Peter Arno: Romancing the Natives

On June 15, Swann Galleries sold two preliminary drawings by The New Yorker's Peter Arno. Neither is signed, but both are unmistakably the master's work. Swann's listing states, "He probably submitted them to the editors as initial ideas for cartoons, but apparently never followed through on them." Except that he did follow through, at least on one of them.

Arno's first sketch in the listing has an oval border and depicts a fully dressed white man in the embrace of two young Polynesian women wearing only grass skirts and flowers in their hair. They are reclining very publicly in an elevated hut, his pith helmet resting on the floor in front of the young women. Their arms are wrapped around him affectionately. A group of native men observe the scene in consternation. One, mostly out of the frame, is pointing out the objectionable behavior.

This sketch has no caption but was apparently meant to find humor in the jealousy of the men. The idea evolved, perhaps with editorial assistance, and went in a somewhat different direction when it was published in 1938 in The New Yorker. The man is now addressed by one of his fellow explorers with, "But, Professor, remember the thousands of little school children who gave their pennies to send us on this expedition." Visually, Arno's instincts did not serve him well here. He abandoned the depiction of tenderness that made the preliminary sketch so memorable and further objectified the women, who are now African and fully naked except for their neck rings.

"But, Professor, remember the thousands of little school children
who gave their pennies to send us on this expedition."
Peter Arno
The New Yorker, October 8, 1938, p. 16 

This sort of gag cartoon was a popular trope which today strikes us as sexist and racist, but was widely accepted in American print media in the 1930s. The drawing was collected in 1945 in The Peter Arno Pocket Book without an apparent second thought.

"But, Professor, remember the thousands of little school
children who gave their pennies to
send us on this expedition."
Peter Arno
The Peter Arno Pocket Book (1945)

https://flashbak.com/18-great-cartoons-peter-arno-pocket-book-1945-61156/

The second Arno rough shows three performers backstage at a vaudeville or variety show peeking through the curtains, probably with varying degrees of anxiety, at a laughing audience. It might have been a study for a New Yorker spot, or a cover, or perhaps a cartoon. It does not have, or seem to require, a caption. Arno may or may not have worked this idea up further. 

Both drawings together had a presale estimate of $600 to $900. They sold for a hammer price of $500, or for $625 with the buyer's premium.

Peter Arno
Swann Galleries, June 15, 2023

https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/Lots/auction-lot/ARNO-PETER-(1904-1968)-Two-cartoons?saleno=2641&lotNo=236&refNo=807209

Incidentally, on the page opposite Arno's cartoon in The New Yorker is an outstanding short piece, "The Letters of James Thurber." You can read it in its entirety right here and, no doubt, guess the identity of the author who here goes by Anon.

A cartoon by Peter Arno and "The Letters of James Thurber" by "Anon"

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1938-10-08/flipbook/016/

July 12, 2024 Update:  Peter Arno's original art has come to light.

"But, Professor, remember the thousands of children who gave their pennies to send us on this expedition."
Peter Arno
Original art
The New Yorker, October 8, 1938, p. 16 

The typed caption is affixed to the art.

Note:  Unpublished work by Peter Arno isn't so easy to come by but for anyone who does, you're looking at a blog that can publicize it.

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Sight Unseen: Martha Russ's Copy of Childproof by Roz Chast

Signed cartoon books are better than unsigned ones, but a book by a cartoonist is most interesting when the author has drawn something in it, just as a book by a novelist is most interesting when the author has written something in it. Unfortunately, a stock image of a book cover tells us next to nothing when the page of particular interest is on the inside. 

Yet many booksellers continue to illustrate their listings with such images, even when the book has some attribute that makes it unique. Roz Chast's collection Childproof: Cartoons About Parents and Children (1997) is a worthwhile read, but it is surely a more interesting object when signed, inscribed, and embellished "with a little drawing of a child." It has become far more difficult to get Ms. Chast to doodle in her books at signings in recent decades, although she does make the occasional exception. For now at least, the used book market is the most reliable way of obtaining a small Chast drawing of a face in one of her collections, although one may have to purchase it sight unseen, as I did.

