Barney Tobey: Rural Renewal

In March, Hill Auction Gallery of Surnise, Florida, offered a piece by cartoonist Barney Tobey that was published in The New Yorker back in 1980. The original art shows us a small corner of our ever-changing world loosely but convincingly rendered in ink, wash, and correction fluid:

A ten-word caption pulls the whole thing together:

"Ed, remember my barn when it had cows in it?"
Barney Tobey
Framed original art
The New Yorker, July 21, 1980, p. 27

Barney Tobey's signature

Caption

The auction house gave this Tobey piece a broad valuation of $100 to $1,000. As a genuine, published New Yorker cartoon with something relevant to say, one could reasonably expect the art market to support this estimate but, alas, it did not:

Barney Tobey
Hill Auction Gallery listing ended March 26, 2025

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/barney-tobey-1906-1989-farmer-cartoon-illustration-361-c-fdf4814a36?objectID=195608596&algIndex=archive_prod&queryID=07bf770b690d11f324e9e30e123aa83f

The auction house describes the barn as having been "modernized into a living space," but it is more plausibly now a restaurant.

Barney Tobey
Hill Auction Gallery item description

"Ed, remember my barn when it had cows in it?"
Barney Tobey
The New Yorker, July 21, 1980, p. 27

"Ed, remember my barn when it had cows in it?"
Barney Tobey
Original art
The New Yorker, July 21, 1980, p. 27

With a spot drawing by P and a cartoon by Barney Tobey

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1980-07-21/flipbook/026/

* * *

A spot drawing by P

July 13, 2025 Update:  The drawing is now available from Curated Cartoons.

Barney Tobey
Curated Cartoons listing accessed July 13, 2025

https://www.curatedcartoons.com/products/remember-my-barn?_pos=1&_sid=c2018609d&_ss=r

Note:  This old blog still has enough room to post and comment on a barnful of original art by Barney Tobey. Farmers and collectors please take note.

Perhaps some knowledgable reader can inform a curious blogger of the identity of spot artist P?

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Visiting the Barn: Constantin Alajálov New Yorker Cover Art

Illustrations are created for a purpose, and that purpose is generally to be reproduced in print. Not knowing the publication history of an original illustration often means not understanding its context or perhaps even its importance. Charles Martignette was an important illustration collector and he must have known that this original illustration of his by Constantin Alajálov was used as a 1945 New Yorker cover. One wonders what sort of records he maintained and whether the auction house that sold off his estate had access to them. Heritage Auctions is an extremely reliable seller of illustration art, yet even they did not recognize the significance of this particular illustration. The lot description gave the art a reasonable title, Visiting the Barn, and noted the medium of gouache and watercolor on board. There was no publication history provided and the painting sold for only $625.

This may not be the most appealing of Alajálov's New Yorker covers, but it is still a published New Yorker cover and probably would have sold for considerably more if it had been properly identified as such. Yes, the assembly-line nature of the milking operation depicted here is somewhat sobering. And yes, Alajálov has a regrettable penchant for showing sophisticated women smoking cigarettes. Nevertheless, even back then it couldn't have been prudent for even a sophisticated woman to carry a lit cigarette into a wooden barn with hay all over the floor.

Constantin Alajálov, Original artwork, The New Yorker, August 18, 1945

Constantin Alajálov, Framed original artwork, The New Yorker, August 18, 1945

Constantin Alajálov's signature

http://fineart.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=5090&lotNo=78005#74547454449

Constantin Alajálov, The New Yorker, August 18, 1945

Constantin Alajálov, Original artwork, The New Yorker, August 18, 1945

Note:  I have surveyed illustrator Constantin Alajálov's work for the New Yorker in a variety of blog posts which are located here. I suppose I can't keep this up for very much longer.

Some of my favorite posts feature original New Yorker cover art. You can see them all right here.

I'm always looking for fine examples of original New Yorker art, alternative versions, preliminary sketches, presentation drawings, etc. If you have access to the raw material of a future blog post, let me know. If not, don't worry. I don't think I'm going to run out anytime soon.

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