"I've always made work to make sense of the world — or make nonsense of it."
Even if you don't think you know Ralph Steadman, you actually do. The 89-year-old's spidery spatterfests adorn the cover of Hunter S Thompson novels, Anthony Bourdain cookbooks and labels of the erstwhile Flying Dog Brewery. Like Quentin Blake and Gerald Scarfe, here is an illustrator whose work is unmistakable; anarchic, horror-tinged — and beautiful to behold.
From Thursday 28 August-Sunday 21 September 2025, a free exhibition of prints and etchings of Steadman's works — Once Upon a Line — goes on display at Notting Hill's The Muse Gallery. Among the works on show are:
- Savage Journey, originally created for the cover of Hunter S. Thompson's cult novel, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas.
- Etchings of authors who've inspired Steadman, including George Orwell, William S. Burroughs and Virginia Woolf.
- Illustrations for Alice Through the Looking Glass (Dobson, 1972), including some merged with Steadman's scribbled phone numbers and notes.
- Never-before-exhibited prints from the artist's formative years.
The show coincides with the 30th Anniversary of the Portobello Film Festival, whose official cover artwork features Steadman's If I want it to be a sky, it's a sky.
Steadman enrolled at East Ham Technical College in 1958, where he met Leslie Richardson, who became a lifelong friend, and encouraged Steadman to explore printing and printmaking — a piece of advice that has served him very well indeed.
Ralph Steadman: Once Upon a Line, 28 August-21 September, The Muse Gallery, free
