Larry Cartoon Collection

A collection of cartoons on the subject of art, art education and the Margaret Street School of Art building. The majority are pen and ink drawings and some include coloured washes. Many of the works are parodies of famous art works. The collection includes several examples of Larry's well-known series based on the works of the nineteenth century French sculptor Rodin.

Born in Birmingham on 19 November 1927, Terence 'Larry' Parkes was a cartoonist and illustrator. The son of a welding foreman in a motorcar factory, Larry studied at the College of Arts & Crafts in Birmingham. He spent his National Service in the Army (1946-1948) and taught art at Lincoln Road Secondary Modern School in Peterborough, Lincolnshire (1951-1954). He became a freelance cartoonist in 1957. He worked for Punch , Birmingham Evening Mail , Soldier , Private Eye , Oldie , the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph . He also worked in advertising. He worked on campaigns promoting Double Diamond, Newcastle Brown and Heineken Beers. He also produced cartoons and commentary for Granada TV's Afternoon Edition (1963-1964). For a short while (1973-1974) Larry was a scenery painter in Joan Littlewood's Theatre Royal. His pseudonym derived from Larry Parks, star of the film The Al Jolson Story , which was shown in Peterborough when he was teaching there in 1954 - the pupils' nickname for their art master stuck. He was elected an Honorary Fellow of Birmingham Polytechnic (now UCE Birmingham) in 1991. Terence 'Larry' Parkes died on 25 June 2003, aged 75.

The collection is arranged into two files - framed cartoons and unframed cartoons

The Arts, Design and Media Archive at the Parkside Building is currently closed due to the COVID-19 restrictions. Please email any inquiries to adm-archives-request@bcu.ac.uk.

Donated by the artist.

This description was compiled by Sian Everitt.

A summary collection description and a detailed list of items are available.

This collection was catalogued in April 2001 by Sian Everitt and Tammy Palmer.

None expected.