Saturday, December 20, 2014

Caroling Out in the Snow: Charles Saxon Preliminary New Yorker Cover Art

Charles Saxon's flower children do some colorful caroling on a 1967 New Yorker cover.  The preliminary artwork shown here belonged to writer Thomas Gallagher (1918-1992), a friend of Saxon's. Reader David from Manhattan describes the work:
9 1/2 x 12 3/4" on slightly translucent paper mounted on board, in Conté crayon, watercolor and pencil (outlining the trees) with collage correction (head of guitar player and two figures at far right). Color has suffered a bit. Purple is almost gone from sidebar. Red in the flower and one girl's mittens are going. Blue background has changed (top edge was hidden by original mat), but still very colorful.
He notes and comments on some of the differences between this preliminary version and the published New Yorker cover of December 16, 1967:
I actually prefer the "bearded youth" flower bearer to the acidhead that appears on the cover, and the lack of hair on the girl at far right doesn't do anything for me, but Saxon's costume changes are clearly more fun. By the way, no art department marks or notations of any kind other than some purple watercolor splatter at the bottom.
Charles Saxon, Preliminary art for The New Yorker, December 16, 1967
Photo courtesy of David from Manhattan
Detail
Photo courtesy of David from Manhattan
Detail
Photo courtesy of David from Manhattan

Detail
Photo courtesy of David from Manhattan

Charles Saxon, The New Yorker, December 16, 1967


Charles Saxon, Preliminary art for The New Yorker, December 16, 1967
Photo courtesy of David from Manhattan


Note:  What if I told you I had more blog posts about the great Charles Saxon?

Would you believe there are also several other examples of preliminary New Yorker cover art only one click away?

Not to mention all the Christmas posts here....

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