Attempted Bloggery: prints

Showing posts with label prints. Show all posts

Friday, October 18, 2024

Benoît van Innis: That Evening They Had Decided Not to Talk About Contemporary Art

Earlier today in Bruges, an auction lot consisting principally of items by Benoît van Innis reflected the somewhat haphazard way collectors accumulate the work of illustrators they admire. The sale by Auctions Van de Wiele of Bruges included two signed and numbered prints, two books, a folder, and two New Yorker magazine covers, one by van Innis and the other of a cat by Gürbüz Doğan Ekşioğlu.

That Evening They Had Decided Not to Talk About Contemporary Art
Silkscreen, 1990, #54/100
Benoît van Innis

Untitled
Etching, 1994, #13/15
Benoît van Innis

Benoît van Innis
Auctions Van de Wiele sale accessed October 6, 2024—twelve days before the sale

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/VAN-INNIS,-Benoit-1960-2024-567-c-6E74E14BD7?utm_term=new%20yorker&utm_source=alerts&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=keywordalerts&utm_content=310880

English translation

Sold!

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Friday, December 18, 2020

Remembering the 21 Club

This week it was announced that New York City's 21 Club, a former speakeasy, would be closing for good. I dined there a couple of times in recent years. The restaurant had quite a few pieces of original cartoon art including, famously, work by Peter Arno. All was displayed in low light. Between that and the reflective glass, the pieces were challenging to photograph.

They sat my party next to Arno's New Yorker cover of January 30, 1965 depicting a dinner party. What a glorious restaurant this is, I beamed. Yet I wonder how many of the restaurant's patrons knew what they were looking at.

Peter Arno
Original cover art
The New Yorker, January 30, 1965

Peter Arno
The New Yorker, January 30, 1965

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1943-10-23/flipbook/026/

Not far away was a Syd Hoff original cartoon from the January 1958 Esquire. All the cartoons I photographed were on the subject of food and drink. Mostly drink.

"When I told you to step outside and say that, I didn't mean I was coming with you!"

Syd Hoff

Original cartoon art

Esquire, January 1958

"When I told you to step outside and say that, I didn't mean I was coming with you!"

Syd Hoff

Esquire, January 1958

https://classic.esquire.com/article/195 8/1/1/when-i-told-you-to-step-outside-and-say-that-i-didnt-mean-i-was-coming-with-you

I photographed three Arnos with oversized, typeset captions that I initially mistook for originals. I now believe these to be prints from a series.

"Fill 'er up."

Peter Arno

"Fill 'er up."

Peter Arno

The New Yorker, July 9, 1949, page 24

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1949-07-09/flipbook/024/

"Will that be all, Sir?"

Peter Arno

"Will that be all, sir?"
Peter Arno
The New Yorker, October 23, 1943, page 26

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1943-10-23/flipbook/026/

This one might not be from The New Yorker at all:

"Now let me tell you about my troubles!"

Peter Arno

"Now let me tell you about my troubles!"
Peter Arno

https://drjohnsjournal.blogspot.com/2012/03/sunday-funnies_25.html

In the men's room, there is a risque watercolor of a languid woman by Dean Cornwell.

Dean Cornwell

There are some murals in the men's room as well. Vive la différence.

There was more in the restaurant, including additional work by Arno, but I didn't get to see the details. Diners enjoying their meals stayed put at their tables, annoyingly blocking my view.

And, by the way, the food was good too.

Note: To put it plainly, these aren't the finest photographs I ever took. They also aren't anywhere close to a full survey of the cartoon art in the 21 Club. I'm sure that some of the thousands of patrons who dined there over the years must have taken a few high-quality snaps of the art and perhaps they are willing to share those memories here on Attempted Bloggery. I await their documentary photographs with readiness. In the meantime, farewell to the 21 Club, at least in its most recent form. Perhaps it may reopen in some other incarnation.

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Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Hello, Roswell: Four Space Cartoons by Bob Eckstein

It isn't every day that four space-themed cartoons by New Yorker cartoonist Bob Eckstein come up at auction, but that is precisely what's happening tomorrow in Mount Kisco, New York. The cartoons are unique hand-colored prints created in 2012 in an edition of precisely one. They are signed, numbered, and dated, but most of all they are funny.

"Heelllllooooo, Roswell!"
Bob Eckstein
Hand-colored limited edition 1/1, 2012

"Okay, buddy, touch your nose..."
Bob Eckstein
Hand-colored limited edition 1/1, 2012

Off Off Off Off Broadway
Bob Eckstein
Hand-colored limited edition 1/1, 2012

"That's why I never go near those crop circles."
Bob Eckstein
Hand-colored limited edition 1/1, 2012

Auction estimates are $50-100 each with bidding, which started at $1, already up to $15 to $20 for each piece. The auction takes place on Wednesday, May 8, 2019, at the Benefit Shop Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit that supports other local charities. The buyer's premium is 28%, but this is a win-win all around. The artwork comes matted. Further auction images plus links (in aqua) to register and bid are provided below. Better be quick about it.

Lot 0608: