Lobster Inn: Edna Eicke New Yorker Cover Art

This luminous painting by Edna Eicke for the cover of The New Yorker shows the Lobster Inn on Long Island after sunset. The artwork is captured on a Kodachrome slide believed to have been shot prior to printing at The New Yorker.

Edna Eicke, Artwork for The New Yorker, August 13, 1955

Edna Eicke, The New Yorker, August 13, 1955

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1955-Lobster-Inn-Seafood-Restaurant-8-13-55-New-Yorker-Cover-Edna-Eicke-Art-/151015729896?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item23293d2ae8&nma=true&si=VJo29%252F7WbHpl1SY9gWmnl4%252FkT80%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Note:  The seller reports that the artwork indicates the Lobster Inn was on Long Island. The only Lobster Inn I'm aware of opened in Southampton in 1969 and is today the Lobster Grille Inn under a new owner. Did that restaurant replace an earlier incarnation of the Lobster Inn, or are we talking about two unrelated Long Island restaurants with the same name? Anyone?
 

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Skinny Dipping: Mary Petty New Yorker Cover Art

I've personally never seen original artwork by Mary Petty anywhere. I imagine her fabulous originals are long-ensconced in elite private collections or perhaps in the collection of Syracuse University where her papers reside, along with those of her husband the cartoonist Alan Dunn.

Anyway, it's a treat to find this Kodachrome slide of her original artwork for the cover of The New Yorker from July 10, 1954. This slide, it is assumed, and others like it were taken prior to the print production process at The New Yorker. This kind of image of the full, original, naked artwork is rare and hard to obtain once a piece is framed. My advice to collectors is to photograph the front and back of all original artwork prior to framing.

Mary Petty, Original Artwork for The New Yorker, July 10, 1954

Mary Petty, The New Yorker, July 10, 1954

Note:  Even though I've never seen any Mary Petty originals, I'd sure like to. If you have access to any rare, original artwork by Mary Petty, you're welcome to share it here with this blog's readers. By the way, you even get extra credit if your photo or scan doesn't have a watermark.

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Tennis Ticker: Leonard Dove New Yorker Cover Art

The pristine appearance of the original artwork for a 1957 New Yorker cover by artist Leonard Dove has been preserved over the decades on a Kodachrome slide. Dove, like many New Yorker cover artists, depicted New Yorkers on their travels as well as at home. About thirty such slides with original cover art are in the possession of an eBay seller who is not all that knowledgeable about New Yorker art, but then he does knows how to make a digital scan from a slide, which I certainly don't. In addition, he may be the only seller on eBay who uses the word watermark for a watermark. Or is this a widespread practice that I haven't picked up on?

Leonard Dove, Original Art for The New Yorker, February 9, 1957

Leonard Dove, The New Yorker, February 9, 1957

Note:  I'm happy to use this blog to publish fine examples of original New Yorker cover art such as this piece by Leonard Dove. If there's anything in your home of similar interest that you'd like to share, please contact me at the email address located in my profile. Appearances to the contrary, watermarks are discouraged.

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For Your Dining Pleasure: Peter Arno New Yorker Cover Art

An unusual collection of Kodachromes has turned up on eBay with rare images of original New Yorker cover art from the 1950's. The seller says he has about thirty of these, of which nine have been listed and I don't believe any have been sold as yet at the hefty $24.99 asking price. This one is by Peter Arno.

Now usually I'm scrupulous in providing links to my source material including eBay sales, but I figure if this seller sees fit to deface his images of original New Yorker art with a watermark that reads--believe it or not--watermark, I've been released from any moral obligation to provide a link.

Peter Arno, Original Artwork for The New Yorker, June 5, 1954

Peter Arno, The New Yorker, June 5, 1954

Note:  I'm delighted as always to use this blog to publish examples of original New Yorker cover art. If you'd like to share an outstanding Peter Arno original here, for example, just send me the images and information.

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New Voting Machines: Arthur Getz Preliminary New Yorker Cover Art

New York City's new voting booths must have been a source of anxiety when they were first introduced. A rare Kodachrome slide of Arthur Getz's preliminary New Yorker cover artwork anticipating Election Day 1956 (Eisenhower vs. Stevenson for the second time, with the same result) shows a palpable tension in the voting center. Things are a bit calmer in the final, published version of the cover where the technical challenges of the new technology are being competently dealt with, albeit exclusively by men.

