William Steig: Coming Home Late

It's late at night in Apartment 3K. Seventy years ago, the readers of Collier's were treated to a wonderful cartoon by a wonderful cartoonist: William Steig.

William Steig
Orignal art
Collier's, May 11, 1956

Evidently rejected by The New Yorker which would have had first crack at it, the drawing presents us with a couple uniquely suited to each other.

William Steig
Framed, orignal art

Collier's, May 11, 1956

The framed original art was listed some two months ago by Honey & Wax Booksellers of Philadelphia and it remains available at the time of this posting. 

William Steig
AbeBooks listing accessed July 21, 2026

https://www.abebooks.com/signed/Original-gag-cartoon-Colliers-magazine-Steig/32452863076/bd

William Steig
AbeBooks item description

The published cartoon is in Dick Buchanan's clip files and appeared on the blog Mike Lynch Cartoons. 

William Steig
Collier's, May 11, 1956

https://mikelynchcartoons.blogspot.com/2018/01/from-dick-buchanan-files-william-steig.html

William Steig
Orignal art
Collier's, May 11, 1956

05304

Nelson Rockefeller's Copy of The Lonely Ones by William Steig

New Yorker cartoonist William Steig's book of drawings The Lonely Ones was published in 1942. The book has a foreword by The New Yorker's drama critic Wolcott Gibbs. Steig inscribed a copy to Nelson Rockefeller, the son of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and the grandson of the founder of Standard Oil. Nelson Rockefeller was an avid art collector and patron of the arts. An AbeBooks listing of the book informs us that Rockefeller kept a woodcarving by Steig on his desk in New York. Steig wrote, "Best wishes to / Nelson Rockefeller / from / William Steig / I hope you like these / drawings." Did the future Governor of New York and Vice President of the United States appreciate them? The AbeBooks seller, First Edition Rare Books, LLC, of Cincinnatti, notes that "This copy appears unread"—so, asked and answered.

William Steig
AbeBooks listing accessed June 29, 2026

https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/Lonely-Foreword-Wolcott-Gibbs-Steig-William/32467844220/bd

William Steig
AbeBooks item description

Note:  William Steig's woodcarvings are new to me. In 1939, Time magazine wrote about an exhibition of these pieces here. His Proud Woman from 1941 is in the collection of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum here. An example appears on Artsy here. There is another on Reddit here. Now, does anyone have a photograph of the one Nelson Rockefeller kept on his desk?

05285

William Steig: Marriage in the Balance

Another original New Yorker cartoon by William Steig, this one from 1969, was sold by Second Story Books on May 17. It had been collected by Neil and Susan Sheehan, she a writer for the magazine. One imagines they both appreciated the singular perspective on marriage the artist expressed in this drawing. 

William Steig
Original art
The New Yorker, November 22, 1969, p. 57

William Steig's signature

The price was $500. It was quickly sold.

William Steig
AbeBooks listing ended May 17, 2026

https://www.abebooks.com/art-prints/ORIGINAL-1969-NEW-YORKER-CARTOON-Signed/32447225940/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=viewbook#&gid=undefined&pid=1

The drawing looked great in print.

William Steig
The New Yorker, November 22, 1969, p. 57

William Steig
Original art
The New Yorker, November 22, 1969, p. 57

With cartoons by Edward Koren and William Steig

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1969-11-22/flipbook/056/

* * *

The Motion Picture Association of America introduced its voluntary film rating system in November of 1968. The four original ratings were G (for general audiences), M (for mature audiences), R (restricted, persons under age 16 not admitted without a parent or guardian), and X (those under 16 not admitted). Edward Koren's cartoon, on the page opposite the Steig, provides the artist's take on the new ratings one year in.

"It looks like an ⓧ rating to me."

Edward Koren

The New Yorker, November 22, 1969, p. 56

05271

William Steig: Headstrong Husband

A 1970 New Yorker cartoon original by the great William Steig remained in the collection of Neil and Susan Sheehan for well over five decades, it seems. Then, along with a few other Steig drawings of theirs, it appeared suddenly on the market last weekend and was sold within twenty-four hours. At least we got to see it before it passed back into obscurity.

William Steig
Framed, original art
The New Yorker, January 10, 1970, p. 20

William Steig's signature

The price was $500.

William Steig
AbeBooks listing ended May 17, 2026

https://www.abebooks.com/art-prints/ORIGINAL-1970-NEW-YORKER-CARTOON-Signed/32447228712/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=img

Careful readers may have noticed that this week's posts include no fewer than three Steig drawings featuring disembodied heads. Coincidence? Not exactly. Yesterday's post was a variation on this same theme as Steig worked through the idea in his New Yorker submissions. As for Tuesday's post with that knight raising the severed head, well, these things happen.

