Case Study
Scrawl
An A to Z of
Famous Doodles
Publishing, Arts, Cultural
Sketches, drawings, and scribbles from the private letters and notebooks of history’s greatest minds—icons of art, literature, fashion, and film—offering a rare glimpse into their unguarded moments and proving that even the most influential figures have doodled their time away!
From Clara Barton's first sketch of the Red Cross logo to a cartoon scrawled on a love letter by Charles Bukowski, this captivating collection offers a window into the minds of an eclectic and storied cast of historical figures. Featuring sketches and scribbles from the likes of Mark Twain, Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, and Joan Miró, these artifacts provide a rare glimpse into their creative processes.
The Strauss-Schulsons, renowned collectors and antiquarians, serve as the caretakers of the David Schulson collection of autographs and artifacts.
A treat for lovers of the analog in the digital age.
Organized alphabetically, with a range of influential names, from William Burroughs to Mark Twain, the book is a voyeur's treasure trove of the ephemeral, in which cultural icons reveal their own preoccupations, passions, plans, and distractions in the marginalia of their daily correspondence. A satirical sketch by Marc Chagall sits beside a quick self-portrait by Charlie Chaplin; a throwaway drawing on a dollar bill by Joan Miro follows the first ever idle iteration of Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren; and a hasty drawing by Andy Warhol precedes a sketch of Falstaff on a hotel notepad by Orson Welles.
A treat for lovers of the analog in the digital age, and reproduced beautifully on uncoated paper to come as close as possible to the texture of the originals, Scrawl connects high and low, art and science, history and literature, youth and age, with the universal truth of doodling.
'...once you start pondering these pictures, they start to seem like far more than mere artifacts of notable psyches. They're invitations to put your aesthetic intelligence to work. Having paged through Scrawl, you'll start seeing artistry everywhere. How fun is that?'
—Etelka Lehoczky, NPR
'Never intended for an audience, these private scribbles allow a rare glimpse at the passions, preoccupations and distractions of the people behind them. Pictures in the book include a sketch of a Spitfire by Winston Churchill, drawings of donkeys by a young Queen Victoria, erotic doodles by Federico Fellini and Tennessee Williams, scribbled self-portraits by John Le Carre and Charlie Chaplin and intimate etchings of body parts by Marlon Brando.'
—Clare Thorp, BBC
