Osbert Lancaster

Notable Works

• Pillar to Post (1938) John Murray, London
• Pocket Cartoons (1940) John Murray, London
• With an Eye to the Future (1967) John Murray, London

About

The only child of prosperous family, Sir Osbert Lancaster was educated at Charterhouse School and Lincoln College, Oxford where he cultivated the image of an Edwardian dandy, with large moustache, monocle and check suits. John Betjeman became a lifelong friend, and it was through illustrating his articles Lancaster began work as a cartoonist. A contributor to The Architectural Review from mid-1930s, he published a series of books on architecture. In 1938 Lancaster began contributing cartoons to The Daily Express, introducing the single column-width cartoon popular in France. Between 1939-1981 his 10,000+ “pocket cartoons”, often featuring his stock characters, caught mood of the nation, facing adversity with good humour, and made him nationally known. Lancaster joined the Ministry of Information during the war, and later the Foreign Office news department.

In December 1944, he was posted to Greece as press attaché to British embassy in Athens. Exploring the country before civil strife returned in 1946, he sketched continually, publishing with his accompanying text, Classical Landscape with Figures in 1947. He was a contributor to the 1951 Festival of Britain, designing the Festival Gardens on the Southbank, around the new Royal Festival Hall. From 1951-1970s he designed ballet, opera and theatre productions at the Royal Ballet, Glyndebourne, Old Vic and in the West End.  He was knighted in 1975, died at his London home in Chelsea aged 77. His life and work were celebrated in an exhibition marking his centenary, Cartoons and Coronets: The Genius of Osbert Lancaster at the Wallace Collection. Books: 2 autobiographical; 9 books on architecture; 26 collections of cartoons; 7 collections on royalty, history or drawn from his selected works.

Legacy

His gift of Royalties from his literary estate is shared equally between the RLF and The Artists Benevolent Fund to support future generations of writers and artists.