Saturday, 1 August 2009

Forty years after the death of Curly Wee artist Roland Clibborn , a look back at some of the work of this celebrated cartoonist.








Mr Clibborn was best known for the cult cartoon series Curly Wee and Gussy Goose published in a number of newspapers including the Liverpool Echo .



Research indicates that much of his original artwork was destroyed by fire. However some examples have survived


Here's a typical frame , from a small private collection , depicting Curly.
It is an original , numbered 7521 , stamped 2011 on the reverse.



From the mid 1940s onwards a number of annuals were released. The second , from around 1946 was titled "Curly Wee and Company"



This example , with slight water damage to the outer cover , contains a personalised message from Margaret and Roland Clibborn , 1965





The last reported cartoon by Clibborn is numbered 10274.


The frame below [10232] was drawn shortly before he retired from the world of Curly Wee due to poor health.

By then he needed a little help with the artwork as can be seen by the drawing on the right .