Ed Arno: Social Realism

Ed Arno is best remembered for his work as a New Yorker cartoonist. An eBay auction from 2017 shows a different, more serious side of his art. The piece offered is an original illustration dated 1956 in a style of social realism. Its subjects are race, poverty, and neglect. It's setting is urban and gritty. The torn shirt is a reminder of need. The poster depicted on the brick wall recalls hunger in a supposed land of plenty. Only the cat, probably a stray, seems willing to provide some comfort to the child.

Ed Arno's initial and date

Ed Arno
eBay Listing Ended August 20, 2017

https://www.ebay.com/itm/ED-ARNO-NEW-YORKER-1950s-Gouache-of-Black-Child-Civil-Rights-Movement-A-/141942128074?hash=item210c68fdca

%3Ag%3AFjkAAOSwAuNW8aKc&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Ed Arno
eBay Item Description

Although it was apparently sold in 2017, the same artwork was sold again three years later by the same seller. This time the price was reduced and the sale benefited a charity.

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Saul Steinberg: Speech

Saul Steinberg salutes the speech balloon as only he can. The original 1966 art for Speech was offered for sale last August at the Mary Ran Gallery in Cincinnati for $4500. It was sold earlier this year. Steinberg may have ostensibly drawn a speech balloon but its content relates to his indecipherable document drawings and its outline invokes his maps. So the "speech" Steinberg has enshrined on a pedestal is graphically far more fanciful than any commonplace comic book speech balloon with which we are already familiar.

Speech, 1966
Saul Steinberg

Saul Steinberg
Mary Ran Gallery
Invaluable Listing Retrieved February 8, 2019

https://www.invaluable.com/buy-now/saul-steinberg-speech-original-drawing-e7d444b878

Note:  For further reading, see "The Art of Speech Balloons" on David Apatoff's Illustration Art blog. Word.


Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Saul Steinberg

Attempted Bloggery's Monumental Index

02887

Constantin Alajálov's "Blithe Spirit"

The original American production of Noël Coward's spritely comedy "Blithe Spirit" opened on London's West End in 1941 and on Broadway later that year. The illustration promoting the American production was created by Constantin Alajálov. It was used on the Playbill cover as well as on posters, flyers, and souvenir programs. The original Broadway production artwork depicted a séance and was sold at Swann Galleries in January 2013.

Constantin Alajálov, "Blithe Spirit" Broadway production art

http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=2300++++++98+&refno=++667625&saletype=

"Blithe Spirit," Playbill, April 1942
The Morosco Theatre

http://www.playbillvault.com/Show/Detail/Cover/1787/21140/Blithe-Spirit 

"Blithe Spirit," Playbill, May 1942
The Booth Theatre

http://www.playbillvault.com/Show/Detail/Cover/1787/21140/Blithe-Spirit 

"Blithe Spirit" stage play souvenir program book

http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/archiveitem/14233859.html

"Blithe Spirit" stage play souvenir program book

http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/archiveitem/14233859.html

"Blithe Spirit" stage play souvenir program book

http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/archiveitem/14233859.html

"Blithe Spirit" New York flyer(?)

http://c2.bibtopia.com/h/600/598/70598600.0.m.jpg

"Blithe Spirit" 1942 Chicago flyer

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Noel-Coward-BLITHE-SPIRIT-Dennis-King-Estelle-Winwood-1942-Chicago-Flyer-/151260177888

Blithe Spirit Chicago(?) poster facsimile

http://www.vinmag.com/online/index.php?app=gbu0&ns=prodshow&ref=AP006-blithe-sprirt-noel-cowerd-theatre-poster&sid=kounvx13k69gn3190771oszro4ktvlz1

Note:  For just about three weeks now I have been writing posts inspired by illustrator Constantin Alajálov and having a pretty good time along the way. If you'd like to get a better feel for how I look at this illustrator's work, see my blog posts on the subject here.

Broadway has always been inspiring to me too. I don't have nearly as many posts on the subject as I'd like, but you can see what I do have here.

01138

Folon Arrowheads

Jean-Michel Folon's dark and mysterious figures are surreal and not a little disturbing in this undated ink and watercolor work.

Jean-Michel Folon, Untitled
 Heritage Auctions, May 8, 2008

http://fineart.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=5004&lotNo=33049#Photo

 

Folon Signature

Jean-Michel Folon, Untitled

Heritage Auctions, May 8, 2008

http://fineart.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=5004&lotNo=33049#Photo

Jean-Michel Folon, Untitled
 Heritage Auctions, May 8, 2008

http://fineart.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=5004&lotNo=33049#Photo

0656

William Steig's Feline Flautist

William Steig
Original Artwork for William Steig Drawings. New York:  Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1979.

