Born in 1936, Ralph Steadman began his creative life drawing
cartoons, but quickly spread his far-reaching... uh... reach... into several other areas of creativity, several of which are actually
legal. He has published illustrated versions of several books, including
Animal Farm,
Alice in Wonderland, and
Treasure Island. In addition to illustration, Steadman has also written and illustrated several books of his own, including a biography of
Sigmund Freud, a farsical and fantastic biography of
Leonardo da Vinci, and
The Big I Am, which is a sort of a biography of
God.
In collaboration (of a sort) with
wildman,
junkie,
freak, and occasional writer
Hunter S. Thompson, Steadman was midwife to the birthing of what became
Gonzo journalism, and illustrated
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, considered by many to be the high-water mark of the genre. He has more recently become interested in
printmaking, and has completed a terrific and hilarious series of etchings on writers from
Sidonie Gabrielle Colette to
William Shakespeare to
William Burroughs to
Franz Kafka.
He has published several collections of
memories, musings,
beautiful lies and horrible truths, including
Tales of the Weirrd and
Scar Strangled Banger. In 1983, he published
That's My Dad and
C'est Mon Papa (the
French translation). During the 1990's, Steadman wrote and illustrated several children's books,
No Room to Swing a Cat,
That's my Dad, and
Teddy Where Are You?. Even more recently came the publication of two books:
The Grapes of Ralph and
Still Life With Bottle, an illustrated history of (surprise, surprise!)
whisky. The
University of Kent awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Literature, though no one seems to know why. In 2003 he published
You Can't Get to East Kilbride From Here: Poems 1968-2003, which is actually really impressive, in a typically scatterbrained way. He has been married for 31 years and spends most of his time in New York City.
ralphsteadman.com