ComicBook Experience

From the exhibition

Lord Mark Ralph George Kerr, GCB CSI

Leslie Ward · 27 February 1886

Lord Mark Ralph George Kerr, GCB CSI
Leslie Ward ('Spy') presents General Lord Mark Ralph George Kerr in three-quarter profile, hands tucked behind his back, wearing a dark frock coat over a waistcoated suit — the uniform of Victorian military respectability in civilian dress. The caption reads simply *'Lord.'* Ward's characteristic exaggeration focuses on Kerr's long, angular face, receding auburn hair, and pointed beard, giving him a lean, slightly donnish severity at odds with his decorated military rank. The composition's spare cream ground isolates the figure, letting posture alone carry the satire: a man entirely confident in his own consequence.

Leslie Ward Public domain