Claude Smith: The Happy Husband

Claude Smith called his seven-panel New Yorker cartoon of April 13, 1968, "one of my few supers!" On May 31, 1982, he pronounced it "Still a good one!" These notations were presumably made when the artist presented the original to a new owner. The art was sold in Brooklyn on January 4 for $400 plus a 28% buyer's premium.

Claude's drawing has an underlying assumption of female subservience rewarded only by male anger. The accommodating woman fails to make her husband happy, while his immature acting out brings him pleasure and contentment. Is it telling that Claude was so pleased with himself here?

Versos

The stamp indicates Ben Day was used for shading . . . but I don't see any shading.

Verso

Claude Smith's signature

Claude Smith
Antique Arena, Inc., sale of January 4, 2024

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/195006709_claude-smith-original-new-yorker-magazine-cartoon

Claude Smith 
Antique Arena, Inc., sale of January 4, 2025

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/195006709_claude-smith-original-new-yorker-magazine-cartoon/?from=alert&utm_source=LA_SavedAlert&utm_campaign=SearchAlert_20230912_A&utm_medium=email&utm_content=itemendingsoon

Note:  For once an auction house has really done its homework. If you'd like to do your homework too, send along images of some original Claude Smith art along with all the publication info. Be nice and I may even throw a coaster at you.

04848

The Art of the Redraw: George Booth Drops the Other Shoe

A curious six-panel original drawing by New Yorker cartoonist George Booth looks very much like a cartoon published in the issue of June 30, 1975. Indeed, a notation on the verso in the artist's hand cites this issue as if the work were actually published there, although it gets the page numbers wrong (if only by one). But there are no publisher's markings on the art and it deviates slightly but significantly from the published cartoon. This is clearly a finished drawing, not a rough. It is executed in felt tip pen, now a bit faded, over pencil. Apparently, then, it must be a redraw created by Booth for someone who wished to have the original art but for one reason or another was not able to obtain it.

George Booth's signature

George Booth
eBay listing ended June 30, 2023

https://www.ebay.com/itm/166183881215?hash=item26b154c9ff:g:1PgAAOSw73BkkeUz&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwN%2B6Z1s%2FTq5Flw848jQmjh%2Br0xteC9RWRUWN8O4uUYqeS6pxIYOLuPXx7c5bWt7Q4GDyF%2BXVc3vf7cjM%2BUdR3MSjR3A52BlC%2Fr6Fd2AMldUfg%2

FLGshF5bjevL58JwQwkyvtqC8IujLIFtLrcKC1f15s6W%2FnGYi4qhze3jvumD%2FS%2Bbtu%2FxpDYf1TK%2BkOvuLJx9h8B%2Fz4AwrWoy16AkCMNkmfiF4x9w6ahuKUJfjfrerjdwVoe171PuPctk5KQFFke%2Fw%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4TCwtHaYg

George Booth
eBay item description

[End of eBay listing]

George Booth
The New Yorker, June 30, 1975, pp. 40-41

George Booth
Redraw
The New Yorker, June 30, 1975, pp. 40-41

A six-panel cartoon by George Booth

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1975-06-30/flipbook/040/

Note:  My thanks go to Steve Stoliar for first bringing this auction to my attention. Steve is the author of Raised Eyebrows: My Years Inside Groucho's House, which I highly recommend.

Thanks too to Michael Maslin for discussing this complicated piece with Steve and me. Michael is a New Yorker cartoonist and the author of the world's first and only biography of Peter Arno. Do I really need to say I highly recommend Peter Arno: The Mad, Mad World of The New Yorker's Greatest Cartoonist too?

Before you get to the reading assignments, I could use some new content for the old blog. Redraws and other variations on original New Yorker cartoon art by George Booth and others are sought after here as the potential subject matter of future posts.

04455

Anthony Taber: The Puzzle

Back in the 1970s, The New Yorker published the work of some of its outstanding cartoonists in formats that went beyond the single-panel cartoon into more sequential narratives. In those days, the magazine was bolstered by enough print advertising to support more unconventional use of its space. Occasionally it gave its artists the room to develop ideas over two, three, or even more pages. It wasn't at all unusual for stalwarts like Charles Saxon, William Steig, and Saul Steinberg to explore various themes over multiple pages of prime magazine real estate.

The newer talent also got its chance. George Booth concocted a two-page masterpiece with the one-off comic strip "Ip Gissa Gul" in the January 12, 1975 issue. He also hit a home run with a series of single-panel cartoons grouped under the title "Keeping Calm" from January 9, 1977. The two pages are still a delight to read. And there has never been anything quite like Jack Ziegler's cinematic "Hole!" in the January 13, 1976 issue, complete with "soundtrack."

Anthony Taber's "The Puzzle" from the issue of February 13, 1978 was a more sober artistic experiment. Six-panel sequential cartoons weren't all that scarce in previous decades, but to tell a serious and enigmatic story with large, atmospheric drawings tantalizingly unfolding over three full pages of the magazine was an exceptional use of space. "The Puzzle" is not in The New Yorker's humorous tradition and instead comes across as a mysterious parable. The six pieces of original art were recently removed from their frame and sold on eBay.

 

Anthony Taber's signature

The set of drawings sold for a best offer of $55.

Anthony Taber
eBay listing ended January 11, 2023

https://www.ebay.com/itm/325484215182?mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e11060.m5215.l9734&mkcid=7&ch=osgood&euid=01d39a2e39134822a612d2187b2fb95c&bu=43186000575&osub=-1%7E1&crd=20230112121141&segname=11060

Anthony Taber
eBay item description
"I can't tell just what the art work is (print or litho)." How about pen and ink?

The Puzzle
Anthony Taber

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1978-02-13/flipbook/034/

Conclusion of The Puzzle by Anthony Taber and a spot drawing

Watering can spot
Artist unidentified

Note:  Another puzzle—Who drew the spot?

04317