Attempted Bloggery: Ross's R

Showing posts with label Ross's R. Show all posts

Saturday, February 7, 2026

Peter Arno: The Fireman's Farewell

In a 1939 New Yorker cartoon, Peter Arno's firefighter bids farewell to a befuddled homeowner:

"Well, if you ever need us again just give us a ring."
Peter Arno
Original art
The New Yorker, June 17, 1939, p. 18

The cartoon reads left to right, foreground to background. The firefighter is the most prominent and the most illuminated figure. He is leaving the scene, but he leans back into the cartoon panel with a raised arm. You can't miss him. The poor, portly homeowner in his robe is seen next seemingly trying to lean back out of the frame. There is no place for him to go. The smoldering ruins of the home are behind him. The firemen have left behind great reflecting puddles of water in the middle ground. The birdcage is a fine comic detail which may or may not be noticed later. Anyone whose eyes linger over an Arno drawing can expect to be rewarded.

The original art, framed and matted, was sold yesterday at Heritage Auctions. It was the useful practice of Barbara Nicholls of the Nicholls Gallery in the 1970s and 1980s to write the caption on the matte in a calligraphic hand. No doubt Irvin Greif, Jr., purchased the artwork from her. Her ink has faded over the years more than Arno's.

"Well, if you ever need us again just give us a ring."
Peter Arno
Framed original art
The New Yorker, June 17, 1939, p. 18

On the back of the artwork, The New Yorker's founding editor Harold Ross approved the drawing with his customary R.

Verso with Ross's R

Bidding opened at $1,250 some three weeks before the sale with no reserve. The first bid appeared quickly, proof, if any were needed, that Arno's star continues to shine bright in the firmament of New Yorker cartoonists.

Peter Arno
Heritage Auctions Mainstream Illustration listing of February 6, 2026

https://fineart.ha.com/itm/mainstream-illustration/peter-arno-american-1904-1968-just-give-us-a-ring-new-yorker-cartoon-june-17-1939ink-and-wash-on/a/15263-17108.s?ic2=mytracked-lotspage-lotlinks-12202013&tab=MyTrackedLots-101116

Peter Arno
Heritage Auctions Mainstream Illustration item description

The work sold for $5,000 plus a 25% buyer's premium of $1,250. In other words, the final buyer's premium was the same as the amount of the opening bid.

Here's how it appeared in the magazine:

"Well, if you ever need us again just give us a ring."
Peter Arno
The New Yorker, June 17, 1939, p. 18

"Well, if you ever need us again just give us a ring."
Peter Arno
Original art
The New Yorker, June 17, 1939, p. 18

With a cartoon by Peter Arno and a spot drawing by Victor de Pauw

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1939-06-17/flipbook/018/

* * *

On the page opposite, Victor de Pauw's spot drawing of a railway station is as unassuming as Arno's cartoon is bold.

Spot drawing of a railway station
Victor de Pauw
The New Yorker, June 17, 1939, p. 19

05196

Thursday, June 4, 2020

I. Klein: Heavenly Hope for Sale

You never know who will show up at the office, hat in hand—and you never know what will show up on eBay. I. Klein's original cartoon art, recently sold at the auction site, is a study in contrasts: darks and lights, young and old, middle class and poor, hope and despair, commerce and religion, educated professionals and one still working at it. The eBay seller, noting the words "New Yorker" written on the back, is careful not to overstate the case for it being a published cartoon from that magazine. But the case is made anyway by the letter R at the top right of the image, signifying New Yorker editor Harold Ross's approval. Even better, the cartoon dates from 1925, the New Yorker's tumultuous first year.

"Will you buy a copy, Mum, it will help me work my way thru college, Mum."
I. Klein
Original art
The New Yorker, October 10, 1925, page 14
Published as "Will you buy a copy, Mum? It will help me work my way through college."

Klein's signature is drawn, almost constructed, rather than signed.

I. Klein's signature

The details are incredible. The sheet in the typewriter bears the letterhead of James J. Jam, possibly with the title General Editor, or maybe not. The letter is dated "New York June '25," which may be when Klein intended the cartoon to be published. (It ran in October.) The letter is addressed to Mr. James Smith of Burbank Ave. in Newark, N.J., another James, less imaginatively named, and paired with a fictitious address. The keyboard is not quite QWERTY—only the A and the Z are close to where they belong—and is not big enough anyway to hold all the letters of the alphabet.

Detail of typewriter

The salesman appears disheveled and defeated. His clothing is tatty. There is some levity, though, in the magazine cover.

Detail of salesman

The secretaries, on the other hand, have fashionable hairstyles and clothing well-suited to the modern office of 1925.

Detail

The handwritten caption is a run-on sentence which doesn't gain anything from the repetition of "Mum." Yet it didn't take much work to fix it.

Caption

Some notations can be trusted. This is from the "New Yorker" indeed. Klein has included his address.

Verso

I. Klein
eBay Listing Ended March 30, 2020

https://www.ebay.com/itm/ISIDORE-KLEIN-1897-1986-Pen-amp-Ink-Drawing-The-New-Yorker-Cartoon-HOPE-/223851066244?hash=item341e903384%3Ag%3A8toAAOSwpJReHOCa&nma=true&si=WEtIFz5%252FkfY9UxP8WWeB%252FCaqeVQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

I. Klein
eBay Item Description

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1925-10-10/flipbook/014/

I. Klein's Lower East Side home (or studio) at 169 E. Broadway still stands today. Apartments are above the 169 Bar which was known during Prohibition as the "Bloody Bucket."