Turkeys on the Shore: Original Frank Modell New Yorker Cover Art

Many people admire New Yorker covers—inspired full-page illustrations presented to the world free of promotional text—but opportunities to get to see the original art from which they are created are few and far between. It's so gratifying when such cover art does surface and come to the market, sometimes many decades later. Frank Modell's original art for the issue of November 25, 1961 was just sold at Heritage Auctions in April. It is a thoughtful, atmospheric image that anticipates the first Thanksgiving in a way that is both humorous and affecting.

Frank Modell
Original art
The New Yorker, November 25, 1961

Frank Modell
Framed original art
The New Yorker, November 25, 1961

Frank Modell
Heritage Auctions listing of April 23, 2024

https://fineart.ha.com/itm/paintings/franklin-p-modell-american-1917-2016-turkeys-the-new-yorker-magazine-cover-november-25-1961gouache-pastel-/a/8161-71418.s?ic2=mytracked-lotspage-lotlinks-12202013&tab=MyTrackedLots-101116

Frank Modell
Heritage Auctions item description

Frank Modell
The New Yorker, November 25, 1961

Frank Modell
Original art
The New Yorker, November 25, 1961

It is now apparent that the original Modell art I posted on November 22, 2022 was actually a preliminary study for this cover:

The artwork is still available on eBay, priced at about three times what the cover art went for.

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Ronald Searle: A New Yorker Cover Study

It should be no surprise that auction houses often don't know all the history of the works they're selling. In 2004, for example, Bonhams London sold a floral watercolor by Ronald Searle, identifying it only by the assumed title Posy. While the vase is oddly situated, hanging precariously over the corner of a table, its humorous or satiric intent may not be obvious. New Bond Street may have been at a geographic disadvantage here. On the other side of the Atlantic, some New Yorker readers may have recognized the subject matter of this piece: the painting is obviously a study for Searle's magazine cover of June 5, 1989. It's not a rough, strictly speaking, in that the artist is working through some important components of his composition but not the entire thing.

Ronald Searle
Bonhams London, New Bond Street listing of October 12, 2004

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/11229/lot/185/ww.bonhams.com/auctions/11229/lot/185/

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1989-06-05/flipbook/CV1/

Searle's study, on closer inspection, is dated 1989, the year of the cover, not 1985. The prominent diagonal flourish is a part of Searle's signature, not of his date. (And any numeral seven, had he written it, would generally have a line through it.)

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Frank Modell: Turkeys in the Snow

New Yorker cartoonist Frank Modell's painting of two turkeys out in a snowfall views the birds from slightly behind with their heads turned away. Lightly signed Modell on the left in red, it is an unassuming composition and doesn't look like a published piece. The framed original bears a gift inscription that is equally unassuming: "For David, from one turkey to another—Frank."

The painting—is it a gouache?—has been available on eBay for more than two years. The listing uses twelve photos where two or three would suffice. The piece is listed at $599, but the seller is open to Best Offers.

Frank Modell
eBay listing accessed November 21, 2022

https://www.ebay.com/itm/124039047269?hash=item1ce14da865:g:HdUAAOSwqgFeDDF6&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4CqXrpofv3%2B7izXg5Zd7RVd%2BQRTN4%2FB44KZRVl52mTI1nHbSmJPtPCIQoH9sB%2F1yAdyo8yKdTSnkiLdm%2Fb42qWNmFcJMt%2FQMGvPkh8YgGoh6l%2BPAENDgeRQIwvhfXWT46Q6Z3WUdaKaQ7EuE9Idn4V6QHn9oenkdqu%2BO6fMtuEOYSshwHKnH72zld7VBSMUmdQXj6EN5QR0cU3fJF3uozAirMHQmQ9IzAPxe%2B9h%2Fa5uKamtiLyTQRSVzBdvBULxHTWjy11QKvfzLSLBda3CqZqr9NKsjsp%2FPFYiXDadzEUqT%7Ctkp%3ABFBMwoO805Nh

Frank Modell
eBay item description

September 1, 2023 Update:  Inflation, apparently.

May 5, 2024 Update:  Aha! This image is no doubt a study for The New Yorker cover of November 25, 1961. The original cover art was sold at Heritage Auctions on April 23, 2024 and may be seen in today's Attempted Bloggery post.

 

Note:  Some blogs thrive on original art by New Yorker artists like Frank Modell. This blog happens to be one of them. Images welcome.

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