Charles Addams was not known to have created redraws of any of his New Yorker cartoons until three of them came up for auction together in early 2021. They were acquired by a builder in late 1940s London under circumstances that are unknown. Each of the three drawings have characters belonging to what we now readily recognize as the Addams Family. One of them features Granny Frump baking cookies with Wednesday and Pugsley, as they are called today. It is based on a drawing published in the magazine early in 1948 long before they had been given names. No caption is needed.
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| Charles Addams The New Yorker, January 24, 1948, p. 23 |
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| A spot by Abe Birnbaum and a drawing by Charles Addams |
The Addams redraw was offered by Lay's Auctioneers of Penzance (not that it's pirated). It's authenticity was verified by H. Kevin Miserocchi of the Tee & Charles Addams Foundation who had no record of it.
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| Charles Addams Redraw after The New Yorker, January 24, 1948, p. 23 |
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| Charles Addams Redraw after The New Yorker, January 24, 1948, p. 23 |
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| Charles Addams Redraw after The New Yorker, January 24, 1948, p. 23 |
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| Verso of Whatman board |
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| Chas Addams's signature |
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| Detail including highlights of Granny Frump's shawl |
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| Detail with Wednesday and Granny Frump |
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| Detail with Wednesday, Granny Frump, and Pugsley |
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| Detail of the tabletop |
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| Charles Addams Redraw after The New Yorker, January 24, 1948, p. 23 |
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| Charles Addams Redraw after The New Yorker, January 24, 1948, p. 23 |
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| Charles Addams Redraw after The New Yorker, January 24, 1948, p. 23 |
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| Verso detail |
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| Charles Addams Lay's Auctioneers listing of January 29, 2021 |
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| In the style of Charles Addams Zipriani Auction House listing ended September 14, 2022 |
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| In the Style of Charles Addams Zipriani Auction House item description |
The Zipriani drawing sold for $320 plus a 15% premium. Given the popularity of the Addams Family franchise, it's possible the bidders for such drawings don't care who the actual maker is; they may simply be content to see their favorite characters in an Addams-like drawing. But I probably shouldn't speculate about this. Incidentally, the cover of The Penguin Charles Addams features the New Yorker drawing.  |
| The Penguin Charles Addams (UK, 1962) |
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| Abe Birnbaum The New Yorker, January 24, 1948, p. 22 |
Note: My thanks to the anonymous reader who pointed out both the Lay's Auctioneers sale and the Zipriani Auction House sale. Putting the two sales together here is my decision entirely.
04551
I'm mystified -- on the scan of the double-page spread with text, the printed NYT cartoon looks water damaged (which would be odd, with permanent India ink) -- but the text looks perfectly clean. I thought maybe the redraw was done because the original was water-damaged, but he didn't get it done in time, so they had to go with the damaged one.
ReplyDeleteBut then, the Penguin reprint (of the original drawing) looks perfectly fine. Which makes me think it was some kind of foul-up at the Times during the printing process.
Also, as a (Marvel) comic book artist, the lines look like they were almost all drawn with a brush (which I'd never considered before, I just figured pen & ink). Some even look as though they were drawn with a Conte' crayon, or 'grease pencil' (giving them that textured look) -- though it could also be what we call a 'drybrush' technique.
(The paper was no doubt textured as well of course...)
Any knowledge of his technique ...? I haven't been able to find anything on the web ...
I think The New Yorker's online scan is an especially poor one, Joseph, hence the muddy image. They are reportedly rescanning the online images for this centenary year.
DeleteI have heard Addams's technique referred to as ink and wash grisaille.