Tony WEARE (1912-1994) Four portfolios of botanical watercol...

Hammer

£580

Tony WEARE (1912-1994) Four portfolios of botanical watercolour studies One hundred and twenty loose pages of watercolour studies containing over one thousand individual illustrations of flora found in America and Canada, each illustration with its own title and dated, many including the place where the flora was located. Each page measures 25cm x 20cm and was created when Weare, the internationally-renowned cartoonist, spent two years driving around the American West, whilst still finding time to send back his cartoons to the London Evening News for their popular and long-running 'Matt Marriott' cartoon, for which he is perhaps best known. A philosopher, humanitarian, conservationist and amateur botanist, Weare lived and incredible life. Spending time sleeping rough in London, determined to succeed as an illustrator in the capital city, his drawings began to grace the pages of various magazines, including 'John Bull' and 'Brittania & Eve'. After some success with other comic strips, it was the creation of 'Matt Marriott, which ran from 1955 to 1977, which gave him his greatest commercial success, with even The Duke of Edinburgh himself said to be a fan. Such success enabled him to buy homes in both Devon and Spain, before the latter was sold to fund his journey around the US. Here he created these magnificent and botanically important drawings and his own personal story took another turn. Somehow, he managed to run himself over with his own car when his handbrake failed. Thankfully, a passer-by stopped and was able to remove the car from off of him, but then drove off in the car, leaving Tony injured and alone for several days before he was able to make it to hospital. Such was the nature of the accident, however, that Weare's insurance company neglected to pay out, leaving Tony with no way to pay for the medical bill. His artistic skills once more came to his aid though, as he painted a mural on the hospital wall as recompense. Even in his own death at 82, Tony created his own story. Not wanting to become a burden as he inevitably slowed, Tony decided to take his own life, having one last pint in a local pub before leaping from Porthleven Pier at high tide, but only after drawing a cartoon of his own death and leaving it for loved ones to find. In it he wrote 'I should hate to be more inactive than I am at the moment, with my children and grand-children feeling like they must sit with this old wreck until his last gasp. So I hope you will understand and give me a cheer and a handclap if I do manage to catch the tide tonight.'