Roz Chast
AbeBooks listing accessed June 16, 2023

https://www.abebooks.com/comics/Childproof-Cartoons-Parents-Children-Roz-Chast/31532715302/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=readmore

To my mind, fifty dollars plus $4.50 shipping is a reasonable price to pay for such a rarity. But, wait! The bookseller, Jero Books and Templet Co. of Santa Monica, has the very same book listed on Biblio at a 30% discount. A deal! My mama told me, you better shop around—and I listened to the song lyrics.

Roz Chast
Biblio listing accessed June 16, 2023

https://www.biblio.com/book/childproof-cartoons-about-parents-children-roz/d/1548044232?placement=search_results_list

The format of the Sight Unseen posts hasn't changed. I pay out real money for a book I haven't seen an image of but think has a reasonable chance of being worthwhile. When it arrives, I take my own photographs of the book and present my findings here. As expected, my snapshot of the cover doesn't add anything to the stock image.

The title page, though, seems to be everything I expected:

I conclude, then, that this hard-to-find book is well worth $39.50 postpaid. Of course, other opinions are always welcome.

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Ronald Searle: Leasing with Lloyd's

On June 21 at Lyon & Turnbull's auction house in Edinburgh, the American Peter Arno's cartoon art was scooped up for 900 GBP, more than its high estimate, while Englishman Ronald Searle's charming illustration for Lloyd's Bank offered in the following lot failed to find a buyer. The Searle advertising art had an estimate of 700 to 1,000 GBP, actually lower than its 2001 Christie's South Kensington estimate of 800 to 1,200 GBP. Twenty-two years ago it sold for a healthy 940 GBP. 

Ronald Searle
Lyon & Turnbull listing ended June 21, 2023

https://www.lyonandturnbull.com/auction/lot/lot-164---ronald-searle-cbe-rdi-1920-2011/?lot=272017&so=4&st=Ronald%20Searle&sto=0&au=&ef=&et=&ic=False&sd=1&pp=96&pn=1&g=1

The sale at Christie's was held in 2001:

https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-2070084

https://www.christies.com/search?entry=Ronald%20Searle%20leasing&page=1&sortby=relevance&tab=sold_lots

December 31, 2023 Update:  Sold!

Note:  Now who wouldn't want to see all of Ronald Searle's illustrations for Lloyd's Bank? All you need to do is check out the recent post in Matt Jones's indispensable Searle tribute blog here.

If you somehow missed my post on the Peter Arno cartoon, also in the June 21 sale, it's just a click away here.

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The CartoonStock Cartoon Caption Contest No. 168

For the CartoonStock Caption Contest #168, Joe Dator takes the story of the Trojan Horse and substitutes a giant pantomime horse with two clueless perpetrators. How on earth does one write a caption for this?

The rules of the monthly cash prize contest should be familiar by now: Five bucks buys up to three entries. Real cash prizes are $500 for first place and $100 for each of five runners up. As of this writing, I've put $65 into the first thirteen pay-to-play contests and this one brings my cash outlay up to $70. The great news is that I was lucky enough to win $200 so far along the way, so I'm playing with the house's money. Some very talented caption writers play and I don't know whether I can keep it up, but I'm going to work at it like a Trojan. My three latest entries are shown below, above the break. Below the break are my also-rans.

"Troy isn't going to fall for a pair of big boobs."
"Folks here don't have names like Shock and Awe."
"You can tell Homer this will never sell."
* * *
"It's wartime. The costume party has been downsized."
"That's the best you Greeks could come up with? We ride off bareback and leave Troy unguarded?"
"Go home and try again."

