Peter Arno: Protecting Sutton Place

The day after Pearl Harbor the US declared war on Japan and, soon after, on December 11, 1941, Germany declared war on the US and the Congress reciprocated. Civil defense was on everyone's mind on the home front as America entered World War II. Peter Arno's cartoon for The New Yorker, published the month after war was declared, satirizes the response of the upper class in one of Manhattan's tweediest neighborhoods.

"Of course, if they don't bomb Sutton Place, I'm going to look like a damn fool."
Peter Arno
Original art
The New Yorker, January 17, 1942, p. 14

The original art was offered at Doyle New York on Tuesday.

Peter Arno
Doyle listing accessed November 6, 2023

https://www.doyle.com/auction/lot/lot-327---original-world-war-ii-peter-arno-drawing-for-the-new-yorker/?lot=1346469&so=0&st=Arno&sto=0&au=&ef=&et=&ic=False&sd=0&pp=96&pn=1&g=1

The presale estimate was $1,200 to $1,600 with bidding commencing at half the low estimate.

Two Arno originals were in the sale.

Sold!




From the pages of The New Yorker:

"Of course, if they don't bomb Sutton Place, I'm going to look like a damn fool."

Peter Arno

The New Yorker, January 17, 1942, p. 14

"Of course, if they don't bomb Sutton Place, I'm going to look like a damn fool."
Peter Arno
Original art
The New Yorker, January 17, 1942, p. 14

A cartoon by Peter Arno and a spot drawing by an as yet unidentified artist

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1942-01-17/flipbook/014/

Note:  I really like this cartoon and I even wrote about it once before, here.

I love to post original Peter Arno art on the blog. Go ahead, gather your Arno originals and try me.

That's the 59th Street Bridge, if you were wondering.

It seems to me the artist who created an unsigned New Yorker spot drawing from eight decades ago should be recognizable to somebody reading this. I'll ask again: who is the illustrator?

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