Constantin Alajálov: Warning All Wives!

An article called "Warning All Wives!" published in McCall's was reprinted in the Reader's Digest issue of February 1964. Part II of a feature with the same name appeared in a February magazine issue, possibly McCall's, along with Constantin Alajálov's illustration, the original of which is reproduced here. The husband appears exhausted, the wife frustrated. What could possibly have gone wrong in the marriage bed?

Warning All Wives! (Part II)
Constantin Alajálov
McCall's[?], c. February 1964[?], p. 129

Verso

An undated, unsigned inscription on the back of the illustration board lists the price of this work at $1,250. The sale of the art at Stephenson's Auction in Southampton, Pennsylvania, on New Year's Day had the bidding start at $1,500, with an estimate of $3,000 to $6,000. No bids had been received as of two hours prior to the sale.

Constantin Alajálov
Stephenson's Auction listing accessed two hour before the sale

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/195157904_constantin-alajalov-gouache-illustration-on-board

At the drop of the hammer, there was no sale:


Page 48 of the February 1964 Reader's Digest may contain a clue to this piece.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/333964401291

Note:  I'd like to hear from anyone with an image of this illustration in print—or with some advice for this poor woman.

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Robert Andrew Parker: Walt Whitman's Brooklyn Printshop

An original illustration by Robert Andrew Parker shows Walt Whitman's printshop at 99 Ryerson Street in Brooklyn where Leaves of Grass (1855) was completed. The watercolor was created for The New Yorker, but not published. In 2010, the art was sold by Antiquarian Auctions.

https://antiquarianauctions.com/lots/original-artwork-for-a-re-imagined-portrait-of-99-ryerson-st-the-house-where-whitman-wrote-at-least-part-of-leaves-of-grass

Then in 2020, it was offered for sale by Honey & Wax Booksellers of Brooklyn:

Robert Andrew Parker
AbeBooks Listing Retrieved April 5, 2020

https://www.abebooks.com/Original-watercolor-depicting-Walt-Whitmans-Brooklyn/30607251936/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&cm_ite=readmore

The New Yorker apparently declined to publish Parker's illustration, electing instead to publish a  pair of historic photos in the issue of June 12, 1995. Upon examination of the photo of 99 Ryerson, a problem with the watercolor illustration is immediately apparent: Parker has omitted the distinctive elevated profile of the building's center section. The poet Marianne Moore wrote, “Robert Andrew Parker is one of the most accurate and at the same time most unliteral of painters." In my opinion, and perhaps The New Yorker's, the most prominent architectural feature should not be rendered "unliterally."

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1995-06-12/flipbook/098/

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My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #902

The shrink shirks in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #902 from the issue of June 24, 2024. My caption is shown below. The drawing is by Niall Maher.

"And why do you think you push people away?"

This caption was unprofessional:

"Just keep talking."

July 7, 2024 Update:  The Finalists

July 15, 2024 Update:  I voted for the caption from Atlanta.

July 27, 2024 Update:  The Winner

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Joseph Mirachi Goes Deep

Original art by Joseph Mirachi for a 1954 New Yorker cartoon requires no caption. It was offered for sale on eBay in 2017 where it received only one bid. It originally came from the estate of Christian Buchheit, who had served for half a century as building superintendent at the Art Students League in New York.

Joseph Mirachi
Original art
The New Yorker, November 6, 1954, page 151

Detail

Joseph Mirachi's signature

Joseph Mirachi
eBay listing ended February 19, 2017

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Joe-Marachi-Gouache-Illustration-Art-For-1954-New-Yorker-Magazine-/162393889212?hash=item25cf6e19bc%3Ag

%3AQhAAAOSwdGFYoPdc&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Joseph Mirachi
eBay item description

Joseph Mirachi
eBay Bid History
One bid in the final two minutes is sometimes all it takes.

Joseph Mirachi
Original art
The New Yorker, November 6, 1954, p. 151

Joseph Mirachi
The New Yorker, November 6, 1954, p. 151

With a drawing by Joseph Mirachi
The New Yorker, November 6, 1954, pp. 150-151

http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1954-11-06#folio=150

Note:  As you may know by now, I like to post original art by New Yorker artists including Joseph Mirachi. Images of such are sought after for future posts here on the blog.

Back in the day, Christian Buchheit received a great sendoff from the Art Students League at which he received works from a number of artists. Another of these pieces, by the irreverent Otto Soglow, may be found in the archives here.

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Soriano: Mussolini

Benito Mussolini dominated the cover of New Masses for the August 9, 1938 number, illustrating the second part of "Inside Fascist Italy" by Margareta West. The illustrator signs only Soriano, which presents us with a bit of a mystery. We could tentatively identify the artist as Rafael Soriano (1920-2015) but he would have been seventeen and living in Cuba in the summer of 1938. Well, it might have been Juan Soriano (1920-2006), who would also still have been seventeen although he was a prodigy. But he resided in Mexico. It seems more than likely there's some other illustrator named Soriano who was, we hope, slightly older and slightly nearer to New York. 

Benito Mussolini
Soriano
New Masses, August 9, 1938

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-MASSES-MAGAZINE-V-28-N-7-AUG-9-1938-VG-COPY-CPUSA-SORIANO-COVER-ART...

04634

Jack Markow: On the Construction Site

Construction was always a part of New York City life. A century ago, in the Roaring Twenties, this was especially true. Jack Markow's 1928 cartoon celebrates the city's ongoing reinvention of itself. Was it possible, in that permissive era, for a wiseacre and a police officer to engage in conversation right in the middle of a construction site? It seems doubtful. Whatever the case, the interaction of the two figures is wonderfully staged by the artist. The charcoal drawing was reproduced on page 29 of The Art in Cartooning (1975). The word but handwritten on the matte does not appear in the published caption.

"Pardon me, officer, [but] can you tell me where they moved Hudson Street?"
Jack Markow
Original art
The New Yorker, March 17, 1928, p. 30

"Pardon me, officer, [but] can you tell me where they moved Hudson Street?"
Jack Markow
Original art
The New Yorker, March 17, 1928, p. 30

Jack Markow's signature

Caption on matte with a superfluous but

Jack Markow
Auctions at Showplace:  New York City Estate Auction held March 3, 2024

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/jack-markow-pardon-me-officer-charcoal-on-paper-241-c-069480a807?objectID=186172998&algIndex=archive_prod&queryID=dbd42784902e423c9124f6cc84faf963

"Pardon me, officer, can you tell me where they moved Hudson Street?"
Jack Markow
The New Yorker, March 17, 1928, p. 30

"Pardon me, officer, [but] can you tell me where they moved Hudson Street?"
Jack Markow
Original art
The New Yorker, March 17, 1928, p. 30

A cartoon by Jack Markow and an illustration by V. E.

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1928-03-17/flipbook/030/

Illustration by V. E. 

The New Yorker, March 17, 1928, p. 31

Note:  Who then is V.E? Anybody?

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