Friday, April 17, 2026

Annals of Censorship: Patrick Nagel's Tracy Vaccaro on Bluesky

Maybe censorship is too strong a word here. The Adult Content label is more of a bothersome extra step to prevent supposedly sensitive eyes from viewing supposedly sensitive content. The "sensitive content" remains viewable on the Bluesky social media site.


I saw and photographed a Patrick Nagel piece at a Heritage Auctions Manhattan preview of the Illustration Art sale last week and subsequently posted it:


Patrick Nagel's illustration on canvas of Tracy Vaccaro in a polka dot dress or wrap is certainly sexy and, I'll even grant, somewhat erotic—it has indisputable partial nudity. So is it adult content? To Bluesky, yes. I personally don't think it would cause harm to innocent minds.

Google, to be sure, certainly has given me no pushback over my posts here on Blogger over these past fifteen years. From each of my blog posts, I go on to create content for a number of social media sites. On X, a post of mine may represent some of the tamer content these days. Pinterest, when the site censors me, eliminates the posts it consider objectionable entirely. That hasn't happened there for the Nagel, at least not yet. Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Tumblr, and Mastodon have pretty much left me to do as I please. The same for Counter Social, which I have avoided using for technical reasons. It is Bluesky that places a warning label on some of my more risque content but does not delete it. That is what the site did here, almost immediately after I posted the Nagel, no doubt via bot.


Clicking on the label leads to the big reveal:


The Adult Content label's wording "Does not include nudity" confuses me a bit. I assume it is chiefly the nudity that makes this Adult Content.


Here it is, the same post, now labeled on Bluesky as "Sexually Suggestive" and, again, "Does not include nudity."

Bluesky allowed me to appeal the Sexually Suggestive label, which I did as a matter of course.

My appeal consisted of just two words. I don't consider artistic nudity to be automatically adult content. But then, it isn't my app.

Is this a contradiction? How did the image change from "Sexually Suggestive" to "Non-sexual?" Did the labels change with my appeal?


Apparently, they did. Artistic nudes are classified as "non-sexual" on the site. That's not strictly correct either but, hey, it's Bluesky's playground.



The Bluesky post in question may be seen here. 


But, wait! No sooner did my appeal get heard than the process started over with my Bluesky post of Ronald Searle's City Bird which was on the blog Wednesday of this week.


https://bsky.app/profile/docnad.bsky.social/post/3mjni5faauk24


So here we go again . . . 









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Thursday, April 16, 2026

Arthur Rackham: The Little Mermaid's Home Life

London publisher George G. Harrap gave us an edition of Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales in 1932 featuring illustrations by Arthur Rackham. A signed edition was issued of five hundred twenty-five copies, five hundred of which were offered for sale. The first nine of these included original illustrations by Rackham; eight of these were for sale to the public.


Copy eight is today on the market from Whitmore Rare Books, Inc., of Pasadena. It contains an original illustration which Rackham has titled The Little Mermaid's Home Life. The book is priced at $37,500. 


Me, I'm just browsing.



Pouring tea underwater must be a neat trick. Ditto for keeping sugar cubes from dissolving. Anderson's mermaid has some distinctly British tastes.


Spine


The limitation page


Title page






Arthur Rackham
AbeBooks listing accessed March 28, 2026

Arthur Rackham
AbeBooks item descritpion





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Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Ronald Searle: City Bird

City Bird is a 1969 lithograph by the English caricaturist Ronald Searle. He created a number of prints in this period with pointed observations set off by imposing cityscapes. This example, sold by Heritage Auctions on April 9, is no. 64/99. There are also ten numbered artist's proofs. The colors are black, gold, and red according to the 1971 Munich exhibition catalogue of Galerie Wolfgang Gurlitt where it is listed as no. 46. It is numbered 132 by Editions Empreinte.


As is typical with Searle, the closer you look, the more you see. At 65 x 50 cm, it's quite an imposing image. 

I saw an example of this print at a downtown Manhattan gallery in the late 1970s. I think the price was $200 but i could be wrong. The gallerist condescended to inform me that Searle was "a major illustrator," which, as you might surmise, I already knew. But I had no intention of buying this one at any price.

I can't really say I've changed my opinion with the passage of time although I have grown more tolerant of Searle's grotesqueries as the world itself has gotten more repugnant. Still, the figure attracts and repulses me at the same time. To me, she looks like a prostitute—which, to be fair, is legal in France. 

The estimate was $200-$300. Bidding started at $1 with no reserve. Eighteen days before the sale, no bids had yet been placed.

Ronald Searle
Heritage Auctions listing accessed March 21, 2026, 18 days before the sale


Ronald Searle
Heritage Auctions item description


Last week, the print was sold for a bid of just $1, which comes out to $50 with Heritage's minimum buyer's premium. I hate to see such little interest in a Searle lithograph, many of which are quite wonderful, but this one clearly isn't for everybody. Not even me.


Gurlitt catalogue





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Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Jeff Koons: Lobster

Just a few steps north of the Park Avenue exhibition space used by Heritage Auctions is Bernardaud, a purveyor of fine Limoges porcelain in midtown. I was delighted to see a window display of the tableware company's collaboration with the artist Jeff Koons at its showroom. The work is a sizable piece called Lobster issued in a limited edition of 99. I am fascinated by Koons's serious approach to a playful subject: it took over eight years for his workshop to create this porcelain edition in the form of a cartoon crustacean pool inflatable.







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Monday, April 13, 2026

My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #986—Almost

In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #986 from the issue of April 13, 2026, a woman is doing squats with barbells in a gym while Atlas kneels with the world on his shoulders, sweating. The woman speaks. My submission, below, was all ready but I forgot to enter it. I didn't vote either. It happens. The drawing is by Daniel Kanhai.


"Aren't there asses to stare at in Rockefeller Center?"




These captions didn't work out:
"But can you touch your toes?"
"How do you hydrate?"
"Again, I'm never going to read Ayn Rand."



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Sunday, April 12, 2026

Heritage Auctions Early 20th Century Design and Modern Design Sales New York Preview, April 2026

Art glass was in the room, for the most part safely locked away in cabinets, on Wednesday evening at Heritage Auction's New York preview reception. The coming sales are Early 20th Century Design taking place on April 30, 2026, and Modern Design, on May 1, 2026.

Tiffany Studios




Lino Tagliapietra



Marvin Lipofsky




Zsolnay



Gabriel Argy-Rousseau





Loetz











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Saturday, April 11, 2026

Heritage Auctions Signature Prints & Multiples Sale New York Preview, April 2026

On April 23, 2026, Heritage Auctions will hold a sale of Prints & Multiples in Dallas. A reception was held at the house's Park Avenue gallery space on Wednesday to preview some of the art for us locals. I went there to see the illustration art on display but I ended up photographing four prints as well. Why not live life to the fullest?


Joan Miró






Andy Warhol






Harland Miller



Damien Hirst







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