J. B. Handelsman: Why Mr. Dobkin Is Not Walt Whitman

In yesterday's post on New Yorker cartoonist J. B. "Bud" Handelsman, I asked for additional pieces of original art to share here. Longtime contributor David from Manhattan came through with a fine New Yorker drawing. He writes:

The cartoon, 11" x 8", is from Feb. 2, 1987. I bought this years ago on eBay, with Condé Nast the seller for a client who owned that iconic Sam Gross frogs' legs cartoon that brought $30,000 at auction. The attraction for me was the poetry reference in the caption, though taking the photo I was reminded of the artist's care in making sure each man's clothing was rendered in a different shade, even managing a hint of brown in the prosecutor's suit and gray blue in the stubborn gentleman in the witness chair.

"Walt Whitman may well have contradicted himself, Mr. Dobkin, but chances are he wasn't under oath at the moment."
J. B. Handelsman
Original art
The New Yorker, February 2, 1987, p. 75

Detail of the witness

Detail of the judge and attorney

Here's what we see in print:

"Walt Whitman may well have contradicted himself, Mr. Dobkin, but chances are he wasn't under oath at the moment."
J. B. Handelsman
 The New Yorker, February 2, 1987, p. 75

"Walt Whitman may well have contradicted himself, Mr. Dobkin, but chances are he wasn't under oath at the moment."
J. B. Handelsman
Original art
 The New Yorker, February 2, 1987, p. 75

With a spot drawing by Tom Funk and a cartoon by J. B. Handelsman

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1987-02-02/flipbook/074/

* * * 

Spot drawing
Tom Funk

Note:  For those who don't recognize the poem "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman, the relevant lines are:

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)

My thanks to David from Manhattan for keeping the discussion of J. B. Handelsman going with today's post. This is David's sixty-seventh contribution to Attempted Bloggery and they're all worthwhile.

Let me repeat my call to action since it met with such success yesterday. There is a lot of original art by Bud Handelsman in private collections and very few blogs willing to put it out there for the world to see. Remember, this is a big blog. It can contain multitudes. 

04942

A Copy of Feasts for All Seasons by Roy Andries de Groot Signed by Illustrator Tom Funk

The Dawn Treader Book Shop of Ann Arbor offers a copy of Roy Andries de Groot's Feasts for All Seasons (1966) signed, according to the bookseller, by the illustrator, Tom Funk. Funk is known for his many New Yorker spot illustrations. The signature, Tom, looks nothing like his familiar signature on New Yorker art with that ever-present lower case, cursive t.

Tom Funk
AbeBooks listing accessed November 19, 2024

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=32030200112&searchurl=attrs%3Dsgnd%26ds%3D20%26kn%3DTom%2BFunk%26p%3D1%26rollup%3Don%26sgnd%3Don%26sortby%3D17%26sp%3D0%26spo%3D20&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-image7

Note:  Please let me know if you've got some tomfunkery in your library like this.

04806

Tom Funk: Unidentified Driving Object

A drawing by longtime New Yorker spot artist Tom Funk shows aliens at the wheel of a fanciful car. Was this indeed published in the pages of The New Yorker?

Tom Funk
eBay listing ended August 22, 2015

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1950s-Pen-pencil-scetch-by-Tom-Funk-Artist-New-Yorker-Magazine-signed-/231654739241?hash=item35efb2cd29%3Ag%3A6-AAAOSwjVVVltPD&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Tom Funk
eBay item description

Tom Funk
eBay bid history
A single bid is placed way too early.

Note:  Original works of art by Tom Funk, including spots, are welcome here at Attempted Bloggery, the blog that saves the occasional eBay listing for nine years before posting it. Publication information for this drawing, should anyone somehow know it, would also be welcome.

04806

Ed Fisher: Passing Fancy

In a 1959 cartoon for The New Yorker,

Ed Fisher (1926-2013) managed to find humor in a funeral procession. The original art was given by the artist to one Ed Rosenthal. Decades later it may have been sold through the New Yorker Store. This past March it was sold on eBay.

It's a good cartoon, better than the $129.99 Buy It Now price might lead one to believe. The artwork has some significant condition issues and is in serious need of reframing. Still, it would be hard to argue that the buyer didn't get a good deal.

"See if you can pass that car. He would have wanted it that way."
Ed Fisher
Original art
The New Yorker, April 4, 1959

Detail

"To Ed Rosenthal
—Ed Fisher"

The fix is in.

Ed Fisher's signature

Detail of hearse

Detail of funeral procession

Caption

Some water damage and wrinkles to the paper

Ed Fisher
eBay listing ended March 19, 2021

https://www.ebay.com/itm/254814222174?hash=item3b541c775e%3Ag%3AHgYAAOSwrYBf4NU%7E&nma=true&si=WEtIFz5%252FkfY9UxP8WWeB%252FCaqeVQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Ed Fisher
eBay item description

[End of eBay listing]

Spot drawing by Tom Funk and cartoon by Ed Fisher

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1959-04-04/flipbook/032/

Note:  Nine men named Ed Fisher have Wikipedia pages, but the New Yorker cartoonist isn't one of them. Why not?

Tom Funk
Spot drawing

03639

Charles Addams: Shrunken Missionary

In 2011, Pook & Pook sold a Charles Addams missionary cartoon, correctly identifying it as a New Yorker original, but not providing bidders with the caption. No matter. Despite its culturally insensitive tribal setting, the work, estimated at $2,000 to $3,000, sold for a healthy $8,295.

http://www.pookandpook.com/cat/2011-10-01/99

Here it is again, this time complete with caption and first publication date.

"Parker! You're letting him get the upper hand!"
Charles Addams
The New Yorker, November 22, 1947, page 42

Cartoon by Charles Addams and spot drawing by Tom Funk

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1947-11-22/flipbook/042/

Note:  Images of original Charles Addams art are sought after here at Attempted Bloggery. Please send mysterious and spooky scans or photos.

Tom Funk

03607

Taking the Twin Towers for Granted

The gargantuan twin towers of the World Trade Center are framed by the stately Washington Square Arch in a New Yorker spot drawing by Tom Funk. The drawing was published in the "Goings on About Town" section of the March 19, 1979 issue six years after the World Trade Center opened. The twin towers were never beloved exactly, not while they stood, but they were accepted and embraced by New Yorkers as an audacious expression of the outsized aspirations of our city. In their brashness they were understood by us and as familiar presences in lower Manhattan we soon learned to take them for granted.

Discovering the many ways these two monolithic buildings played off against the more established elements of the skyline was an ongoing process that we engaged in casually, believing we had all the time in the world to work out the nuances of scale and perspective. Then, of course, the towers were suddenly destroyed, lost forever in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 amid a far greater human tragedy. Only then did we stop taking the towers for granted. They became instead an enduring symbol of all we had lost, and of the importance of remembrance and resolve.

Tom Funk, The New Yorker, March 19, 1979, page 4

http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1979-03-19#folio=004

Quick Link:

9/11

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