At the Horse Show: Garrett Price Proposed New Yorker Cover Art

Garrett Price's New Yorker cover proposal depicts equestrian activities including show jumping and harness racing. The composition resembles a sketchbook page and does not attempt to show a single unified scene. Of note, Price has worked a number of figures into the area of the logo and seems to be planning how horses and people would interact with most every letter. It was an ambitious idea but not one ever to be developed into a published cover.

Garrett Price's signature

Garrett Price
eBay listing ended August 14, 2020

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Garrett-Price-New-Yorker-Cover-Sketch-1950-s-Horse-Activities-Ink-ORIGINAL-ART-/143678508800?hash=item2173e80f00%3Ag%3AeHUAAOSw8LBfMAwX&nma=true&si=WEtIFz5%252FkfY9UxP8WWeB%252FCaqeVQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Garrett Price
eBay item description

Garrett Price
eBay bid history
The last bid gets it.

[End of eBay listing]

Of course, one can never know for sure why a particular cover proposal wasn't accepted by The New Yorker, but it can still be a useful exercise to conjecture. The published New Yorker covers which include show jumping (but not harness riding) are shown below for comparison with the Price rough. They each represent a single unified scene and have a specific artistic point of view. The Price cover seems to lack a central focus; there is just too much going on all at once.

Theodore Haupt's 1928 cover depicts the pageantry of show jumping with an emphasis on the hazards of the sport:

Theodore G. Haupt
The New Yorker, November 10, 1928

Constantin Alajálov's 1939 cover notes a horse show with a bareback distraction:

Constantin Alajálov

The New Yorker, November 11, 1939

Edna Eicke's demonstration derby is just adorable. The activity is held together by the circular track:

Edna Eicke
The New Yorker, June 18, 1949

Ilonka Karasz's 1957 cover contrasts the chaotic parking in the foreground with the strict order inside the arena:

Ilonka Karasz
The New Yorker, May 11, 1957

In many ways, Arthur Getz's 1957 cover takes the exact opposite approach to that of Price, focusing in extreme close-up on a single horse and rider clearing the log fence:

Arthur Getz
The New Yorker, November 9, 1957

Note:  The winning bidder of the eBay auction has gone public here.

I would love to use Attempted Bloggery to post additional original art by Garrett Price. After all, what is an attempted blog for?

 

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