Attempted Bloggery: skull

Showing posts with label skull. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 8, 2026

Newton G.Brand, Jr.'s, Copy of Gahan Wilson's America

Texas banker Newton G. Brand, Jr., (1929-2011) corresponded with a number of New Yorker cartoonists, requesting that they personalize copies of their books by mail. Gahan Wilson (1930-2019) was one of those who complied. In Brand's copy of Gahan Wilson's America (1985), Wilson acknowledges with the word again that this is not the only instance that the artist and the collector have come together in this way. The book was inscribed for Brand on November 19, 1991, some six years after publication. It includes an original drawing of hanging dice and a skull, which recalls an idea that appears on the book's dust jacket.

Gahan Wilson's signature and date

Gahan Wilson
eBay listing ended July 7, 2026

https://www.ebay.com/itm/377307892029_

Gahan Wilson
eBay listing

Gahan Wilson
eBay bid history
There were seventeen bids in very small increments when the final bidder won the book. Who is that guy?

Note: I remain eager to use this blog to share books inscribed by Gahan Wilson and other New Yorker cartoonists to Newton Brand, Jr., and other collectors.

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Sunday, April 30, 2023

Mischa Richter on the Silk Trade

The Japanese silk boycott of 1937-1940 was a protest against Japan's invasion of China. In the Marxist periodical New Masses of July 11, 1939, Mischa Richter draws a fashionable Western woman aiding Japan through her continued support of the silk trade. The grotesque caricature of Japan is heavily armed with both traditional and modern weapons, his shoes are spiked, and his cloak is patterned in swastikas, just in case you don't get the message. The Japanese figure has more of a skull than a living head. Contrast his depiction with that of the pretty, coiffured white woman in silk stockings.

Tear sheet

Mischa Richter
eBay listing accessed April 29, 2023

https://www.ebay.com/itm/385489825698?hash=item59c0fbefa2:g:oLUAAOSwe-BkF2TJ&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA8P%2BOQ4U1Pwc%2BQIi6%2FmEyQLzK6Y6%2Bz7nW%2FIagae%2BPncoz6Hq0T%2FZDVcJVxL2gUlmhXS%2BCJj9s9P7SYWlDRhhn08NBf7vYVIJ%2FJUauA9FKJPOutzMNrN%2B7X9dBR78M

8AXNlWy24Es9GlgDBOF2PIpjhIxZLQcaQwThqbxGL1tyFcBEWE9AeLCkQsNYGFF04%2FlDamBDZIE%2BBAlxYRs5awO3yHh6PmTpBF%2BwLZbK%2Fw3Bpfek6pdSHhiAYqTzhO9uAh9ElpFGj9y0ogrAw8a86WWtgti9%2FwTvIGz9hdNzJpqzdVphlSvFgLE4vlCwrSFw5KyCEQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR_LSzdv5YQ

Mischa Richter
eBay item description

May 8, 2023 Update: Sold!

Mischa Richter
eBay bid history
Three of the five bids came in the final thirteen seconds.

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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

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.