Terence "Larry" Parkes (19 November 1927 – 25 June 2003) was an English cartoonist. His work, consisting largely of single drawings featuring an absurdist view of normal life, was published in many magazines and newspapers, particularly ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

'' and '' Private Eye''. The pen name under which he worked was inspired by actor

Larry Parks Samuel Lawrence Klausman Parks (December 13, 1914 – April 13, 1975) was an American stage and film actor. His career arced from bit player and supporting roles to top billing, before it was virtually ended when he admitted to having once been ...

.Biography
on the official website. Parkes was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, the son of a welding foreman in a car factory. He was a pupil at

Handsworth Grammar school King Edward VI Handsworth Grammar School for Boys, formerly and commonly Handsworth Grammar School, is a grammar school that admits boys from the age of eleven (as well as girls in the sixth form, since September 1997). The school was founded i ...

, and he was accepted as a student at Birmingham School of Art aged 15. Parkes's cartooning style was extremely minimalist. No speech bubbles or captions were used, and he often used a few lines to suggest the outline of some feature, such as an arm or a leg, preferring to concentrate on the main idea of the drawing. Especially in the early part of his career, when cartoonists were expected to produce polished work, he was frequently admonished by his editors to "fill in" his drawings before they would be published. As styles changed in the 1960s and 1970s, his more fluid, off-the-cuff style became his trademark. He was compared to Bill Tidy, both for his particular way of drawing people, and for the speed at which he could work. In later life, he drew a series of cartoons depicting his usual subjects as if they were sculptures by Rodin on display in a gallery. Instead of "Rodin's Thinker" or "Rodin's Kiss" his art-lovers saw sculptures such as "Rodin's Babysitter" and "Rodin's Cleaning Lady". He extended this into parodies of other works of art, such as the

Supper at Emmaus According to the Gospel of Luke, the road to Emmaus appearance is one of the early post-resurrection appearances of Jesus after his crucifixion and the discovery of the empty tomb. Both the meeting on the road to Emmaus and the subsequent suppe ...

, his version being "the presentation of the bill". He also did the cartoon sketches that were used on ''

Carry On Carry On may refer to: * ''Carry On'' (franchise), a British comedy media franchise *Carry-on luggage or hand luggage, luggage that is carried into the passenger compartment * ''Carry On'' (film), a 1927 British silent film * ''Carry On'' (novel), ...

'' film titles, and in the late 1980s provided illustrations for

W H Smith WHSmith (also written WH Smith, and known colloquially as Smith's and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and ...

's own-label stationery packaging.

Publications

* ''Larry's Art Collection'' (1977) * ''Larry On Art'' (1978)

References

External links

* Officia
website

published in

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

.
Larry cartoons
at the ''Chris Beetles'' gallery. This is a commercial site. 1927 births 2003 deaths British cartoonists Private Eye contributors People from Birmingham, West Midlands Alumni of the Birmingham School of Art {{UK-cartoonist-stub