earned more than three guineas per design and is said to have painted a maximum of eight per week.

McGill eventually fell foul of several local censorship committees which culminated in a major trial held in Lincoln on 15th July 1954.  He was charged with breaking the Obscene Publications Act 1857, found guilty and made to pay a fine of £50 with £25 costs.

The wider result of this was the devastating blow to the seaside card industry with several smaller companies being made bankrupt.

In 1941 the renowned author and commentator George Orwell wrote an essay entitled ‘The Art of Donald McGill’. 

McGill died in 1962 having spent most of his life in Blackheath, South London. He has been recently been the subject of much media interest due to an exhibition of his work belonging to the film director Michael Winner, which was held in April this year in London.

For further information on this unique collection of artwork which is expected to fetch well in excess of £50,000, please contact Nigel Smith or Jayne Thompson at Tennants, Harrogate office on 01423 531661

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