Charles Addams Sits for Bachrach

It must have been around 1983 when celebrated cartoonist Charles Addams sat for a studio portrait at Bachrach. One photograph from the session was used to publicize the studio's work in a black-and-white New Yorker advertisement that appeared in the first issue of 1984. Today a color photograph from this sitting appears in one of Bachrach's online Celebrity Galleries.  Addams is photographed with a piece of artwork depicting his popular Addams Family. On the Bachrach website, the thumbnail of his studio portrait is located between those of Nelson Rockefeller and Julius Erving.

Bachrach, Charles Addams, Cartoonist
The New Yorker, January 2, 1984, page 59

http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1984-01-02#folio=058

Bachrach, Charles Addams, Cartoonist

http://www.bachrachportraits.com/html/celebrity_gallery_3_12.html

The artwork from the photo:

Charles Addams, Chartered Bus

Image added August 15, 2015

http://www.geekweek.com/2010/04/burton_addams.html

Both the artwork and the Bachrach photo were used on the cover of The World of Charles Addams:

The World of Charles Addams, 1991

Image added August 16, 2015

http://www.amazon.com/The-World-Of-Charles-Addams/dp/0394588223

Bachrach Famous Faces
Celebrity Gallery 3

Image added December 29, 2015

http://www.bachrachportraits.com/html/celebrity_3.html

Note:  Do you really need a special invitation to seek out more about Charles Addams on this blog? Would you like it engraved?

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Ronald Searle Signed Photo

I have no idea how many cartoonists sign glossy photos of themselves just as any celebrity would, although I suspect not all that many. Ronald Searle certainly was a celebrity by any definition, but even for him it must have been a little unusual to sign this modern print of a vintage photo some 55 years after the fact. It's hard to determine its individual worth, as it was sold with a small, uncommon volume in German as well. The book illustrations provided by Searle seem to be reused from other sources. Still, the entire package seems like a reasonable deal to me.

Ronald Searle Signed Photograph

The back of the photo paper. Clearly, this is not a vintage photograph.

Ronald Searle Signature, January 2011

Oscar Wilde,  Elisabeth Schnack, translator, and Ronald Searle, illustrator. Kleiner Seitensprung (Zurich, 1954) Cover

Oscar Wilde,  Elisabeth Schnack, translator, and Ronald Searle, illustrator. Kleiner Seitensprung (Zurich, 1954)

Oscar Wilde,  Elisabeth Schnack, translator, and Ronald Searle, illustrator. Kleiner Seitensprung (Zurich, 1954)

Ronald Searle, "I'll just die and then you'll be sorry." [1947 or earlier], Oscar Wilde,  Elisabeth Schnack, translator, and Ronald Searle, illustrator. Kleiner Seitensprung (Zurich, 1954)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-RONALD-SEARLE-BOOK-IN-GERMAN-AND-HAND-SIGNED-PHOTO-SEE-SEVEN-SCANS-/290917819837?pt=Antiquarian_Books_UK&hash=item43bc0da5bd&nma=true&si=UB68sj2DvLx%252F9kdb54zXrlCgzYs%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

-/290917819837?pt=Antiquarian_Books_UK&hash=item43bc0da5bd&nma=true&si=UB68sj2DvLx%252F9kdb54zXrlCgzYs%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Note:  Searle's work is still important to illustrators, but today much effort to promote his legacy is coming from the animation community. Storyboard artist Matt Jones, who curates Perpetua, the Ronald Searle tribute blog, has organized an exhibition of Searle's American reportage work. "Searle in America" will take place in San Francisco in the fall. Some 75 members of the animation community have contributed original works inspired by the master in order to raise money to ship artwork to the West Coast and produce a catalogue. The sale is currently under way on eBay.

The eBay sale of works inspired by Ronald Searle to support "Searle in America" can be found here.

Perpetua, the Ronald Searle tribute blog, is right here.

The Searle posts on my own blog are here.

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