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McGill, Donald (1875 - 1962)

Donald McGill original postcard cartoon artwork.

Donald McGill was a graphic artist whose name has become synonymous with saucy seaside postcards that were sold mostly in small shops in British coastal resorts. The cards feature an array of attractive young women, fat old ladies, drunken middle-aged men, honeymoon couples and vicars. His work is collected and appreciated for his artistic skill, its power of social observation and earthy sense of humour. Even at the height of his fame he only earned three guineas a design, but today his original artwork can fetch a great deal of money. McGill spent virtually the whole of his career creating the distinctive colour washed drawings which were then reproduced as postcards. His family, however was steadfastly respectable. He said of his two daughters: "They ran like stags whenever they passed a comic postcard shop".