July 4, 2023 Update:  The Winner

In his Caption Contest Commentary, eight-time New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest Winner Lawrence Wood cited one of my captions. Unfortunately, he was the only one of the four judges to be amused by it.

https://www.cartoonstock.com/blog/trojan-pantomime-horse-caption-contest-commentary-with-lawrence-wood/

The judges deliberate on YouTube:

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My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #855

For once I tried to take the high road in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #855 from the issue of June 26, 2023. My caption is shown below. The drawing is by Liza Donnelly.

"From now on you talk to me before selling any rights-of-way."

These captions lacked direction:

"I always knew you could stay in your lane."
"Actually, it's my way, period."
"Remember, there's no jaywalking."

July 14, 2023 Update:  The Finalists

July 22, 2023 Update:  I voted for the caption from a little town called New York.

July 24, 2023 Update:  The Winner

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Saul Steinberg: Pont Royal Table

Saul Steinberg's Pont Royal Table is a 1981 mixed media work on wood. It is currently listed by Los Angeles Modern Auctions with a fixed sale price of $35,000.

Saul Steinberg
LAMA listing accessed June 8, 2023

https://www.lamodern.com/auctions/2023/12/post-war-contemporary-art/116395~

It's nice, but is it $35,000 worth of nice? That offering represents a doubling of the price achieved at Sotheby's in 2022, just a year ago:

Saul Steinberg
Sotheby's auction of May 20, 2022

https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/contemporary-day-auction-2/pont-royal-table

Note:  For further background information, see the Saul Steinberg Foundation's page on Drawing Table Reliefs.

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Saul Steinberg: An Untitled Paper Bag Mask

A colorful paper bag mask by Saul Steinberg was offered for sale Wednesday at Los Angeles Modern Auctions. The face on the mask is rendered very geometrically, largely with zigzags and meanders, giving the image an imposing yet playful feel. The Matthew Marks Gallery of New York once offered the work and dated it to circa 1967. Later, the Adam Baumgold Gallery, also of New York, held the art and dated it to 1962. The Saul Steinberg Foundation dates the artist's mask output to 1959-1962, so this latter date is more plausible. This week the piece came to auction with a slightly revised date of circa 1962 and with an estimate of $8,000 to $12,000. Online bidding opened at $5,000.

Saul Steinberg
Los Angeles Modern Auctions listing accessed June 18, 2023

https://www.lamodern.com/auctions/2023/06/modern-contemporary-art/168

The lot was passed and is now offered for a flat price of $7,560. This number is the presumed reserve of $6,000 plus the 26% buyer's premium.

Note:  For more on the subject, see the Saul Steinberg Foundation's page on the artist's paper bag masks.

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Peter Arno: "I Refuse, Madam!"

What better way to welcome in the summer than with a seasonally appropriate vintage Peter Arno cartoon original? The work of the American New Yorker cartoonist was offered for sale Wednesday at Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh, of all places, with a presale estimate of 500 to 800 GBP ($636 to $1017). Bidding online started at 240 GBP.

"I refuse, madam! It's too hot to pull down the shades!"
Peter Arno
Original art
The Peter Arno Pocket Book (1945)

"I refuse, madam! It's too hot to pull down the shades!"
Peter Arno
Framed original art
The Peter Arno Pocket Book (1945)

Peter Arno
Lyon & Turnbull listing accessed June 18, 2023

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/Peter-Arno-1904-1968-I-refuse-madam-It-s-to-163-c-C6343C4AF1?utm_source=alerts&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=artistalerts&utm_content=199624

The Arno art sold for 900 GBP (or $1145), which was above the high estimate, plus the 31% buyer's premium.

The drawing appears, at the very least, in The Peter Arno Pocket Book (1945).

"I refuse, madam! It's too hot to pull down the shades!"
Peter Arno
The Peter Arno Pocket Book (1945)

https://flashbak.com/18-great-cartoons-peter-arno-pocket-book-1945-61156/

Perhaps you've seen the book:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/155655730841641447/

Note:  Today marks the twelfth anniversary of Attempted Bloggery. It has received more than two and a half million page views over its 4,359 posts. See, you're not alone.

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