Heritage Auctions Signature Illustration Art Sale New York Preview

On Wednesday evening, Heritage Auctions held a reception at its Park Avenue gallery space. The Dallas-based auction house offered its New York audience a preview featuring highlights of the Signature Illustration Art sale coming up on November 4. (There was some other work here, as well.) The pieces looked wonderful in person. Come, have a look at some of them.

Frank Frazetta

Eugene Iverd

Charles Addams

Edward Sorel

E. H. Shepard

Chesley Bonestell

Gil Elvgren

Olivia De Berardinis

George Petty

Charles Dana Gibson

Harrison Fisher

F. X. Leyendecker

J. C. Leyendecker

J. C. Leyendecker

Harvey Dunn

Dean Cornwell

Gerald Brom

The Brothers Hildebrandt

Thomas Taylor

Neal Adams

Comic Art Signature Auction

Attributed to Haddon Sundblom

Patrick Nagel

The Brothers Hildebrandt (far left), Charles Dana Gibson, N. C. Wyeth, and E. H. Shepard

 

Note:  We're in luck! The entire Heritage Auctions Signature Illustration Art sale coming November 4 may be viewed here.

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Fine Dining: 1950s Punch Staff Dinner Menus

Punch's annual staff dinners must have been singular affairs, attended as they were by literary lights as well as by leading cartoonists and illustrators. Held at the Café Royal in London, the dinners had French menus and were punctuated with toasts, entertainment, and dancing to live music. Each menu was designed by a prominent Punch cartoonist. An eBay sale from 2018 included the menus from 1952 to 1955, as well as from 1957. The cartoonists are Bill Hewison (1954 and 1957), Ronald Searle (1952), George Sprod (1953), and Norman Thelwell (1955). One of the two 1954 menus included in the sale had been autographed by many of the attendees, including Winnie-the-Pooh illustrator Ernest H. Shepard.

Punch dinner menu designers, top row: Bill Hewison (1957), Ronald Searle (1952), George Sprod (1953)
Middle row:  Norman Thelwell (1955), Hewison (1954)
Bottom row: Hewison (1954), Thelwell (1955)

Punch staff dinner menu designed by Bill Hewison (1957)

The 1954 menu includes the signature of Norman Thelwell, top right

With the unusually sloppy signature of Ronald Searle, center.

With the signature of Ernest H. Shepard, bottom

Autographed menu designed by Bill Hewison (1954) with many signatures on the back cover including that of Ernest H. Shepard (lower left) and of R. E. Williams (right, by the dog's head). On Twitter, @PunchBooks has added more:  "We think the Brockbank signature [above Williams] might be for Russell's wife Eileen. We also spied the signature of Mary Knox, wife of E V Knox, the former editor of PUNCH; Mary was the daughter of Ernest H Shepard and an illustrator in her own right, most famously for the Mary Poppins books!"

Autographs, interior

Ronald Searle (1952, interior)

Bill Hewison (1954)

Ronald Searle (1952)

Punch Annual Dinner and Dance menu designed by George Sprod (1953)

Punch menu illustrations by Norman Thelwell (1955)

Punch Annual Staff Dinner Menus
eBay Listing Ended November 7, 2018

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Autographed-menu-RONALD-SEARLE-NORMAN-THELWELL-ERNEST-H-SHEPHARD-and-others-PU-/173613293657?hash=item286c28a059%3Ag%3ANyoAAOSwrmRb1rLl&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Punch Annual Staff Dinner Menus
eBay item description

Punch Annual Staff Dinner Menus
eBay bid history
The last minute bid failed because the second-to-last bid placed was higher. The last bidder had enough time to bid again, but did not.

January 21, 2021 Update:  Thanks to @PunchBooks on Twitter for helping out with some of the signatures on the back cover of the 1954 menu.

Note:  I might have made an error in labeling that first photo, as the eBay seller notes two copies of each Hewison menu, but I count two copies of the Thelwell menu as well. If you spot a mistake, please let me know. I am always happy to make corrections.

I suppose this is the time for me to request images of menus, particularly those designed by cartoonists. Punch menus from other years than we have here would be welcome. Original art by any of these artists could also work quite well on the blog.

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E. H. Shepard: Reaching for the Honey Jar

A colored drawing of piglet and Winnie-the-Pooh by Ernest H. Shepard is signed and dated 28 January 1970. It depicts Pooh Bear reaching for a jar of honey and is inscribed "Replica drawing for Leif Dahlberg." It was sold in September of 2015 in Nottingham for 12,000 GBP to London's Chris Beetles Gallery, where it was exhibited at "The Illustrators" 2015 show. It is still available from the gallery for 45,000 GBP. Assuming a buyer's premium and other expenses of about 3,000 GBP from the auction house, this price represents a dealer markup of about 200%. Talk about reaching for the honey jar!

E. H. Shepard
International Autograph Auctions
September 26, 2015

http://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/shepard-ernest-h:-1879-1976-english-artist-b-311-c-8f04d0bb9a#

Chris Beetles Item Listing as of June 24, 2017

http://www.chrisbeetles.com/gallery/literary/childrens-literature/reaching-honey.html

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

E. H. Shepard

Redraws

Attempted Bloggery's Inflationary Index

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E. H. Shepard: Winnie-the-Pooh and the Honey Jar

A drawing of Winnie-the-Pooh holding the honey jar was made on camera by E. H. Shepard in the late 1960s for a documentary by Hans Keller. The original art was sold at Sotheby's in December.

E. H. Shepard, Winnie-the-Pooh and the Honey Jar, 1960s

E. H. Shepard
Sotheby's Item Description

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2016/english-literature-history-childrens-books-illustrations-l16408/lot.329.html

E. H. Shepard, Winnie-the-Pooh and the Honey Jar, 1960s

Note:  I have not been able to locate the video clip of Shepard making this drawing. Any assistance would be appreciated.

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

E. H. Shepard

A. A. Milne

Attempted Bloggery's Honeyed Index

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