Oh, yes. Here's how today's drawing looked in The New Yorker:

William Steig
The New Yorker, January 10, 1970, p. 20

William Steig
Framed, original art
The New Yorker, January 10, 1970, p. 20

With drawings by William Steig and Charles Saxon

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1970-01-10/flipbook/020/

* * *

It can be no accident that the simple, direct contours of the emotionally overwrought Steig drawing are contrasted on the page opposite with the lush tones and genteel manner of the cartoon by Charles Saxon, who here is conscripted to play superego to Steig's id, if you will. 

"It seems to me that you've simply got to be for
or against sex these days."
Charles Saxon
The New Yorker, January 10, 1970, p. 21

So there you have it: a cartoon depicting surreal, raw anger and one with politicized, unsexy talk of sex, both spanning a single spread in The New Yorker back in January of 1970. 

By the way, I don't recall any other New Yorker artist so casually having his character self-decapitate as Steig has done here. For that matter, who else has resorted to this Saxon trick of placing a face at a dinner party between the candles in a candelabra? For the cartoonists, it's all about the faces.

Ah, there are such riches to be found in these back issues.

05270

William Steig: The Scolding That Doesn't End

From the collection of Neil and Susan Sheehan comes an imaginative and absurd New Yorker drawing by William Steig. Published in 1969, the drawing was listed online this past weekend by Second Story Books and was promptly sold.

William Steig
Original art
The New Yorker, November 8, 1969, p. 167

William Steig's signature

The work was offered on AbeBooks for $500. 

William Steig
AbeBooks listing ended May 17, 2026

https://www.abebooks.com/art-prints/ORIGINAL-1969-NEW-YORKER-CARTOON-Signed/32447222280/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=readmore_low

William Steig
AbeBooks item description

The original art has sustained considerable toning, but the image appears forever young on the pages of the magazine. Not the same can be said for Steig's couple.

William Steig
The New Yorker, November 8, 1969, p. 167

William Steig
Original art
The New Yorker, November 8, 1969, p. 167

With a spot drawing by Mario Micossi and a cartoon by William Steig

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1969-11-08/flipbook/166/

* * * 

"The Art World" spot drawing
Mario Micossi

Note:  For those who remember William Steig chiefly as the creator of Shrek!, that children's book wasn't published until 1990, twenty-one years after this drawing.

05269

William Steig: Mystery in the Making

Neil and Susan Sheehan owned several wonderful New Yorker cartoon originals by William Steig. This one, from 1964, sold quickly, as did the others.

                        "A perfect night for a murder."
William Steig
Framed original art
The New Yorker, November 28, 1964, p. 54

William Steig's signature

William Steig
eBay listing ended May 16, 2026

https://www.ebay.com/itm/318307590972?_skw=William+Steig&itmmeta=01KRRZPWHC9ZSYA95FTBHZJ6RT&hash=item4a1c9c633c:g:AAQAAeSwEv9qByrr&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA0GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xBPeiliTW06%2BiyNO8If%2FE3WxqmX%2BUuRSzLM7CoFc8Q0Rs79VgvoXajedz%2B0z1XhLD7n9QxV%2F6

zpnDscA%2FfYs9Dg3qNzQdFV7AlBb7YjRiWeSRfX2tMzD9l9wiimOiyxGaWfEOIZL%2BG8gEDIOoIt%2FVN2Xr%2BORAYGGA9kcyXDD9o%2BeAJ23mjBbQ%2B79SSgCwMS8%2FSsDDB4YdeqKovenr3RUz8OjsqotrAG6fvSK%2BHi4xChf777JpdT74%2F%2B27y9sJYKbrM%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR-7I25_GZw

William Steig
eBay item description

Here it is in the magazine, which Susan Sheehan worked for, by the way:

                        "A perfect night for a murder."
William Steig
The New Yorker, November 28, 1964, p. 54

                       "A perfect night for a murder."
William Steig
Framed original art
The New Yorker, November 28, 1964, p. 54

With Cartoons by William Steig and James Stevenson

* * *

James Stevenson's cartoon, printed on the page opposite, has a sleek corporate look which sets off the gloomy, atmospheric Steig.

                      "I went through chintz, stripes, flowers, and God    

knows what all till I finally found something I really liked."    

James Stevenson
The New Yorker, November 28, 1964, p. 55

05268