Maurice Sendak: Madama Butterfly Poster

Illustrator Maurice Sendak's poster for the Houston Grand Opera's 1997-1998 season, their forty-third, features an image from Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly. Cio-Cio-San is seen from behind near the end of the third act. Her gesture indicates agitation as Dolore, her love child by U.S. Naval Lieutenant Pinkerton, waves the stars and stripes she has just given him as a final farewell.

Detail of upper half

Detail of lower half

Maurice Sendak's signature

A signed example is available from Blank Verso Books of Napa, California. It is priced at $300. It's possible the HGO production may have been called Madame Butterfly.

Maurice Sendak
AbeBooks listing accessed October 16, 2024

https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/MAURICE-SENDAK-SIGNED-POSTER-MADAME-BUTTERFLY/32013284023/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=viewbook

Maurice Sendak
AbeBooks item description details

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William Steig: Loose Talk Can Cost Lives

We've all heard the phrase "Loose lips sink ships." It was created by the War Advertising Council for American propaganda posters in World War II. The British equivalent, according to Wikipedia, is "Careless talk costs lives." The English version is clunkier and less memorable.

In 1942, the British and American Ambulance Corps published a poster with the words "Loose talk can cost lives," a hybrid of the Anglo and American slogans. The illustrator was New Yorker cartoonist William Stieg. A copy was sold this past Saturday in Cleveland. Just don't breathe a word of this to anyone.

William Steig's printed signature

William Steig
Rachel Davis Fine Arts listing accessed September 16, 2023, fourteen days before the sale

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/after-William-Steig-WWII-poster-192-c-37449EC8A1?utm_source=alerts&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=artistalerts&utm_content=199624

William Steig
Rachel Davis Fine Arts item description accessed September 16, 2023

Sold!

Note:  If you should happen to be the proud owner of any obscure published material by master cartoonist William Steig, you don't have to keep it under your hat. Just send some good images to the blog, care of me. Don't send them to our adversaries.

It turns out I mentioned this very poster five years ago here. I covered much of the same ground. To my consternation, the earlier post is much better written and more visually interesting as well. You owe it to yourself to check it out.

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Ronald Searle: Two Lemon Hart Rum Posters

It isn't easy finding posters of the tall and spindly Mr. Lemon Hart, Ronald Searle's popular 1950s creation for a very successful advertising campaign in support of Lemon Hart Rum. It is even more impressive to find such posters in good condition retaining their vibrant colors. One would expect a strong market for these in Great Britain, where Searle's advertising images once created a sensation and where his art is still prized today. But this pair of posters came to auction last year in Italy, and the response was lukewarm at best.

Ronald Searle
Aste Bolaffi auction ended October 20, 2022

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/ronald-searle-1920-2011-lemon-hart-1960-71-c-acb406ea98?objectID=174279455&algIndex=undefined&queryID=413dbc0be481d9c54cdbbaf9a5d34101

Ronald Searle
Aste Bolaffi auction ended October 20, 2022
https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/ronald-searle-1920-2011-lemon-hart-1960-72-c-0574a82a22?objectID=174279456&algIndex=upcoming_lots_prod&queryID=dd49e86c1fb2fa2eda9c3b424bd369dd#

Note:  If you'd like to know more about Ronald Searle's extraordinary ad campaign for Lemon Hart Rum (and Lamb's Navy Rum), check out Matt Jones's post here. 

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Maurice Sendak: Hansel and Gretel Poster

Engelbert Humperdinck's opera "Hansel and Gretel" was first performed in 1893 and has become a perennial favorite of the Christmas season. The Houston Grand Opera put on an English-language production in the fall of 1997. The stage sets were designed by illustrator Maurice Sendak, who previously had worked on the HGO's production of "The Magic Flute" (1981). A poster for the production, signed by the artist, is currently available on AbeBooks.

Maurice Sendak
AbeBooks listing accessed September 24, 2022

https://www.abebooks.com/art-prints/Poster-MAURICE-SENDAK-SIGNED-HANSEL-GRETEL/31309894686/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&cm_ite=viewbook

Note:  For more information on Maurice Sendak at the opera, read here.

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Paul Degen: Discovering the Sciences

An original gouache painting by Swiss artist Paul Degen was sold on eBay two months ago for $500. It almost certainly was intended for publication, perhaps as a poster or a magazine illustration. It is a celebration of youthful discovery, depicting divers topics in the sciences including astronomy, biology, geology, natural history, physics, aviation, sailing, and space exploration. Such an illustration could have been commissioned by a museum such as, for example, the American Museum of Natural History or the Smithsonian, among the many, many possibilities.

Paul Degen
eBay listing ended June 6, 2022

https://www.ebay.com/itm/134088485008?hash=item1f384be890%3Ag%3Av%7EoAAOSwyd9iW3Cx&nma=true&si=WEtIFz5%252FkfY9UxP8WWeB%252FCaqeVQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Paul Degen
eBay item description

Note:  Has anyone come across this painting in published form? Do tell.

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Roz Chast: Poster for "The Tale of the Allergist's Wife"

Charles Busch's comedy "The Tale of the Allergist's Wife" directed by Lynne Meadow and starring Linda Lavin, Tony Roberts, and Michele Lee opened on Broadway at the Barrymore Theatre in 2000. The production's poster was illustrated by Roz Chast. Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc., of Gloucester City, New Jersey, has both an unsigned copy of the poster and one signed by the playwright and the full cast.

Roz Chast:  Poster for "The Tale of the Allergist's Wife"
AbeBooks Listing Accessed June 2, 2020

https://www.abebooks.com/Theatrical-Poster-Tale-Allergists-Wife-New/30644596425/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&cm_ite=readmore_low

Roz Chast:  Poster for "The Tale of the Allergist's Wife"
AbeBooks Listing Accessed February 19, 2022

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30644594655&searchurl=kn%3DThe%2BAllergist%2527s%2BWife%2BPoster%26sortby%3D17&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title2

"The Tale of the Allergist's Wife"

2001 Tony Awards

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Maurice Sendak: The Horn Book Magazine Poster

Traditionally, The Horn Book Magazine's cover featured an adaptation of an illustration by Randolph Caldecott showing three huntsmen on horseback blowing their—you guessed it!—horns.

https://www.abebooks.com...

Starting with the issue of November-December 1985, the magazine commissioned an annual cover illustration to run for each of six bimonthly issues. The first of these covers was by Maurice Sendak and it featured an image that included Caldecott himself sketching in the park, Caldecott's cat and the fiddle, and, for good measure, a Sendak Wild Thing. A poster of the cover was issued in a signed edition of 300. One of these posters was recently listed on AbeBooks.

Maurice Sendak
AbeBooks listing accessed February 14, 2021

https://www.abebooks.com/POSTER-HORN-BOOK-MAGAZINE-Sendak-Maurice/30365519100/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&cm_ite=viewbook_high

The original art was offered last year through Christie's Private Sale:

Maurice Sendak
Christie's Private Sale

https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-maurice-sendak-cover-for-horn-book-magazine-6262750/?lid=1&from=relatedlot&intobjectid=6262750&sc_lang=en

Note:  Christie's Private Sales don't retain price information, at least not any that I can locate. I'd like to hear from anyone who knows the asking price for this illustration and, if possible, whether it was sold.

Scans of original art by Maurice Sendak are eagerly sought for future blog posts.

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