Barbara Shermund: Trophy Wall

An original color cartoon by Barbara Shermund changed hands on eBay three months ago for $700. It depicts two men, one proudly showing off his fishing trophies to the other. The wall display includes a mounted mermaid. I confess I can't make out a word of the caption, but the keen-eyed seller apparently can.

"And there's one, my boy, that gave me quite a battle!"
Barbara Shermund
Original art
Pictorial Review, released November 9, 1947

It's a little dark, no?

Barbara Shermund's signature

Verso
PR indicates Pictorial Review.
Release date November 9, 1947

My, my. This drawing has seen the auction block before.

Barbara Shermund
eBay listing ended July 1, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/266886852787?_skw=Yorker+signed&itmmeta=01J8GYN4WRJA45XQ2V0HPPNTDG&hash=item3e23b230b3:g:IcYAAOSw6e1mCCbN&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA0HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKnJJj7Ls5uzbz9NWBywR8NdDRYDq7VwCuPwLZ8y0FdPRdzx1IzR9ujYFwzByWKc2RnF%2B3xs0vfiIH

qRjV5%2FlEcpgNHQVt2FQEMq6Fp1ZtkaV8S8x9LGwFT93DeNYXeH10ubPvfbV8CmphinSRe6m4XvQGAxEc0ShQM%2Bqjg4fJl6MBxw1PotY1SzOhTlGeuzdNtUqpiuUZXuDcR9QYXp5AGD9bzrvAPhWiQuC2jbxAUlPmfeXhpj4CiDeswi61ln%2FmY%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR77O1J7EZA

Barbara Shermund
eBay item description

This original was one of five Shermund items related to angling presented by the artist in August 1949 "To Al Mayer, the champ fisherman of Todd's jetty" in Seabright, New Jersey. They were sold together at Doyle in 2002. The present cartoon is here referred to only as The Prize. (The scarcely-readable caption is hidden behind the matte.) The drawing has since lost its frame.

Barbara Shermund
Doyle, European and American Paintings, December 10, 2002, lot 161

https://www.doyle.com/auction/lot/lot-161---barbara-shermund-1910-1978-i-fishermans/?lot=845676&so=4&st=Shermund&sto=0&au=&ef=&et=&ic=False&sd=1&pp=96&pn=1&g=1

Within a few hours of my posting this cartoon, Jeff Nelson came through with an image of the Shermund's Sallies page. It's in black and white because it had been stored on library microfiche sans color and uploaded thus to the newspapers.com website. I have now corrected, slightly, the eagle-eyed eBay seller's caption.

"And there's one, my boy, that gave me quite a battle!"

* * *

"I just proposed to Henry, Father—has he your blessing?"

Barbara Shermund

Shermund's Sallies

Pictorial Review, November 11, 1947, Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph

Newspapers.com image provided by Jeff Nelson

Note:  I'd still love to see how this page appeared in color. Please get in touch if you have the corresponding November 9 (or later), 1947 issue of Pictorial Review in your archive. I'm fresh out.

It would be so great to get a better look at Barbara Shermund's sketchbook from the Doyle auction. Would the present owner please step forward?

For that matter, all sorts of original art by Shermund are of interest to the readers (and the writer) of this blog. I would be only too happy to post some more images here of Shermund creations. Please send along what you've got, my boy.

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Saber Arches: Peter Arno and Barbara Shermund

Peter Arno and Barbara Shermund were leading cartoonists of their day. Both of them honed their craft in the pages of the early New Yorker. Both excelled at depicting sexy situations. Occasionally, as it happened, they arrived at similar scenarios. What if we were to compare how two talented cartoonists, one a man and one a woman, handled a given theme?

The saber arch is a military wedding honor practiced around the world. Bride and groom walk in procession under the raised swords of soldiers. Both cartoonists present gags with a backstory in which the bride herself has a history with the soldiers. As one might expect, Arno and Shermund handle the situation quite differently.

