George Price: Asking Directions at the 1964 World's Fair

A family stops to ask directions at the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair. The original art to this vintage George Price New Yorker cartoon was sold at Illustration House back in 2004. The iconic observation towers to the New York State Pavilion are visible in the background, the tallest structures. These towers still stand today, although their external elevators are long gone and the Pavilion is overall in a dilapidated state. Price's family, it is to be hoped, found their way to their destination long ago.

"Which way to the House of Good Taste, Mac?"
George Price
Original art
The New Yorker, July 11, 1964, page 31
The World of George Price:  A 55-Year Retrospective. New York:  Beaufort, 1988

Blouin Art Sales Index

http://www.blouinartinfo.com/artist/196746/lots 

http://www.artnet.com/artists/george-price/people-asking-directions-at-1964-world-s-fair-5u5XnsZp5Zn6C9JkwNoVYQ2

http://www.findartinfo.com/search/listprices.asp?keyword=3078&name=George%20Price

"Which way to the House of Good Taste, Mac?"
George Price
Original art
The New Yorker, July 11, 1964, page 31
The World of George Price:  A 55-Year Retrospective. New York:  Beaufort, 1988

https://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1964-07-11#folio=030

The World of George Price:  A 55-Year Retrospective. New York:  Beaufort, 1988.

Note:  According to Wikipedia, the New York State Pavilion at the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair was designed by architects Philip Johnson and Richard Foster with structural engineer Lev Zetlin.

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

George Price

Original New Yorker Cartoon Art

The New York World's Fair 1964-1965

Attempted Bloggery's Tasteful Index

02799

The Squeaky Wheel: Ronald Searle Proposed New Yorker Cover Art

In 1961, Ronald Searle took note of the hype preceding the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair and submitted a magazine cover proposal for the New Yorker on the subject of the creative ferment already surrounding  the event. His artwork shows a kinetic sculptor working, it seems, in the media of flags of the world and bicycle wheels. The sculptor is seen applying an oil can to a presumably squeaky wheel. The artwork is clever, colorful, and fanciful, maybe too fanciful for the New Yorker of 1961. Perhaps it was too early for the New Yorker's cover art to begin referencing the World's Fair at all, too early even for the editors to dedicate the cover to a beatnik sculptor drawn by that upstart Searle, whose first New Yorker cover would not be published until 1969.

Ronald Searle
Proposed New Yorker cover art, 1961

Searle couldn't have known in 1961 that it was to be Walt Disney who actually would bring a signature kinetic sculpture to the New York World's Fair. The Tower of the Four Winds was designed by Imagineer Rolly Crump. The 120-foot-tall Fairground landmark was demolished after the fair closed, but a small scale model is on display today at Disney's Contemporary Resort in Orlando.

Rolly Crump, The Tower  of the Four Winds model
The Small World pavilion
New York World's Fair 1964-1965

Disney's Contemporary Resort

Walt Disney World

March 26, 2008

Rolly Crump and Walt Disney with the model, c. 1964
Disney's Contemporary Resort

Walt Disney World

March 26, 2008

Rolly Crump
The Tower of the Four Winds
The Small World Pavilion
New York World's Fair 1964-1965

http://www.mousemonthly.com/what-if-disneys-tower-of-the-four-winds-its-a-small-world-1964-came-to-disneyland/

Disneyland Goes to the World's Fair (1964)

The Tower of the Four Winds is shown starting at 31:27

Rolly Crump Discusses the Dismantling

of the Tower of the Four Winds

The Tower of the Four Winds

CGI recreation

June 3, 2018 Update:  This piece was listed in 2013 by Taraba Illustration Art.

Ronald Searle,Proposed New Yorker cover art, 1961

Taraba Illustration Art
Retrieved August 10, 2013

Note:  Thanks to David from Manhattan for providing the Searle scan. This artwork first appeared online in 2008 on the Ronald Searle Tribute blog in the post entitled "Private Collections."


Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Ronald Searle

Proposed New Yorker Covers

Disney

Attempted Bloggery's Squeaky Index

02248

Ronald Searle's Tower of Light

Ronald Searle's Tower of Light depicts an exhibition from the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair. The Electric Power and Light Companies' Exhibit demonstrated our abundant energy resources by wasting as much of them as conceivable. A similar exhibit had been at the 1939 New York World's Fair.

I'm just about certain this illustration was published in the July 1964 issue of Holiday magazine, just as I was pretty much certain I had a copy of it around here somewhere at Blog Central. I'd like to tell you that my home is an immaculate archive of scholarly research material, but it would be more accurate to say I can never find anything when I need it.

Swann Galleries gave this piece an estimate of $6,000 to $9,000, which is rather pricey for Searle in the American market. The hammer price was just above half the low estimate. Absentee bidding below half the low estimate is not permitted at Swann.

You might like to see how Charles Addams handled a similar subject in 1973 here.

Ronald Searle, Tower of Light
Presumably in Holiday, July 1964

Searle, Ronald. From Frozen North to Filthy Lucre. New York: Viking Press, 1964, Page 69.

Ronald Searle, Tower of Light
Swann Galleries, January 24, 2013

 http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=2300+++++250+&refno=++671037&saletype=

Last month Swann Galleries offered this poster of the attraction at auction. Note how lackluster this 1965 image is compared with Searle's:

Expo--New York, 1965
Follow the Tower of Light to the "Brightest Show on Earth" at the New York World's Fair

http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=2297+++++496+&refno=++661843&saletype=

The following poster is currently offered on eBay for $400. It's a fairly staid corporate rendering, with nowhere near the wattage of Searle's watercolor.

Rudolph Assoc. NYC, Tower of Light, New York World's Fair 1964-1965
Electric Power and Light Companies' Exhibit

 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-1964-Tower-Light-NYWF-New-York-World-s-Fair-Poster-/320831418823

February 23, 2013 Update:  Now the price has gone up to $600 but there is the Make Offer option.

Image Added May 26, 2013

The Singing Tower of Light was part of the earlier 1939-1940 New York World's Fair:

Westinghouse Print Ad for the Singing Tower of Light at the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1939-New-York-Worlds-Fair-Westinghouse-Tower-Print-Ad-/150502885097#vi-content

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