Sunday, April 19, 2026

Alain [Daniel Brustlein]: Self-Portrait

Daniel Brustlein (1904-1996) was known to readers of The New Yorker as the cartoonist Alain. His signature collection is Alain's Steeplechase (1957). A self-portrait of his executed in oil on paper and sold on eBay early in 2020 is signed simply Brustlein.

The self-portrait shows the aritist surrounded by his paintings. The studio floor has tiles in a checkerboard pattern. The painter leaves the forms in an unresolved blur, and we are not sure whether we have quite seen him or not.





Daniel Brustlein's signature

The work is framed.

Alain [Daniel Brustlein]
eBay listing ended February 15, 2020


Alain [Daniel Brustlein]
eBay item descritpion


The work sold for a best offer less than $799.99.

[End of eBay listing]
Curiously, on the back dust cover to The New Yorker Album of Drawings 1925-1975, he is referred to as "Daniel Alain," but nowhere else does this combination of name and pseudonym appear in print. 
The New Yorker Album of Drawings 1925-1975
Detail of rear dust jacket




You may wonder why I sometimes archive and hold on to eBay listings for years before proceeding to post them. I wonder as well.




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