As it turned out, these clunkers were exceedingly reliable voting machines and they remained in use in the City until 2010. They have now been replaced with an annoying new multistep electronic voting system that uses a computer to generate somewhat archaic paper ballots which then have to be scanned optically. I don't imagine anyone likes this system, but that's what we have. The latest talk is that the now-beloved old lever voting machines may be taken out of cold storage one last time for the post-Bloomberg mayoral primary and likely subsequent runoff elections. Apparently the new state-of-the-art optical scanners are too slow to handle the expected volume. I kid you not.

Given that this slide contains perhaps the only image of this unpublished artwork in existence, the use of the ridiculous watermark watermark is more than usually egregious. I suppose some eBay sellers will stop at nothing to prevent scoundrels like me from stealing their images.

Arthur Getz, Preliminary Artwork for The New Yorker, November 3, 1956

Arthur Getz, The New Yorker, November 3, 1956

Note:  I know of several instances like this one where Arthur Getz produced preliminary or alternate versions of published New Yorker covers. Anyone who would like to share an example of such a cover variation here on the blog is encouraged to contact me.

Art directors and editors at The New Yorker have been known to make occasional--ahem!--suggestions to the artists regarding the revision of their work prior to publication. While I'm always eager to publicize original New Yorker artwork on this blog, I also would love to include more variants of the published work. Can anybody help me out?

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Autumn Squirrel: Abe Birnbaum New Yorker Cover Art

Original New Yorker cover artwork by Abe Birnbaum has been captured on a Kodachrome slide from 1955. Note how important the small squirrel is to the success of the composition. The published cover appears somehow to have deeper red highlights than the image of the original painting preserved on the slide.

The eBay seller, after listing three previous such slides unblemished, has finally remembered to mar the image with a watermark. Rather than using the watermark to brand the image with his seller name, an ugly but widespread commercial practice, he's instead used the word watermark itself, the defacement of this rare image for the non-purchaser being the sole objective.

Abe Birnbaum, Original Artwork for The New Yorker, October 8, 1955

Abe Birnbaum, The New Yorker, October 8, 1955

Note:  It occurs to me that some of the original New Yorker cover art I'm discussing this week, including this fine seasonal cover by Abe Birnbaum, is quite probably still around somewhere being enjoyed in private collections. If you know of the current whereabouts of any of these pieces and would like to give this blog's readers an update on them, including perhaps notes on their condition or their personal meaning for you, please contact me at my email address.

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Carousel: Abe Birnbaum New Yorker Cover Art

Original artwork by Abe Birnbaum of a carousel receiving a fresh spring painting was used as a 1956 cover for The New Yorker. It appears Birnbaum used the bottom edge of the artwork to test his palette. This delightful piece has been preserved on a Kodachrome slide probably taken for the magazine's art department prior to publication. The things that turn up on eBay!

Abe Birnbaum, Original Artwork for The New Yorker, April 21, 1956

 http://www.ebay.com/itm/KODACHROME-SLIDE-1956-THE-NEW-YORKER-APRIL-21st-ISSUE-ABE-BIRNBAUM-COVER-/290910805728?pt=Magazines&hash=item43bba29ee0&nma=true&si=VJo29%252F7WbHpl1SY9gWmnl4%252FkT80%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Abe Birnbaum, The New Yorker, April 21, 1956

http://www.ebay.com/itm/KODACHROME-SLIDE-1956-THE-NEW-YORKER-APRIL-21st-ISSUE-ABE-BIRNBAUM-COVER-/290910805728?pt=Magazines&hash=item43bba29ee0&nma=true&si=VJo29%252F7WbHpl1SY9gWmnl4%252FkT80%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

http://www.ebay.com/itm/KODACHROME-SLIDE-1956-THE-NEW-YORKER-APRIL-21st-ISSUE-ABE-BIRNBAUM-COVER-/290910805728?pt=Magazines&hash=item43bba29ee0&nma=true&si=VJo29%252F7WbHpl1SY9gWmnl4%252FkT80%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

http://www.ebay.com/itm/KODACHROME-SLIDE-1956-THE-NEW-YORKER-APRIL-21st-ISSUE-ABE-BIRNBAUM-COVER-/290910805728?pt=Magazines&hash=item43bba29ee0&nma=true&si=VJo29%252F7WbHpl1SY9gWmnl4%252FkT80%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Note:  The eBay collection of Kodachrome slides of original New Yorker cover artwork is quite unusual, and so I'm taking a few days to review it here on the blog. Because even rare artifacts of the publishing process probably exist somewhere and may be of interest to many, I'm reminding readers of my willingness to review and publish similar unusual New Yorker material that may be of historic or artistic interest.

