Constantin Alajálov: The Graduate Looks to His Future

The idea that new college graduates might face limited employment prospects has been around for quite a while. We know that such concerns become especially prominent in times of economic uncertainty such as the current moment. Constantin Alajálov's New Yorker cover art for the issue of June 22, 1935, was published in the midst of the Great Depression.

Constantin Alajálov
Full original art
The New Yorker, June 22, 1935

The graduate, we see, faces a variety of job possibilities, the ones on the left being fantasies of prosperity while the ones on the right suggest a workaday hustle to which the college degree might not contribute very much.

Constantin Alajálov
Original art
The New Yorker, June 22, 1935

Alajálov's original was sold in the Illustration Art sale at Swann Auction Galleries in December.

Constantin Alajálov
Swann Auction Galleries Illustration Art sale of December 4, 2025

https://www.swanngalleries.com/auction-lot/new-yorker-constantin-alajalov-1900-1987-the-grad_067c029639

Constantin Alajálov
Swann Auction Galleries Illustration Art sale item description

A comparison of the art with the published cover leads to one very obvious observation: the original has no color.

Constantin Alajálov
Original art
The New Yorker, June 22, 1935

Constantin Alajálov
The New Yorker, June 22, 1935

This raises one of two possibilities: either all the color has faded over the past ninety years or Alajálov added the color during the magazine's color separation process.

Have we seen this before? Twelve years ago I posted another Alajálov cover, this one showing a dog's family tree from 1938, with what Bonhams described as its study. I followed the auction house's lead here, but the cover and its supposed preliminary art are close to identical except for the matter of color.

Constantin Alajálov
The New Yorker, February 12, 1938

Constantin Alajálov
Preliminary art [?]
The New Yorker, February 12, 1938

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Heritage Auctions Signature Illustration Art Sale New York Preview, April 2026

Select pieces were on view at the midtown Manhattan reception Wednesday evening for the Heritage Auctions Signature Illustration Art Sale to be held on April 21 in Dallas. Naturally, I couldn't resist photographing some of these highlights, starting with the bold illustration by Patrick Nagel that appears on the catalogue cover.

Untitled [Tracy Vaccaro in Polka Dot Dress], 1983

Patrick Nagel

Untitled [Close Up—Heidi Sorenson], 1983

Patrick Nagel

Patrick Nagel

And Forsaking All Others
Edward Sorel
The New Yorker, June 15, 1998

Constantin Alajálov
The Saturday Evening Post, April 13, 1946

Garth Williams

James Gurney

To bring out the colors, I enhanced this 1917 advertising illustration image for Kellogg's Corn Flakes by J. C. Leyendecker:

J. C. Leyendecker

J. C. Leyendecker

J. C. Leyendecker

Edmund F. Ward

Mead Schaeffer

Gil Elvgren

Gil Elvgren

Dean Cornwell

Thomas Blackshear II

Frank R. Paul

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Constantin Alajálov: Warning All Wives!

An article called "Warning All Wives!" published in McCall's was reprinted in the Reader's Digest issue of February 1964. Part II of a feature with the same name appeared in a February magazine issue, possibly McCall's, along with Constantin Alajálov's illustration, the original of which is reproduced here. The husband appears exhausted, the wife frustrated. What could possibly have gone wrong in the marriage bed?

Warning All Wives! (Part II)
Constantin Alajálov
McCall's[?], c. February 1964[?], p. 129

Verso

An undated, unsigned inscription on the back of the illustration board lists the price of this work at $1,250. The sale of the art at Stephenson's Auction in Southampton, Pennsylvania, on New Year's Day had the bidding start at $1,500, with an estimate of $3,000 to $6,000. No bids had been received as of two hours prior to the sale.

Constantin Alajálov
Stephenson's Auction listing accessed two hour before the sale

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/195157904_constantin-alajalov-gouache-illustration-on-board

At the drop of the hammer, there was no sale:


Page 48 of the February 1964 Reader's Digest may contain a clue to this piece.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/333964401291

Note:  I'd like to hear from anyone with an image of this illustration in print—or with some advice for this poor woman.

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Constantin Alajálov: The Ladies in Their Fancy Hats

A minor illustration, or so one might judge it, by the major illustrator Constantin Alajálov of The New Yorker and The The Saturday Evening Post shows no fewer than eleven ladies wearing fancy hats at a meeting of their club. The oddly-contoured cutout may or may not have been published. It was sold on eBay in 2016, tape and all, for a best offer south of $79.

Constantin Alajálov

Constantin Alajálov

Constantin Alajálov's signature

Verso of the sheet on which the drawing is mounted

Constantin Alajálov
eBay listing ended November 5, 2016

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1920-039-s-1930-039-s-Illustration-CONSTANTIN-ALAJALOV-1900-1987-New-Yorker-Artist-/322314153158?hash=item4b0b6bacc6%3Ag%3A74QAAOSwHMJYC9W3&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Constantin Alajálov
eBay listing

Note:  Constantin Alajálov was quite prolific and not all of his work corresponds to known published pieces. Anyone who may have seen these particular hats (and the ladies who wear them) in print is encouraged to let us know where and when.

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Constantin Alajálov for Timely Clothes

Illustrator Constantin Alajálov's advertising art for Timely Clothes appeared in The New Yorker in 1937. Say what you will, this is the way to sell a suit.

" . . . and you'll meet a dark-haired lady who will
fall in love with that TIMELY Suit you're wearing."
Constantin Alajálov
The New Yorker, September 25, 1937, p. 50

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1937-09-25/flipbook/050/

Note:  As far as I know, this is Constantin Alajálov's only illustration for Timely Clothes, but then I don't have a crystal ball or whatever the equivalent is for seeing into the past. If there should be more examples out there, informed readers should let me know please. I'm also reachable by séance.

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Constantin Alajálov: Portrait of Mrs. Hugh Chisholm, Jr.

Constantin Alajálov (1900-1987) is best remembered for his illustrations which appeared on the covers of The New Yorker and The Saturday Evening Post. His 1954 portrait of Mrs. Hugh J. Chisholm, Jr., the former Rosemary Warburton (1920-1974), shows the socialite in profile. The painting, for which the subject apparently sat, looks very much like a commissioned piece yet it seems to have remained in the artist's hands. A label on the back indicates that Alajálov let the painting out on loan and expected its return.

Mrs. Hugh Chisholm, Jr.
Constantin Alajálov

Constantin Alajálov's signature

The art appeared on eBay in 2016. When there were no takers at $2,600, the price was reduced by 21%. I do not know the final disposition of the work.

Constantin Alajálov
eBay listing accessed December 6, 2016

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Alajalov-Constantin-Russian-American-1900-1987-Oil-Painting-Portrait-of-Woman-/281423323257?hash=item4186232079:g:UNwAAOSwQItT~Rkp

Constantin Alajálov
eBay item description

Note:  What kind of work do illustrators such as Constantin Alajálov create when they're not working on covers for The Saturday Evening Post and The New Yorker? I'd like to use Attempted Bloggery as a showcase for original art by Alajálov that may not be quite so familiar as his magazine covers. Collectors, please share your art here.

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