In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #923 from the issue of November 25, 2024, we have two bears sitting outdoors with two teddy bears. My submission is shown here. The drawing is by Ali Solomon.
 |
| "Nonsense, Ted—they're named for a president." |
07809
On Wednesday, at Bonhams, London, a unique first edition of Le voyage de Babar (1932) was sold. It bore an original drawing by Jean de Brunhoff, Babar's creator, of the beloved elephant in a hat shop. The salesman is offering Babar something fashionable but, perhaps, too small and insignificant for a royal elephant of his stature.
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
 |
| Jean de Brunhoff Bonhams London, Knightsbridge, listing accessed October 27, 2024 |
Sold! Hats off to Babar!
Note: I doubt there are very many Babar books by Jean de Brunhoff, or even by his son Laurent, that are drawn upon quite so exquisitely but, even so, readers who feel they've come upon a contender are encouraged to relay images here for posting. And a tip of the hat to you too.
04808
The Dawn Treader Book Shop of Ann Arbor offers a copy of Roy Andres de Groot's Feasts for All Seasons (1966) signed, according to the bookseller, by the illustrator, Tom Funk. Funk is known for his many New Yorker spot illustrations. The signature, Tom, looks nothing like his familiar signature on New Yorker art with that ever-present lower case, cursive t.
 |
| Tom Funk AbeBooks listing accessed November 19, 2024 |
Note: Please let me know if you've got some tomfunkery in your library like this.
04806
 |
| Tom Funk eBay listing ended August 22, 2015 |
 |
| Tom Funk eBay item description |
 |
| Tom Funk eBay bid history A single bid is placed way too early. |
Contributor Scott Burns has turned up a variant on the Saul Steinberg lettersheet we saw here last week issued for the 1952 art exhibition "Drawings" upon which gallerists Sidney Janis and Betty Parsons collaborated. This flyer, unlike the lettersheet, does not have two blank sides on the inside. Rather, the four drawings from the outside of the lettersheet are folded into the inside of the flyer, and the outside of the flyer is a wraparound drawing of Venice's Piazza San Marco with the printed announcement of the show.
.jpeg)
Note: I am grateful to Scott Burns who seems to know what I want to see even before I do. This is his nineteenth contribution to Attempted Bloggery.
If you too have something I want to see by Saul Steinberg, feel free to send a few images without my having to ask.
04805
In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #922 from the issue of November 18, 2024, an attic full of rats is looking through a hole in the floor at the couple below. My submission is shown here. The drawing is by Lonnie Millsap.
 |
| "I never realized we had an infestation." |
04804
Tireless contributor David from Manhattan reports on a 1966 catalogue from the Sidney Janis Gallery of New York that includes the Saul Steinberg work Art Lovers sold just last week at Swann Galleries. He writes:
1966 was a very good year for Saul Steinberg, beginning with a hugely successful show at Galerie Maeght in Paris. But then, all through the summer and early fall, he prepared for an exhibition with Sidney Janis. According to his biographer, Deirdre Bair, Steinberg compared his labor to "an exam in a French Lycée." But it paid off. The 11 x 8 1/2" catalogue lists 76 works, with only 20 illustrated, all in black-and-white, and not particularly well-reproduced, though Art Lovers in the number 10 spot was given a two-page spread at the midpoint as compensation. But buyers were not deterred by the listless reproductions. A number of his pictures involved viewing or creating works of art, and this turned out to be rather prescient. Even allowing for exaggeration and rounding off of numbers, Steinberg happily wrote to Aimé Maeght: "I sold 80 pictures at respectable prices—even more and at higher prices than Paris. Naturally this gives me great pleasure."Naturally. Steinberg hadn't had a show in Manhattan in thirteen years, and perhaps art buyers were getting impatient. 1966 was also the year the artist received sage advice on the art of copyright from his Hungarian lawyer, Alexander Lindey, who not so coincidentally was an author of a textbook on copyright law. Inside the front cover is a great deal of white space, with only "© 1966 By Saul Steinberg" in tiny print at top. Steinberg had listened, even if he didn't borrow Lindey's book. The list of works in this show, with some titles familiar, and others intriguing, makes one hungry for another Steinberg exhibition.