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Overture: Abe Birnbaum New Yorker Cover Art

Abe Birnbaum's superb original New Yorker cover art depicts a Broadway stage and orchestra pit during the exciting moments of a musical's overture before the curtain rises. Most of the composition is given over to the folds of the curtain, almost an abstraction in the upper half of the image, while the conductor and orchestra are confined to a small corner at the lower right. Such an unconventional use of space is not likely to be seen today on the cover of this magazine or of any magazine.

Today, The New Yorker's covers are still often splendid in their own way, but they are also almost always about generating buzz, and this kind of soft-spoken cover, anomalous in the publishing world of 1954, is now pretty much extinct. Yet it is still very much the quintessential New York experience to attend a Broadway musical and to be overwhelmed at the outset by the vast curtain and all the wonderful possibilities it seems to conceal. What has changed over the last sixty years is that the orchestra has gotten smaller and the instruments today often are electric.

Abe Birnbaum, Original Artwork for The New Yorker, November 6, 1954

 http://www.ebay.com/itm/KODACHROME-SLIDE-1954-THE-NEW-YORKER-NOV-6th-ISSUE-ABE-BIRNBAUM-COVER-/290910801467?pt=Magazines&hash=item43bba28e3b

Abe Birnbaum, The New Yorker, November 6, 1954

http://www.ebay.com/itm/KODACHROME-SLIDE-1954-THE-NEW-YORKER-NOV-6th-ISSUE-ABE-BIRNBAUM-COVER-/290910801467?pt=Magazines&hash=item43bba28e3b

http://www.ebay.com/itm/KODACHROME-SLIDE-1954-THE-NEW-YORKER-NOV-6th-ISSUE-ABE-BIRNBAUM-COVER-/290910801467?pt=Magazines&hash=item43bba28e3b

http://www.ebay.com/itm/KODACHROME-SLIDE-1954-THE-NEW-YORKER-NOV-6th-ISSUE-ABE-BIRNBAUM-COVER-/290910801467?pt=Magazines&hash=item43bba28e3b

Note:  I'm always interested in hearing from collectors with original New Yorker cover artwork such as this outstanding Abe Birnbaum original. I'm delighted to be able to share images of fine original artwork here.

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Curtain Call: Arthur Getz New Yorker Cover Art

A seller on eBay has uncovered an unusual collection of Kodachrome slides. These depict original New Yorker magazine cover artwork from the mid-1950's. They may very well have been used in the art department as references prior to the publication of the artwork. As you can read below in the Q and A, the seller states that he has about thirty of these remarkable Kodachrome slides, although only nine have been listed to date.

The wonderfully atmospheric illustration of a curtain call that has gone on for perhaps too long is by Arthur Getz. To this day, Getz created more covers for The New Yorker than any other artist, 213. This one is just splendid.

Arthur Getz, Original Artwork for The New Yorker, March 10, 1956

 http://www.ebay.com/itm/KODACHROME-SLIDE-1956-THE-NEW-YORKER-MARCH-10th-ISSUE-AUTHOR-GETZ-COVER-/290910793344?pt=Magazines&hash=item43bba26e80

Arthur Getz, The New Yorker, March 10, 1956

 http://www.ebay.com/itm/KODACHROME-SLIDE-1956-THE-NEW-YORKER-MARCH-10th-ISSUE-AUTHOR-GETZ-COVER-/290910793344?pt=Magazines&hash=item43bba26e80

http://www.ebay.com/itm/KODACHROME-SLIDE-1956-THE-NEW-YORKER-MARCH-10th-ISSUE-AUTHOR-GETZ-COVER-/290910793344?pt=Magazines&hash=item43bba26e80

http://www.ebay.com/itm/KODACHROME-SLIDE-1956-THE-NEW-YORKER-MARCH-10th-ISSUE-AUTHOR-GETZ-COVER-/290910793344?pt=Magazines&hash=item43bba26e80

http://www.ebay.com/itm/KODACHROME-SLIDE-1956-THE-NEW-YORKER-MARCH-10th-ISSUE-AUTHOR-GETZ-COVER-/290910793344?pt=Magazines&hash=item43bba26e80

Note:  It should probably go without saying at this point, but I'm always eager to publish novel photos or scans of original New Yorker cover artwork. If you've got any lying around that you'd like to see gloriously displayed on this blog, why not drop me a line?

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