One hates to see original cartoon art from the
New Yorker sell for less than the price of a tankful of gas or a bag of groceries. Such was the fate of this sixty-year-old gag cartoon by
Bernard Wiseman. In all fairness, the eBay seller didn't know the caption for this drawing, and in its mute state it looked rather incomplete. The seller wrote, "This cartoon is of an alien, probably a Martian, sitting in a space age chair in his home & reading a story to 2 child Martians."
Child Martians? Okay, fair enough.
As it turns out, the brown paper backing bears the original publication date and stamps on the back of the artwork confirm that it was published in the New Yorker, so the necessary research might have been within the means of almost anyone, even an eBay seller, and certainly any current New Yorker subscriber who owns a computer.
So here's the eBay listing in full with the addition of the published caption, and a rather ungainly one at that, plus the relevant publication information. The cartoon as published in the pages of the New Yorker is also included. We'll never know just what this drawing might have sold for if the full information had been provided, but one hopes more than $26.52.
The 1950's were the heyday of E. C. horror comics, gruesome graphic tales that more or less led to the establishment of the Comics Code Authority. Perhaps those lurid comic books had some influence on the style of Mr. Wiseman's caption.
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Bernard Wiseman, "A wave of horror sickened her as she saw the creature approach. Its hands were a grotesque cluster of five fingers; its head, if it could be called that, was small, with slits for eyes and a shapeless blob for a nose, and crowned with a rank, repulsive growth..."
Original artwork, The New Yorker, March 15, 1954, page 130 |
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Bernard Wiseman, "A wave of horror sickened her as she saw the creature approach. Its hands were a grotesque cluster of five fingers; its head, if it could be called that, was small, with slits for eyes and a shapeless blob for a nose, and crowned with a rank, repulsive growth..."
Detail of original artwork, The New Yorker, March 15, 1954, page 130 |
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| Bernard Wiseman's signature |
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| The date of publication is written on the paper backing. |
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| Stamps confirm publication in the New Yorker. |
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Bernard Wiseman, "A wave of horror sickened her as she saw the creature approach. Its hands were a grotesque cluster of five fingers; its head, if it could be called that, was small, with slits for eyes and a shapeless blob for a nose, and crowned with a rank, repulsive growth..."
The New Yorker, March 15, 1954, page 130 |
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Bernard Wiseman, "A wave of horror sickened her as she saw the creature approach. Its hands were a grotesque cluster of five fingers; its head, if it could be called that, was small, with slits for eyes and a shapeless blob for a nose, and crowned with a rank, repulsive growth..."
The New Yorker, March 15, 1954, page 130 |
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