Helen E. Hokinson's portrait of journalist Marion Ellet is intriguing. The ink and wash drawing is unsigned and undated, so our understanding of it relies entirely on Ellet's sworn affidavit of 1969, dutifully included in the listing on eBay. In it, she affirms that the work is by Hokinson and that Ellet herself sat for it at the Smith College Club of New York City. She dates it to the winter of 1924, so that would be perhaps a year before Harold Ross's upstart magazine The New Yorker was to hit the newsstands for the first time in February of 1925. Hokinson's first drawing would appear there in the July 4, 1925 issue and the rest, as they say, is cartoon history. Had Hokinson developed her signature style as a cartoonist yet in the winter of 1924? On the basis of this sober portrait executed in a realistic style, it's impossible to say.
Before we say bon voyage, here's Hokinson's first drawing to appear in The New Yorker, a spot drawing from the issue of July 4, 1925.
The page at left, incidentally, is a parody of an ad for "Beggar on Horseback" with supposed testimonials from "'The Old Lady in Dubuque'—and Others." Harold Ross famously wrote in his prospectus for the magazine that "The New Yorker will be the magazine which is not edited for the old lady in Dubuque. It will not be concerned in what she is thinking about." Does The New Yorker seem unconcerned?
Note: At the time of this posting, Helen E. Hokinson's seated portrait of Marion Ellet remains available on eBay. I would like to post images of other portraits or realistic subjects by the artist, but I would be willing to show an original cartoon or two as well.
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| Helen E. Hokinson eBay listing accessed August 29, 2020 |
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| Helen E. Hokinson eBay item description |
Before we say bon voyage, here's Hokinson's first drawing to appear in The New Yorker, a spot drawing from the issue of July 4, 1925.
Note: At the time of this posting, Helen E. Hokinson's seated portrait of Marion Ellet remains available on eBay. I would like to post images of other portraits or realistic subjects by the artist, but I would be willing to show an original cartoon or two as well.
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