Donald Duck to the Max

On Independence Day ten years ago, I posted a serigraph by Peter Max of the Statue of Liberty. The eBay seller had come to my attention after selling the original art to Ilonka Karasz's 1955 poison ivy cover for The New Yorker. I was perplexed that the 1994 Max serigraph had a 2005 copyright stamp on the verso. It could have been a listing error by the seller, I suppose, or a stamp that was added after the fact to

 unsold inventory. Whatever the case, I was unable to resolve the issue which I noted on another Max serigraph from the same seller.

Of all the colors in which Max depicted Walt Disney's Donald Duck, the variant with the red beak is my least favorite. Like the Statue of Liberty print, it is numbered 18 in its respective series, here out of 500. It is also dated 1994 with a later 2005 copyright stamp. Like the other Max serigraph, the seller guaranteed its authenticity provided returns were made in 14 days.

Peter Max
eBay listing ended August 27, 2013

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Peter-Max-Disney-Donald-Duck-Serigraph-Limited-Edition-Hand-Signed-/140987205669?pt=UK_art_prints_GL&hash=item20d37e0825

Peter Max
eBay item description 

Note:  My thanks to David from Manhattan for suggesting the artist for today's post.

The eBay seller fast-fox-art of 2013 today goes by the name finefoxart. The seller has 100% positive feedback.

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Louis M. Glackens: Easter 1908

Louis M. Glackens (1866-1933) provided the cover illustration of Puck for Easter 1908. The artist, brother of Ashcan School founder and American Impressionist William Glackens, did work for the satirical magazine from the 1890s until its sale in 1914. The 1908 Easter cover is a bit quirky. It depicts a rainswept Easter Parade and one older gentleman's odd predicament because "his wife was ill."

HIS WIFE WAS ILL.
Louis Glackens
Puck, April 15, 1908

Scan by Dick Buchanan

Somewhat more cryptic are the figures prancing about the border. There seem to be an octet of red devils chasing and tormenting an octet of robed blue witches. At the top are two Easter Bunnies matching the color schemes of the devils and witches—and the very act of pursuit as well.

Note:  My thanks to Dick Buchanan for this, his fifty-third contribution to Attempted Bloggery. That's one for every week of the year and one more for good luck. Dick, to his everlasting credit, maintains the monumental Dick Buchanan Cartoon Clip Files. He also contributes regularly to Mike Lynch Cartoons, most recently a splendid post entitled "From the Dick Buchanan Files: New Yorker Cartoonists 1935 - 1962." You won't want to miss this one.

Louis M. Glackens, I confess, is new to me and hence new to this blog.

I want to identify that church on the Glackens cover as Trinity Church, but I'm not completely sure. What of the armory-like building in the background? Can any reader identify these architectural elements as they existed in 1908 New York?

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