"Hallowe'en Costumes for Babies" is an installment of cartoonist Emily Flake's Lulu Eightball. The comic strip ran in alternative weeklies from 2002 to 2016. This example was published on October 30, 2013. The original art from ten Halloweens ago was sold at Weiss Auctions on November 15. Its estimate was $150 to $300, but the actual realized price was $65.
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| Emily Flake Weiss Auctions, November 15, 2023 |
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"Particularly afraid of each other on Fridays" is an original book illustration by Peggy Bacon (1895-1987) for Jerre Mangione's Mount Allegro: A Memoir of Italian American Life (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1942). The artwork was offered at Swann Galleries in 2021 with an estimate of $600 to $900. There it went unsold. Last month the same drawing was listed at Weiss Auctions with a lower estimate of $400 to $600. There it did find a buyer . . . for a hammer price of $200.
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| Peggy Bacon Weiss Auctions listing of November 15, 2023 |
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| https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/Lots/auction-lot/PEGGY-BACON-(1895-1987)-Particularly-afraid-of-each-other-on?saleno=2574&lotNo=68&refNo=782382 |
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Russell Patterson (1893-1977) was a cartoonist and illustrator who specialized in rendering the independent-minded and attractive women of the Jazz Age. He was famous for creating the Patterson Girl of the 1920s which did much to define the flapper. He also worked on set designs for Broadway. Patterson's "Suggestion for Production," apparently an unrealized one, is dominated by the ringed planet Saturn amidst stars and clouds. His scenic design incorporates dancers and their costumes as well. The original art was sold on Tuesday by Weiss Auctions.
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| Russel Patterson Weiss Auctions |
Note: It occurs to me that I don't have much original art by Russell Patterson on the blog and that this scenic design is anything but a typical example of it. Enterprising Patterson collectors are invited to help me out by submitting scans or photos of his artwork for potential inclusion in future posts.
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Two cartoons by John Ruge were sold together at Weiss Auctions yesterday. Their publication history is unknown.
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| "Say, mister, could you spare a dollar or two to help pay for my eye examination?" John Ruge |
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John Ruge The estimate for the lot was $150 to $300. No online bids were received before the sale. |
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| John Ruge Weiss Auctions listing accessed November 11, 2023 |
Note: I am intrigued by these two cartoons from the hand of John Ruge. Were they published? If so, where? If you know, don't be shy like Bigfoot.
Ruge has been credited with originating Peter Arno's classic 1941 cartoon with the caption "Well, back to the old drawing board." His original rough might very well be lost, or it might be hanging in someone's den. More than eighty years after the fact, I'm asking if anyone has seen the drawing, in a den or otherwise, as Ruge first envisioned it.
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