The sophisticated man is sensibly dressed for winter. Only his hair is unkempt. He carries a bag of groceries and a violin case. He's got everything he needs to sustain himself, body and soul.
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| Jean-Jacques Sempé Bassenge Auctions listing accessed four days before the sale |
Sold!
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In March, Hill Auction Gallery of Surnise, Florida, offered a piece by cartoonist Barney Tobey that was published in The New Yorker back in 1980. The original art shows us a small corner of our ever-changing world loosely but convincingly rendered in ink, wash, and correction fluid:
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| "Ed, remember my barn when it had cows in it?" Barney Tobey Framed original art The New Yorker, July 21, 1980, p. 27 |
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| Barney Tobey's signature |
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| Caption |
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| Barney Tobey Hill Auction Gallery listing ended March 26, 2025 |
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| Barney Tobey Hill Auction Gallery item description |
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| "Ed, remember my barn when it had cows in it?" Barney Tobey The New Yorker, July 21, 1980, p. 27 |
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| "Ed, remember my barn when it had cows in it?" Barney Tobey Original art The New Yorker, July 21, 1980, p. 27 |
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| With a spot drawing by P and a cartoon by Barney Tobey |
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| A spot drawing by P |
July 13, 2025 Update: The drawing is now available from Curated Cartoons.
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| Barney Tobey Curated Cartoons listing accessed July 13, 2025 |
Note: This old blog still has enough room to post and comment on a barnful of original art by Barney Tobey. Farmers and collectors please take note.
Perhaps some knowledgable reader can inform a curious blogger of the identity of spot artist P?
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Charles Saxon, best known for his New Yorker cartoons and covers, displayed a bold, distinctive hand when writing out captions on finished drawings, or adding an inscription to one of his books. But on rare occasions this became a sly sans-serif style that added to the humor of his advertising artwork. Television commercials for the Los Angeles radio station KOST 103.5 FM feature a woman seated by her radio, assaulted by alarmist voices.
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In 2014 Heritage Auctions offered preliminary artwork and hand-painted production cels from this ad project. There were also drawings of a male radio listener, most notably a hand-colored, signed work with an interesting blast of r&b sounds: "Mama Love Ya... Yeah Mama...Hey Hey," etc., and was probably intended to run concurrently with his lady listener.
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An example of a production cel makes a similar point, though it seems far less effective. In addition, a group of 12 drawings and proofs of the same lady listener turned up later that year on eBay and sold for a reasonable $125. In conte crayon on tracing paper, they show the artist trying out various comic expressions.
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But two drawings, both signed, display before & after reactions to the radio's voices, and like his r&b listener, are in stark contrast to Saxon's usual affluent men and women of the upper middle class who value calm and financial security, or as Edward Sorel put it when he eulogized Saxon in his 1997 essay for American Heritage, "It Was Nice": "His cool, carefully composed drawings never suggest outrage."
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There's also a proof of additional air quotes with an intriguing note by the artist: "'Newsed Out' Billboard," which suggest KOST may have had plans beyond TV ads and might explain an attractive hand-colored drawing from the Heritage offerings, with Saxon's woman no longer "newsed out"—perfect eye-candy for a billboard.
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| "Newsed Out" |
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Described by the auction house as created in the late 70s or early 80s, do these television spots still exist somewhere? Were there ever any billboard displays?
Postscript: In addition to his work for KOST, Saxon went all out with a full-page ad Christie's Auctions ran years ago in art journals and The New Yorker; I don't know if anyone at Christie's provided ideas, though a line about someone's great-grandfather being outbid by the Duke of Wellington and never forgiving him, would not have been out of place in a Saxon cartoon. But as the page is presented, we get a tour de force of overheard party chatter, mostly revolving around Christie's, with eleven upscale men and women, unaware they were being sketched and recorded by a master.
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| Christie's advertisement Charles Saxon The New Yorker |
A signed copy of Saul Steinberg's All in Line (1945) is generally worth a look, especially when there is also an original drawing. Listed online by Black Gull Books of St. Leonard's-on-Sea, a copy is described with the intriguing words "Signed with a drawing on half-title page" and the less welcome "Boards show wear, upper spine ragged." The cover, lacking a dust jacket, is photographed in its protective acetate jacket.
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| Saul Steinberg AbeBooks listing accessed May 27, 2028 |
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| Saul Steinberg AbeBooks item description |
Note: There is always room on this blog for other books personally embellished by Saul Steinberg.
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In the CartoonStock Caption Contest number 193, we find two men eating sandwiches at the edge of a sinkhole in which a car has settled. The man standing on the left holding a sub is speaking.
The rules of the monthly cash prize contest have not changed (and neither has my description of them): Five dollars 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 $190 into the first thirty-eight pay-to-play contests and this thirty-ninth challenge brings my total cash outlay up to $195. Having achieved runner-up status with two previous entries, I've collected $200 from CartoonStock, so I'm still playing with the house's money, just barely. In fact, so few contestants enter that the odds may generally be considered favorable even for us less-gifted caption writers. My three entries are shown below, above the break. The cartoonist is Todd Condron who is new to me and new to the blog.
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| "I sold the hazard signs and bought lunch." "This is perfect—except for me forgetting the parking brake." "Let's never go back to eating over the kitchen sink." * * * "Eat slowly and savor the schadenfreude." "Agreed. After dessert, we look for survivors." "I can never repel into a sinkhole on a full stomach." |
From my perspective, there are some highlights. At 4:20, Bob Mankoff gives his supposed opinion of the quality of the entries. At 25:40, Lawrence Wood chooses my first caption and fights for it being added to the top six. Thanks, Lawrence. The caption is the subject of discussion through minute 28. Then at 29:25, Todd Condron, the cartoonist, discusses my third caption in his top ten. My first caption is ranked among the finalists at 44:00. At 50:15 during the big reveal of the winning contributors, Larry is the only one who seems to recognize my name. From the others, crickets.
Wood's Caption Contest Commentary mentions these same two captions:
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Image added June 1, 2025 |
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The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #945 appeared in the issue of May 26, 2025. An on-air news reporter speaks to someone through a tin can phone. My entry appears below. The drawing is by E. S. Glenn.
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| "I'm getting word of an outbreak of cooties." |
June 14, 2025 Update: I voted for the caption from Melbourne.
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I stopped by the Society of Illustrators on Thursday night to attend the opening reception for the new book and exhibition Insectopolis: A Natural History.
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