Attempted Bloggery: original New Yorker cover art

Showing posts with label original New Yorker cover art. Show all posts

Friday, July 3, 2026

Anatol Kovarsky: Fourth of July Fireworks at Coney Island

Anatol Kovarsky's New Yorker cover for the issue of July 6, 1963, shows a lone fireworks barge off Coney Island illuminating the night sky on the Fourth of July. The original art was sold by the CartoonBank on November 14, 2006 with a letter attesting that its value at the time was $9,000, presumably the selling price. This spring it came to eBay professionally framed alongside the printed magazine cover.

The colors in the waves off Coney Island may have faded over time. It is also possible that the colors were enhanced in The New Yorker's printing process.

The seller's asking price on April 1 was $12,000 or Best Offer.

Anatol Kovarsky
eBay listing accessed April 1, 2026

https://www.ebay.com/itm/306850543292?

Anatol Kovarsky
eBay item description

The seller was apparently new to the auction site. Within a day, the price was cut in half.

April 2

By April 7, the price was reduced another $200.

April 7

Next came $5,200:

April 9?

The seller next raised the price to $5,500, in order to make a seller offer of $500 off. Thus it sold on April 19 for the seller offer of $5,000.

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Sunday, June 28, 2026

George Booth at "Drawn From The New Yorker: A Centennial Celebration"

Cartoonist George Booth (June 28, 1926-November 1, 2022) was born one-hundred years ago today. He is best known for his work in The New Yorker, a magazine that was one year of age when he was born and that got to celebrate its own centennial last year. The Society of Illustrators held a major exhibition in honor of the magazine, "Drawn From The New Yorker: A Centennial Celebration" curated by cartoonist Liza Donnelly. Three original Booth works were included.

Booth's cover art for the issue of February 16, 1976, has a dog and a cat sitting on an area rug facing away from each other. They are surrounded by ornate interior patterns. The animals do not seem to be paying attention to each other exactly, but then they cannot be said to be unaware of each other's presence.

George Booth
Original art
The New Yorker, February 16, 1976

George Booth
The New Yorker, February 16, 1976

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1976-02-16/flipbook/CV1/

A cartoon from the issue of August 13, 1973, is part of a recurring Booth scenario: a man sits in his bathtub talking about whatever is on his mind while his wife does housework. The home is illuminated by a bare light bulb and filled with cats.

The artwork reveals Booth's use of patches on both the man and the woman to get their faces just how he wanted them. There is a pencil notation at the lower right that indicates where the signature was moved photographically for publication.

"How about supper in the tub tonight, Hon?"
George Booth
Original art
The New Yorker, August 13, 1973, p. 78

"How about supper in the tub tonight, Hon?"
George Booth
The New Yorker, August 13, 1973, p. 78

With a drawing by George Booth

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1973-08-13/flipbook/078/

Finally, there was a cartoon about making music and making dinner:

"Last call for stuffed peppers or I feed 'em to the dog!"
George Booth
Original art
The New Yorker, September 27, 1976, p. 37
Pussycats Need Love, Too, Dodd, Mead & Co., 1980

"Last call for stuffed peppers or I feed 'em to the dog!"
George Booth
The New Yorker, September 27, 1976, p. 37
Pussycats Need Love, Too, Dodd, Mead & Co., 1980

With a spot by Jeanine[?] and a drawing by George Booth

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1976-09-27/flipbook/036/

Note: It turns out the stuffed peppers drawing was the subject of a blog post here four years ago for George Booth's ninety-sixth birthday.

In case you were wondering, there's a lot more Booth on the blog here.

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Sunday, May 10, 2026

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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Friday, April 10, 2026

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

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

Edmund F. Ward

Mead Schaeffer

Gil Elvgren

Dean Cornwell

Thomas Blackshear II

Frank R. Paul

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Wednesday, December 24, 2025

Edward Sorel: Christmas Past, Christmas Present

One of the highlights of the November 4 Illustration Art sale at Heritage Auctions was Edward Sorel's original cover artwork for The New Yorker's December 16, 1996 issue. The magazine gave it the title Christmas Past, Christmas Present. It had been in the collection of Irvin Greif.