Signed with monogram and dated  l.r.: JES/1925

Inscribed l.c.:Early efforts at horse/music cause some/misunderstanding on/the part of the police

Inscribed on the reverse: With many thanks for the Bolshevik horse/and love from Joe

Pen and black ink, 16 by 11.5 cm

Like William Orpen, Southall regularly executed swift sketches within the pages of letters to his friends and family. Such drawings offer a degree of humour and spontaneity that is less apparent in much of his exhibited art  – a body of work that is characterised by its extraordinary level of artistic craftsmanship. These two self portrait cartoons come from a collection of letters to the artist’s cousin (first cousin in fact both Southall and his wife Eliza Elizabeth Baker), Ellen Isabel Harlock (known by the name Bel).