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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Mischa Richter: Dressing for the Monopoly Investigation

The Temporary National Economic Committee (TNEC) was established by a joint resolution of the United States Congress on June 16, 1938 and operated until its defunding on April 3, 1941. The TNEC's function was to study the concentration of economic power and to report to Congress with its findings.

—Wikipedia

The Temporary National Economic Committee's work was popularly known as the monopoly investigation, as the New York Times and the New Masses called it. A cartoon for the latter publication by a young Mischa Richter (1910-2001) dates from the TNEC era. It depicts a wealthy monopolist addressing his manservant as he prepares to appear before the hearings. Richter's family fled the Russian Empire in 1922, so it's unclear how much of a fellow traveler he really was, and in the 1930s this would scarcely have raised on eyebrow anyway. According to Ink Spill, Richter's work first appeared in The New Yorker in 1942. Here for the New Masses of 1938 though, his grotesque capitalist appears to be influenced by the work of George Grosz.

"If anyone calls, Hawkins, I'm appearing before the monopoly investigation."
Mischa Richter
The New Masses, December 20, 1938, page 14

Detail

Detail with Mischa Richter's signature

The cartoon as it appeared in the New Masses

Mischa Richter
eBay listing ended April 1, 2021

https://www.ebay.com/itm/383966164137?hash=item59662ab4a9%3Ag%3Ap48AAOSwlEhgL-Dr&nma=true&si=WEtIFz5%252FkfY9UxP8WWeB%252FCaqeVQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Mischa Richter
eBay item description

Mischa Richter
eBay  bid history
Four bidders submit five bids, but it is the two last-minute bidders who are serious. The last bid, submitted with only four seconds remaining in the auction, fails.

https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/new-masses/1938/index.htm

Note:  Mischa Richter may have crossed paths with George Grosz at the Art Students League in New York. His copy of a Grosz monograph is in the blog archives here. He acquired it some six months after the publication of this cartoon, but he may already have been familiar with Grosz's work.

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Mischa Richter's Copy of a George Grosz Monograph

In 1927, Marcel Ray published George Grosz, a monograph about the artist in French from the series Peintres et Sculpteurs. Scott Burns of Armadillo & Dicker Books writes:

I have a copy of a 1927 French monograph on George Grosz—it isn’t particularly rare and I don’t read French, but I couldn’t resist getting Mischa Richter’s copy! I know they both taught at the Art Students League in the 30s but don’t know if their years coincided.

Note:  Scott Burns has compiled Ralph Steadman: A Comprehensive Guide for Collectors located here. This is Scott's twelfth contribution to the blog.

It's hard to imagine an American cartoonist of the 1930s who wasn't influenced in some way by George Grosz. Mischa Richter, a contributor to the left wing New Masses, almost certainly admired Grosz but whether there was a relationship is probably unknowable. Richter purchased the book secondhand, one would think, twelve years after publication when he was about 29. Grosz was some 17 years his senior. Grosz's teaching at the ASL was sporadic so I don't know whether Richter's dates there, if known, would help all that much. I can tell you that M. Kay Flavell's George Grosz: A Biography (1988, Yale) makes no mention of Richter, but this is hardly surprising and doesn't rule out any casual encounters. Nevertheless, I would like to hear from anyone with information regarding any interaction the two artists might have had.

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