A woman, a chair, two cats, and a flute: these are the basic inhabitants of this lyrical drawing by William Steig. It was published in his outstanding 1979 collection Drawings. Apparently this is one of the few drawings from the book that was not published in The New Yorker, though it's hard to see why not.

William Steig Drawings. New York:  Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1979.

William Steig
Original Artwork for William Steig Drawings. New York:  Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1979.

Note:  I'm generally delighted to post original Steig art. If anyone owning an original is looking to share it on this site, just contact me. With any luck your photography skills are better than mine.

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Birthday Boop

Today, friends, is the birthday of my dear wife! So happy birthday to my woman, the icing on my cake. Here too is an additional birthday greeting which I'd like to dedicate to my own personal blonde bombshell courtesy of the curvaceous brunette Betty Boop. Yes, naturally I prefer blondes, but if I had to pick a brunette, Betty would certainly do. Incidentally, Leslie Cabarga's sexy original greeting card art sold pretty cheaply, it seems to me.

Leslie Cabarga, Betty Boop Happy Birthday Greeting Card Original Art

Heritage Auctions, August 15, 2009

http://comics.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7009&lotNo=93244#Photo

Leslie Cabarga, Betty Boop Happy Birthday Greeting Card Original Art

Heritage Auctions, August 15, 2009

http://comics.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7009&lotNo=93244#Photo

Leslie Cabarga, Betty Boop Happy Birthday Greeting Card Original Art

Heritage Auctions, August 15, 2009

http://comics.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7009&lotNo=93244#Photo

0613

Moebius Skull

Here's a drawing that's clearly related to a published drawing by Moebius (Jean Giraud). How often do you see ink drawings on eBay described as "Genuine drawing, not a print (AT ALL)?" I suspect the reason for the seller describing it this way is it's extremely close similarity to a published drawing which includes a second major figure on the left. Perhaps the way it's signed with blue marker ink when it's drawn in black ink is also behind the seller's wording. The seller writes that it "seems to be a preparatory sketch for a painting that eventually I found googling a little bit." I googled a little bit myself but couldn't find this "painting." I did find the other drawing though, all over the place.

The seller states this is a drawing by the artist "of his futuristic way to see towns and landscapes." Really? I'd call it more of a surrealistic skull. The areas of the maxilla where the two figures connect in the published drawing seems unfinished here. The horizon line on the left seems a little messy too. It sold for $2,550 last month.

http://jedalexander.blogspot.com/2012/03/moebius-1938-march-10th-2012.html

The eBay listing:

Moebius Skull, eBay Winning Bid

December 14, 2012

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Moebius-large-ORIGINAL-DRAWING-of-futuristic-town-signed-RARE-/110988031508?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19d766f614&nma=true&si=VJo29%252F7WbHpl1SY9gWmnl4%252FkT80%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Moebius Skull, eBay Item Description

December 14, 2012

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Moebius-large-ORIGINAL-DRAWING-of-futuristic-town-signed-RARE-/110988031508?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19d766f614&nma=true&si=VJo29%252F7WbHpl1SY9gWmnl4%252FkT80%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

0596

Frank Miller's Sin City

There's an abundance of india ink at work in this original large-scale composition by Frank Miller for Hell and Back: A Sin City Love Story (2001), giving the piece its distinctive noir look. Note the extremely low vantage point, essentially at ground level--lower than you could get your eyeball. Note also the unobtrusive door click sound effect.

This lot, with what seems to me a somewhat high estimate, failed to sell at Sotheby's Paris in July. Now, I haven't read any of the Sin City books, so without any idea of the story or context I find this one illustration isn't sufficient to explain the popularity of the series. The 2005 Sin City movie, also unknown to me, may in part explain the rather overenthusiastic estimate this lot received. Certainly my readers have seen here that another example of a Miller splash page sold previously not just at this level but indeed much higher.
 

Fr ank Miller, Original Artwork for Hell and Back:  A Sin City Love Story (2001)

Sotheby's Paris

July 4, 2012 

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2012/bande-dessine-comics/lot.80.html

Fr ank Miller, Original Artwork for Hell and Back:  A Sin City Love Story (2001)

Sotheby's Paris

July 4, 2012 

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2012/bande-dessine-comics/lot.80.html

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