From an auction house in Woodbury, Connecticut comes a rough watercolor illustration attributed to The New Yorker's Helen E. Hokinson (1893-1949). The interior scene shows two women, a matron and her domestic servant, using cuttings from the garden to create a floral arrangement. Though unsigned, the art is in Hokinson's characteristic style and it depicts her typical subject matter. The strap along the left edge of the artwork indicates that this piece was conceived as a potential New Yorker cover. A notation on the backing documents a plausible and exceptional provenance: it originally belonged to James Reid Parker (1909-1984), Hokinson's longtime gag writer and collaborator. The artwork was given by his widow Ruth L. Parker to a Betty Greene in 1986.
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| Helen E. Hokinson Schwenke Auctioneers listing accessed October 29, 2023 |
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| Helen E. Hokinson Schwenke Auctioneers item description |
Though it was never published, the above artwork possibly could have led to a 1940 New Yorker cover coinciding with the flower show and showing us the ultimate destination of the floral arrangement:
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| Helen E. Hokinson The New Yorker, March 16, 1940 |
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