Gerald Scarfe

Gerald Anthony Scarfe (born 1 June 1936) is an English cartoonist and illustrator. He has worked as editorial cartoonist for ''The Sunday Times'' and illustrator for ''The New Yorker''.

His other work includes graphics for rock group Pink Floyd, particularly on their 1979 album ''The Wall'', its 1982 film adaptation, and tour ( 1980–81), as well as the music video for "Welcome to the Machine". Scarfe was the production designer on the Disney animated feature ''Hercules'' (1997). Scarfe also provided the opening titles for ''Yes Minister'' and ''Yes, Prime Minister''.

Early life

Scarfe was born in St John's Wood, London. As Scarfe was severely asthmatic as a child, he spent many of his early years bed-ridden, so drawing became a means of entertainment as well as a creative outlet. Scarfe speculated that the dark and grotesque images that often characterise his work are a result of his loneliness and asthma. Scarfe has stated that the irreverence apparent in much of his work can be traced back to "dodgy treatments" and a reliance on what he feels were incompetent doctors.

The cartoonist Ronald Searle was an early influence for Scarfe. At the age of 14 and now living in Hampstead, North London, Scarfe decided it would be easy to cycle to Bayswater and visit Searle. He went several times but never rang the doorbell. It would be decades before he would actually meet Searle in 2005. Scarfe attended Saint Martin's School of Art (now part of the University of the Arts London) in Holborn, London.Maurice Horn (1983)
''The World Encyclopedia of Cartoons''
Volume 4. London: Chelsea House Publishers. . p. 495. Accessed August 2013. He also attended the London College of Printing, and East Ham Technical College (now Newham College of Further Education).

Career

Early work

After briefly working in advertising, a profession he grew to dislike intensely, Scarfe's early caricatures of public figures were published in satirical magazine ''Private Eye'' throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Beginning in 1960, he produced illustrations for ''Punch'', ''The Evening Standard'' and ''The Daily Sketch''. ''The Sunday Times'' magazine assigned Scarfe to cover the 1964 US presidential election. He continued to work for ''The Sunday Times'' for two years, also producing several cover illustrations for ''Time'' magazine, including caricatures of The Beatles in 1967.

In the mid-1960s he took a job at the ''Daily Mail'' following a Dutch auction for his services with the ''Daily Express''. His decision to work for the ''Daily Mail'' led to his estrangement from fellow cartoonist Ralph Steadman, alongside whom he had studied art at East Ham Technical College. Soon after, Steadman was commissioned to illustrate Scarfe and "produced an image that was half saint and half Superman, but with a disconnected heart". Scarfe spent only one year working for the ''Daily Mail'', during which time he was sent to provide illustrations from the Vietnam War.

Pink Floyd and Roger Waters

Scarfe was approached to work with Pink Floyd after Roger Waters and Nick Mason both saw his animated BBC
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