OTIS BLACKWELL
signed Nicholas Garland lower right; titled and numbered Otis Blackwell 12/25 lower left
woodcut on paper
43 x 43cm; 17 x 17in
60.5 x 59cm; 23 3/4 x 23 1/4in (framed)

Property from a West London Collection

Provenance
The Fine Art Society, London (purchased by the present owners in 2003)

Exhibited
London, The Fine Arts Society, Nicholas Garland, 2003, no. 38

Rhythm and blues pianist Otis Blackwell (1931-2002) was one of the leading figures of early rock and roll, and although his own records never made it to the top of the charts, he wrote songs for a number of leading singers of the day including Elvis Presley. His hits from the late 1950s included Great Balls of Fire, All Shook up, and Handy Man.

Cartoonist Nicholas Garland spent his early life in New Zealand before studying at the Slade. He subsequently worked in theatre, including at the Royal Court on Sloane Square at the end of the 1950s. But in 1964 he devoted himself to cartooning, working at the Spectator and at Private Eye where he collaborated with Barry Humphries, before being appointed the first political cartoonist of the Daily Telegraph in 1966 where he stayed for the next twenty years. In 1986 he joined the nascent Independent, before returning to the Telegraph for another two decades, retiring in 2011. He was appointed cartoonist for the London Olympics in 2012.