Barbara Shermund: Redefining The Bohemian Life

A group of Barbara Shermund's original cartoons was listed on eBay and promptly sold in May. One of them shows a group of art students sitting around a dinner table drinking and smoking. And, as it happens, talking. 

"Well, Russia's been shot out from under us. Now what?"

Barbara Shermund

Original cartoon art

The eBay seller speculates that this is a World War II-era cartoon. Whatever the case, the students may soon be in the market for a new ideology.

Barbara Shermund's signature

Barbara Shermund
eBay listing ended May 10, 2026

https://www.ebay.com/itm/147303767676?_skw=signed+Barbara+Shermund&itmmeta=01KWTHRV3FFT7FYS556YKTA5MB&hash=item224bfd1e7c:g:H88AAeSwYudqAHV~&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA0GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xDB2IBAw2PkATz90UE0A%2BgJukkuKNdOO3ta%2FRWVr%2BElLIFZtf%2FjzDGVLGDN

J8do2W49cMpR5NSQaS8nLVnK2g7tnVp2XLHZPICjfuYAL3DEnKV01tRZPd5XJiB6xlLbtlaaHz2uW24LA09FNj5zUWAtAJJJcWKJfE73EYlKcWYG0Z4I4ySxcOf1Y902Nd6%2BSY4dNFoazQPTwvzcMUTexTpXJrC3VP1GSZWYrIhIqvJKbdXSftjxNzHH6CF6rJPIVAs%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR_Kx49HmZw

Barbara Shermund
eBay item description

Note:  Do you have your own Barbara Shermund originals? Why not share them here, now that Russia's got nothing to offer?

05294

Chon Day: Wartime Communication

An original cartoon by Chon Day was sold on eBay in early April. It has a military theme, but recalls some details from stateside.

"Please limit your call to three minutes—"
Chon Day
Original cartoon art

The eBay seller writes, "this is an old original Chon Day New Yorker editorial cartoon. Maybe it's from World War II or something? it very well could be, his work was being published in the 30s 40s 50s, all them decades." I'll buy that it's "from World War II or something." I'll go further and suggest that it's set in the Pacific Theater.

The back of the art isn't as helpful as it might be. There is certainly nothing here to suggest publication in The New Yorker, which the seller so wishes to believe. The date is written as a Monday, May 1—I can't make out the rest—but where and what year? The first of May did fall on a a Monday in 1944—that year would have to be my first guess.

Chon Day
eBay listing ended April 1, 2026

https://www.ebay.com/itm/236723752267?_skw=signed+New+Yorker&itmmeta=01KQXEWY4Q6SQR2MGBAP04TC77&hash=item371dd5cd4b:g:pYsAAeSwX1Zprxlu&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA0GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xDJVNuOpi7dNbPINFSp3a%2Brt%2FzsgnpbtOeWJIdCEWVPPKdbbcKdERS3a4eDYy%2BBrB8%2F69a7xdaSARNDAElNWfDX1EWX%2BohnjA06Lr7vIKMGXAlQ2yOqhgHM%2F2%2Bg%2B1Qaqb6pwsuRxtncdfUurzs225XA3Gq9GlPp0Qbl2G2pnmnocNpeB5%2BD0%2FO2HXHp1bJivzAcmg7vxs12Zp4uM7a6mZZOsF50wIZzwh7VCzM%2BN1GeZFgPjO6g9CiwG4qq%2BKnd2dI%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR8ji866_Zw

Chon Day
eBay item description

Note:  Please be a good soldier and get in touch if you know just where and when this Chon Day cartoon was published. Just have the operator ring me. And don't talk all day.

05259

William Steig: Laughing at Losses

One has heard the expression laughing all the way to the bank. That is decidedly not what cartoonist William Steig depicted in his drawing of an executive laughing at a business chart showing a significant downturn. The original artwork was offered at auction on December 27. It may well date from the Great Depression. Carnegie's Auction Gallery of Los Angeles estimated its worth at $1,000 to $1,500 and opened the bidding at $700. It did not sell, perhaps owing to a present-day downturn.

The auction house suggested the tantalizing prospect that the illustration once had a caption which was erased. That's possible, but a caption seems a bit unnecessary here, no? The erasures could have been printer's instructions or possibly even a dedication to a giftee.

At any rate, it's hard to understand why there wasn't sufficient bidder interest. Economic downturns are always relevant somewhere, and they're funnier than upturns if one discounts the wide swath of people adversely affected by them. This well-fed fellow in the three-piece suit does not appear to be concerned:

Steig uses judicious highlighting to show the flow of the hair, including on the magnate's mustache.

Indecipherable printer's marks are visible along the top:

More markings are seen below Steig's signature, also unreadable. Signing in the shadow makes it harder for the printer to omit or move the signature.

William Steig's signature

Is prosperity just around the corner?

There is writing on the back along the bottom edge. Tell me something I don't know:

Verso

Verso

Verso

William Steig
Carnegie's Auction Gallery listing of December 27, 2025

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/221986287_william-steig-pen-and-ink-illustration-cartoon-signed-los-angeles-ca

William Steig
Carnegie's Auction Gallery item description

Note:  I would like to hear from entrepreneurs and others who can identify where this William Steig drawing was published.

05238

Charles Saxon: Deck Chairs

A Charles Saxon drawing known as Deck Chairs looks for all the world like a cartoon missing its caption. The setting is the shaded deck of a cruise ship. Passengers are wearing coats and some are reclining on deck chairs under heavy blankets. The woman second from the left is speaking to another woman next to her, turning away from a man who is, possibly, her husband. An attentive member of the crew is standing in the background.

Deck Chairs
Charles Saxon

The framed drawing was exhibited at a show called Artists of The New Yorker in February of 2000 at Davis & Langdale Company, Inc., but that does not necessarily mean the drawing ever appeared in the magazine, only that the artist did. It was number 48 on the art gallery checklist (not here provided) but no caption is noted on the frame backing, only the title. It was later sold at Doyle New York on May 12, 2020, part of the collection of Patricia and Donald Oresman, for $343, and on eBay on October 25, 2021, not all that long after, for $240.

Charles Saxon's signature

Charles Saxon
eBay listing ended October 25, 2021

https://www.ebay.com/itm/403036049513?hash=item5dd6d21069%3Ag%3A58cAAOSwXKNhAxfY&nma=true&si=WEtIFz5%252FkfY9UxP8WWeB%252FCaqeVQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Charles Saxon
eBay item description

If I may be permitted to present my auction chronology in reverse, here is the earlier Doyle New York sale:

Charles Saxon
Doyle New York Paintings & Drawings Online, May 12, 2020

https://doyle.com/auctions/20dn01-paintings-drawings-online/catalogue/57-charles-saxon

Now Saxon had a five-page cartoon spread—just imagine such a thing today—called "Caribbean Cruise" in the New Yorker issue of January 23, 1960, but this drawing seems to be somewhat later. It is less inky than the 1960 drawings and relies more on Conté crayon for its atmospheric effect.

After almost five years of pondering this image and hoping to miraculously come across it in print with a humorous if understated caption, I've decided to let my readers have a go at it. Where then might this Charles Saxon drawing have been published and with what printed caption? There is no prize for a correct answer, but you are always free to treat yourself to a little celebratory cruise.

05209