W. B. Park: Less Cowbell

An original color cartoon by W. B. Park features a cow stripper and her bull admirers. It is dated August 11, 1986, but it was not published until May of 1988 in Park's Off The Leash syndicated strip—or was it? According to the art's eBay seller, there is a smaller black and white version of this cartoon as well. Park's Wikipedia page informs us that the panel strip was distributed by United Feature Syndicate from 1989 to 1999, so somebody's dates may be off by a bit.

W. B. Park
eBay listing ended August 18, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/126620695415?_skw=Rare+Original+The+New+Yorker&itmmeta=01JBJQ0D1FC7KG0Z4K5SX7XYYM&hash=item1d7b2e7b77:g:1dcAAOSwN99muQLH&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA0HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKk2CtBipykyrIzXn%2BGsB4Xc0w0X447Db0h%2BxrS5wWriFWh6fQtdbpD2SrPy

map%2FWBcZLMlV16Zy856mAIQQXGlHXVC374nH9kzfn%2FJ1PNXdJkkNi3xycEsPV7icWxUtPeEQTS3PODdayQcWGfmxVqdd7HOT5Qia3%2FuFPSFZFwUTKtpRiwWo5WcC55msJKPLFCDozohplGMJejr46y7jg9ss0t6dUR94p1Hb4EjqCY9tZOuDKtzyGKdEEZqf%2FYsGdKo%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR-jQgdfcZA

W. B. Park
eBay item description

[End of eBay listing]

CartoonStock lists not one but two additional versions of this gag in what is clearly Off The Leash's vertical panel format. The black and white version, right, is closer the the horizontal color original that was offered on eBay.

W. B. Park
CartoonStock

https://www.cartoonstock.com/search?type=images

&keyword=%22W.+B.+Park%22+cow&page=1

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Joe Dator: Vikings and More

Joe Dator's sale of some of his original New Yorker cartoon art at the beginning of the year presented potential buyers with a dilemma. The asking price was already below the usual market price for such outstanding work, but the Make Offer option was also available, indicating the seller's willingness to entertain offers. That's generally good news for a buyer. As the sale of his Viking and E.T. cartoons shows, though, some buyers opted to pay full price. Why? In the time it could take for the seller to respond to a best offer, someone else could snatch up the item at full price. The Make Offer option is not a good one if losing out would break your heart.

Joe Dator's signature

Joe Dator
eBay listing ended January 8, 2022

https://www.ebay.com/itm/284599158641?hash=item42436e8771%3Ag%3AY4gAAOSwLjdh2J0S&nma=true&si=64J6TuENCQvl%252FEQuIbsoMEcDQlw%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Joe Dator
eBay item description

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Roger Duvoisin: A New Yorker Spot Drawing of the 1939 New York World's Fair

The original artwork for a New Yorker spot drawing by Roger Duvoisin was offered in September on eBay. The illustration's subject is the Borden Corporation attraction at the 1939 New York World's Fair in which a technical farm innovation called the Rotolactor was demonstrated to the general public.

Roger Duvoisin, Original artwork
Spot drawing of the Borden's exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair
The New Yorker, September 30, 1939, page 8

Roger Duvoisin, Original artwork
Spot drawing of the Borden's exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair
The New Yorker, September 30, 1939, page 8

Spot Drawing Verso
Ex-Collection of Murray A. Harris

EBay Listing Ended September 13, 2014

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ROGER-DUVOISIN-Original-Art-of-New-York-World-039-s-Fair-for-THE-NEW-YORKER-1939-/361043336153?pt=Art_Drawings&hash=item540fdc1bd9&nma=true&si=MY%252BVlM1DDf4MNMNGGnCdh3m%252FHQQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

EBay Item Description

The eBay Bid History:  22 bids from 5 bidders

[End of eBay Listing]

The illustration as it appeared in the New Yorker:

The New Yorker, September 30, 1939, page 8

The Borden's attraction

The New Yorker, September 30, 1939, page 8

As you can see, there were many fine attractions to experience at the World's Fair. Why were the Borden's dairy cows chosen from all of the exhibits for a spot illustration in the New Yorker? Well, Borden's had been advertising its World's Fair attraction in the New Yorker since April. Perhaps that's just a coincidence, but perhaps not.

"A World's Fair College for Cows"
Advertisement for Borden's
The New Yorker, April 29, 1939 page 68

"I've Been Adopted by the Quints!"
Advertisement for Borden's
The New Yorker, June 17, 1939, page 67

"It's Not the Heat...It's the Stupidity!"
Advertisement for Borden's
The New Yorker, July 8, 1939, page 38

"And So to Bed!"
Advertisement for Borden's
The New Yorker, August 5, 1939, page 49

"Clever as Chinese...These Cows!"
Advertisement for Borden's
The New Yorker, August 19, 1939, page 34

"We Live in a Glass House...And Like It!"
Advertisement for Borden's
The New Yorker, September 9, 1939, page 71

By the way, the first living Elsie the Cow was selected at the Borden attraction in the 1939 World's Fair:

Borden's Dairy World of Tomorrow at the 1939 New York World's Fair

http://www.1939nyworldsfair.com/worlds_fair/wf_tour/zone-3/borden.htm

Note:  On this blog, I've had occasion to mention a few other spot drawings from the New Yorker. How many bloggers do you know who can make that claim? Say, if you should happen to own original art from a New Yorker spot, I'd love to hear from you.

There has been some mention of the 1939 New York World's Fair here on the blog before as well. I pride myself on covering the latest cultural events.

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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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