Little is known about Len Reynolds, a Tasmanian cartoonist who made his name in Melbourne, before dying tragically at the early age of 44.

Mr Melbourne

L.F. Reynolds was a cartoonist and illustrator with the Melbourne Sun Pictorial and Evening Sun , and then as staff artist on the Melbourne Herald. In 1925 he took over the 'Mr Melbourne' cartoon strip created by Jimmy Bancks. Mr Melbourne was a popular strip in the papers.¹

Prominent Personalities

During 1926-27 Reynolds produced a series of cartoons for the Melbourne based weekly newspaper 'Table Talk', with each drawing containing a selection of sketches. Most of these group sketches had a football theme.

After these initial sketches, Reynolds produced a series entitled "Prominent Personalities" also in 'Table Talk'. This series produced a sequence of beautifully drawn illustrations on major Victorian personalities from politicians, to artists and also sportsmen. The quality and skill of Len Reynolds can best be seen through this series.

Indeed, Australian Impressionist artist Arthur Streeton thought highly of this series. Writing a critique of a show by Ray Whiting, Streeton wrote.

Caricature demands good draughtsmanship and a penetrating capacity to discover some individual trait or characteristic. This feature must be exaggerated to the extent of comic absurdity while the artist preserves an unmistakable likeness or sense of portraiture......Not since the brilliant caricatures by Low and George Finey, of Sydney, and the "prominent personalities" by L. F. Reynolds has anything been exhibited in Melbourne of any Interest until now.''²

Streetons own Australian Rules painting, 'The National Game', is part of the Collection of the Art Gallery of NSW.


Examples of L.F. Reynolds illustrations can be found in³:

• Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, TAS
• Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum, Castlemaine, VIC
• Melbourne Savage Club, Melbourne, VIC
• La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, VIC
• National Library of Australia, Canberra, ACT
• Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW

Apart from newspaper illustrations, Reynolds drew cartoons for advertisements including 'The Lighter Side of Lawn Tennis' for Barnett Glass in 1927.

Reynolds regular illustrations stopped appearing in 'Table Talk' around 1930, though a series on dog breeds did later appear. It requires further investigation for when Reynolds stopped doing the 'Mr Melbourne' strip.

A Victoria Carnival Team Octette - Table Talk - 25-Aug-1927 p14	Nights at the League Table - Table Talk - 6-Oct-1927 p24
Table Talk - 16-Dec-1926 p25 - L. A. ADAMSON (MAFA President and Wesley College Principal) by LF Reynolds	Table Talk 1-May-1930 p13 - Like McBrien - Secretary of the VFL

Table Talk 15 Oct 1931 P12 Lions And Lambs Reynolds

Table Talk 18 Jun 1931 P13 Richmond Reynolds

Table Talk 3 Jun 1926 P37 The Tribunal Quartette Reynolds

By Team

Carlton

Table Talk 2-Sep-1926 p8 The Blues	Horrie Clover - Captain and Coach of Carlton - Table-Talk 11-Aug-1927 p15
Raw Brew - Captain of the Carlton Football Team - Table-Talk 18-Sep-1930 p12

Collingwood

Table Talk 10-jun-1926 p17 Magpies	Syd Coventry - Captain of Collingwood - Table Talk - 30-Jun-1927 p14
The Coventrys of Collingwood Table-Talk 9-Oct-1930 p13

Fitzroy

Footscray

Geelong

Reynolds visits the Pivot - Table Talk - 29-Sep-1927 p16	Cliff Rankin - Geelongs Football Captain - Table-Talk 6-Oct-1927 p15
Arthur Couglan - Captain of the Geelong Football Team - Table-Talk 2-Oct-1930 p11	Table Talk 29-May-1930 p10 - Edward Carji Greeves - Geelongs Celebrated Footballer

Hawthorn

Melbourne

A Bunch of Fuchsias - LF Reynolds - Table Talk 28-Jul-1927 p12	Table Talk 15-Jul-1926 p15 Redlegs
Stanley Bunny Wittman - Champion Wing Half-Forward - Table-Talk 31-Jul-1930 p17	Albert Chadwick - The Popular League Footballer - Table-Talk 20-Jun-1929 p13
Table Talk 14-Jun-1928 p8 Dick Taylor	Ivor Warne-Smith - Victorias Fairest and Best Footballer - Table-Talk 5-May-1927 p15

North Melbourne

Richmond

Table Talk 19-Aug-1926 p15 The Tigers

Alan Geddes - Captain of the Richmond Football Team - Table-Talk 29-Sep-1927 p13

St Kilda

Some Prominent StKilda Footballers - Table Talk - 7-Jul-1927 p11

Bill Cubbins - Captain of St Kilda Football Club - Table Talk - 8-Aug-1929 p13

South Melbourne

1930's

In 1936 Reynolds's first "one-man" show including Water-colours, etchings, and pencil drawings at Margaret Maclean's Gallery, Kodak House, Collins street.⁴

Tragic Death

Tragically in August 1939, Len Reynolds died when his car went off a cliff in Beaumaris in Melbourne.

Further Work Needed

Further examples of Reynolds work will be found in the Sun News Pictorial which is not yet available online. Further examples of his work will be found in that paper.
Note - 4 images added 5-Nov-2017

Copyright Notes

Len Reynolds died in 1939. His works became public domain in 1989, 50 years after his death. Under Australia's current copyright laws, works for artists who died after 1954 have copyright extended to 75 after their death.

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End Notes