 |
| Front cover |
 |
| 11. Dealers |
 |
| Back cover Ariadne (large detail) |
04803
Saul Steinberg was close to Betty Parsons, the artist and brilliant gallery owner who was an early champion of mid-century art. But even though, like others, he went over to the more commercial Sidney Janis Gallery in 1951, he made sure he didn't abandon Betty. When Steinberg's first Janis show opened in January 1952, the show included the Parsons Gallery, just across the hall from the Janis Gallery at East 57th St. This lettersheet, possibly a suggestion of Parsons with final approval of the drawings by Steinberg, is four pages, 9 1/2 x 6 7/8", illustrated front & back, and when opened, pages 2 & 3 are waiting to be written on. The text on front makes it clear the exhibition was a joint effort of the two gallerists. This was on eBay years ago as a Buy It Now listing. Memory suggests the price was around $50. But no complaints here, even if there wasn't a letter inside signed "ST" or maybe "Saul." After this show, the artist would have a self-imposed exile from exhibitions in New York until 1966.
04802
On Tuesday, a drawing by Saul Steinberg from 1966, Art Lovers, was offered at auction by Swann Galleries.
 |
| Art Lovers, 1966 Saul Steinberg |
 |
| Saul Steinberg Swann Galleries Modern & Post-War Art, Sale 2685, Lot 44, accessed 3 hours before the sale on November 12 |
The drawing sold for a hammer price of $7,500.
 |
Stamped "©1966 by Saul Steinberg The sale of this drawing covers only the physical drawing itself. The artist reserves all other rights in it, including copyright." |
 |
| Kulicke Frames, Inc., label |
 |
| Sidney Janis Gallery label "Ink and Color Crayon" I am assured that there is indeed ink but no color crayon present. |
.jpg)
04801
Was Saul Steinberg an artist?
—Deidre Bair
Funny you should ask. That baffling question posed by Saul Steinberg's own biographer Deirdre Bair has been addressed several times by art critics and others. Yet at least a few of us who champion Steinberg's work from the sidelines are still infuriated by the very idea. Can the question over Steinberg's status as an artist, as opposed to a cartoonist, ever be put to rest?
A new Spanish exhibition has the very deliberate and telling title "Saul Steinberg, artista." Write me if you need a translation. That should be taken as an answer to Bair's query, one that will, it is to be hoped, endure. This show is the first in Spain ever dedicated to the work of Steinberg and it is his largest solo exhibition ever. It is currently on view at the Fundación Juan March in Madrid.
I'm pleased to report that gallery photos have been provided to this blog courtesy of a recent visitor; let's call him our man in Madrid. In addition, I have interspersed seven promotional photos from the Fundación Juan March's website with all the proper title, ownership, and copyright information. Going even beyond that, I have added two New Yorker magazine covers which correspond to the original art on display because—let's face it—we all know I can't help myself.
So here, for starters, is the exhibition entrance with an enlarged photograph of Steinberg down on the floor surrounded by his drawings. Is he checking them over? Choosing among them? Or is he just posing for the camera?
 |
| The Museum, c. 1949 Saul Steinberg Carol and Douglas Cohen Collection © The Saul Steinberg Foundation / VEGAP, Madrid, 2024 |
.jpg) |
| View of the World From 9th Avenue, 1976 Saul Steinberg Private collection © The Saul Steinberg Foundation / VEGAP, Madrid, 2024 Photograph: Alister Alexander, Camerarts Studio Graphic |
.jpg) |
New York Taxis, 1977 Saul Steinberg Carol and Douglas Cohen Collection © The Saul Steinberg Foundation / VEGAP, Madrid, 2024 |
Kamerun, Central Africa, 1987:
Cat and bird:
Rainbow, 1974:
Straphangers, 1964:
 |
 |
City Scape, 1956 Saul Steinberg Michael Cohen Collection © The Saul Steinberg Foundation / VEGAP, Madrid, 2024 |
.jpg) |
Untitled, 1961-1962 Saul Steinberg Museum der Moderne Salzburg © The Saul Steinberg Foundation / VEGAP, Madrid, 2024 |
Masks and landscapes:
The landscape on the right may be seen in the photograph of Steinberg on the floor displayed at the entrance to the exhibition:
Piano lessons, a drawing on music paper:
1978:
Happy birthday to friend Aldo Buzzi, construction, 1974:
.jpg) |
Still Life Chair, 1981 Saul Steinberg Galerie Claude Bernard © The Saul Steinberg Foundation / VEGAP, Madrid, 2024 |
Steinberg's books:
 |
| https://tienda.march.es/catalogos-de-exposiciones/16678-saul-steinberg-artista.html |
 |
Untitled, 1963 Saul Steinberg Private collection © The Saul Steinberg Foundation / VEGAP, Madrid, 2024 |
04800
_at_night-msu-2021-6449-.jpg)
