Attempted Bloggery: Sotheby's London

Showing posts with label Sotheby's London. Show all posts

Saturday, October 28, 2023

Ronald Searle: Mr. Lemon Hart Conducts

Ronald Searle's 1950's-era British advertising campaign for Lemon Hart Rum was extremely successful. His illustrations featured Mr. Lemon Hart, easily recognized by his elongated limbs and his lemon-colored suit. Original art of Mr. Lemon Hart conducting an orchestra was offered at Sotheby's London on July 18. The lot was given a presale estimate of 2,000 to 3,000 GBP. It did not find a buyer.

Ronald Searle
Sotheby's Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern, July 18, 2023, lot 295

https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2023/books-and-manuscripts-medieval-to-modern/ronald-searle-illustration-for-lemon-hart-rum

Ronald Searle
Sotheby's lot description
"Searle contributed to Lemon Hart Rum advertising campaigns for eleven years, between 1955 and 1962." How's that again? The ads started in 1951.

Note: For information on the long-running ad campaign, the definitive source is Perpetua, the Ronald Searle Tribute blog, right here. At this writing, the artwork and its corresponding print ad is not included in Matt Jones's comprehensive post. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who can locate a published version.

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Sunday, July 30, 2023

Arthur Rackham: Closeted Up With the Fortune-Teller

Arthur Rackham's original illustration Closeted Up With the Fortune-Teller is available from Heritage Book Shop in Beverly Hills. It was published as color plate 4 in the artist's 1929 edition of Oliver Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield and is selling for $12,500.

Arthur Rackham
Heritage Book Shop listing accessed July 30, 2023

https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/the-fantasy-world-of-arthur-rackham-rare-original-illustrations-from-the-collection-of-shirley-carter-burden/arthur-rackham-original-illustration-for-the-vicar-4

In December of 2021, Sotheby's offered this work, one of many fine original Rackham illustrations from the collection of Shirley Carter Burden. With an estimate of 7,000 to 9,000 GBP, the lot failed to find a buyer.

Arthur Rackham
Sotheby's, December 1, 2021, lot 25

https://www.catawiki.com/en/l/70541029-olivier-goldsmith-arthur-rackham-ill-the-vicar-of-wakefield-1929

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Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Ronald Searle: Cats Under the Rainbow

An Unusual Day is an unusual watercolor by Ronald Searle dating from 1971. The inverted rainbow seems to counter the earthbound bleakness of the landscape, but only partially; it is a restrained, muted rainbow that touches the surface of the globe at only one point. A solitary and disheveled cat bears witness to the state of the urban environment's outskirts.

Ronald Searle
An Unusual Day, 1971

Ronald Searle
Sotheby's London
A Private View: Property from the Country Home of Christopher Cone and Stanley J. Seeger
Lot 80, October 30, 2018

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2018/seeger-cone-collection-l18320/lot.80.html?locale=en

Detail under the rainbow

Detail of cat

Last month this art sold for nearly three times Sotheby's high estimate, a sign of Searle's enduring appeal even when he's making social commentary.

The 1972 lithograph The Long March features another Searle inverted rainbow, this one festive and with a loop de loop, under which are more numerous and happier cats.

Ronald Searle
The Long March, 1972, edition of 99

https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/tmc-healing-art-program/artwork/the-long-march

Searle's 1983 lithograph An Angel Passed... escalates to a knotted rainbow. The signed print was included in the limited edition of Ronald Searle in Perspective. Now, a moment of silence...

Ronald Searle

An Angel Passed..., edition of 250, 1983

Searle's preparatory art for the lithograph is drawn on two attached sheets of paper, with the lines visible below the heads of the two foremost cats. It appears that Searle had started with just the knotted snake and then decided to expand the composition and add the background. If this is correct, the cats, the hills, the rainbow as well as the bicycle were all afterthoughts. The drawing is currently listed with Chris Beetles in London:

Ronald Searle
An Angel Passed...
Preparatory drawing for the lithograph, 1983

Ronald Searle
Chris Beetles Gallery listing retrieved November 27, 2018

https://www.chrisbeetles.com/gallery/animals/cats/angel-passed.html

February 29, 2020 Update: The Chris Beetles Gallery has recently sold the original of An Angel Passed...

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Saturday, June 24, 2017

E. H. Shepard: Winnie-the-Pooh and the Honey Jar

A drawing of Winnie-the-Pooh holding the honey jar was made on camera by E. H. Shepard in the late 1960s for a documentary by Hans Keller. The original art was sold at Sotheby's in December.

E. H. Shepard, Winnie-the-Pooh and the Honey Jar, 1960s

E. H. Shepard
Sotheby's Item Description

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2016/english-literature-history-childrens-books-illustrations-l16408/lot.329.html

E. H. Shepard, Winnie-the-Pooh and the Honey Jar, 1960s

Note: I have not been able to locate the video clip of Shepard making this drawing. Any assistance would be appreciated.

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

E. H. Shepard

A. A. Milne

Attempted Bloggery's Honeyed Index

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Friday, December 28, 2012

Signed Maurice Sendak Wild Things Prints

The illustrator Maurice Sendak published approximately 7,000 sets of these prints in 1971 according to the catalogue text from Sotheby's. They incorporate large-scale art from Where the Wild Things Are. All of the prints were issued unsigned, but these four examples must have been signed at some later date. As a result, these four exceptional images bearing the late Mr. Sendak's signature sold this month at Sotheby's London for 3,500 GBP.