We'll start with Peter Arno, not because he's alphabetically first, but because his cartoon appeared in print first, and by a dozen years:

"…Hello, Edmund. Hello, Warwick. Hello, Teddy. Hello, Poodgie. Hello, Kip. Hello, Freddie…"
Peter Arno
The New Yorker, July 25, 1936, page 14

https://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1936-07-25#folio=014

Arno's New Yorker cartoon was well-known, although whether Barbara Shermund recalled it is anybody's guess. Her cartoon appeared in color on the cover of Pictorial Review, a Sunday supplement syndicated by King Features:

"Do you think it's safe? I jilted most of them!"
Barbara Shermund
Pictorial Review (Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph), June 27, 1948

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sunday-Magazine-Cover-by-Barbara-Shermund-from-6-27-1948-Tabloid-Page-Size-/143029247601?hash=item214d351e71%3Ag%3AzkAAAOSwr81UTY1m&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

A critical difference between the two gags is evident. Arno, the male cartoonist, has devised a gag in which the groom is made to feel humiliated by the suggested promiscuity of the bride. Shermund, the female cartoonist, presents a gag which emphasizes the bride's social and even physical discomfort.

Barbara Shermund's niece Amanda Gormley notes:

In Arno's illustration, the groom has clearly been cuckolded and there appears to exist, in the bride's facial expression, [her intention] that he should expect perceived behaviors going forward. The bride is unfettered. 

Conversely, Shermund's bride has "jilted" and renounced her paramours seemingly in favor of her groom. She's less responsible for her beaus' reactions because of her femininity and beauty as she now looks to her groom for protection, something he seems resigned to do.

This pair of cartoons reinforces then how important it is to hear different voices in cartooning. When we do, we are likely to get perspectives which differ from each other, and which differ from our own.

https://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1936-07-25#folio=014

Note:  "Tell Me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins: The Life and Art of Barbara Shermund" is now on view at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. It will remain on exhibit through March 31, 2019.

Posts on Instagram with the hashtag #barbarashermund may be seen here.

Instagram posts hashtagged #peterarno may be found here.

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Peter Arno

Barbara Shermund

Weddings

The New Yorker

Pictorial Review

Attempted Bloggery's Faithful Index

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Barbara Shermund: Rules for Skinny Dipping

Truth be told, Barbara Shermund's full color gag cartoon for various family newspapers doesn't look all that different in either style or subject matter from her sexy contributions to Esquire, the men's magazine. A cartoon from late 1956 reveals a couple of female skinny dippers surprised to learn that a rule-spouting park ranger has been observing them. The voyeuristic gag must have been deemed appropriate for general circulation, although it was definitely not a part of the comic pages.

"The Cheering Section" is where this gag appeared in the San Francisco Examiner and in the Province (Vancouver)—and no doubt in other major newspapers—and this could well have been a page of Pictorial Review syndicated by King Features. The release date, or Rel, appears on the verso of the image. But then who wants to look at the back of this image?

"Now, remember, ladies, no fishing!"
Barbara Shermund
Original art
"The Cheering Section"
The San Francisco Examiner, November 4, 1956, page 218
The Province (Vancouver), November 10, 1956, page 77

Verso

Barbara Shermund
eBay Listing Retrieved January 1, 2019

https://www.ebay.com/itm/ORIGINAL-BARBARA-SHERMUND-WATERCOLOR-ILLUSTRATION-ART-CHEERING-SECTION-11-4-56-/123572592236?oid=123512728837

Barbara Shermund
eBay Item Description

Image added January 14, 2019

"Now, remember, ladies, no fishing!"
Barbara Shermund
Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph (Pittsburgh, PA)
"The Cheering Section"
November 4, 1956, page 94

Image added June 7, 2019

https://www.newspapers.com/image/524067058/?terms=Now%2C%2Bremember%2C%2Bladies%2C%2Bno%2Bfishing!

"Now, remember, ladies, no fishing!"
Barbara Shermund
The San Francisco Examiner
"The Cheering Section"
November 4, 1956, page 218

Image upgraded June 7, 2019

https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/458373764/

"Now, remember, ladies, no fishing!"
Barbara Shermund
"The Cheering Section"
The Province (Vancouver)
November 10, 1956, page 77 [page 12]

Image upgraded June 7, 2019

https://www.newspapers.com/image/500239086/?terms=Now%2C%2Bremember%2C%2Bladies%2C%2Bno%2Bfishing!

Note:  That first comma in the caption following the word Now is a bit unnecessary, don't you think?

It is Amanda Gormley who points out that the abbreviation before the date is probably Rel, short for Release date. Obviously, I think she is correct.

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Barbara Shermund

Skinny Dipping

Original Cartoon Art

Attempted Bloggery's au naturel Index

Cheers!

02794