William Steig: The Scolding That Doesn't End

From the collection of Neil and Susan Sheehan comes an imaginative and absurd New Yorker drawing by William Steig. Published in 1969, the drawing was listed online this past weekend by Second Story Books and was promptly sold.

William Steig
Original art
The New Yorker, November 8, 1969, p. 167

William Steig's signature

The work was offered on AbeBooks for $500. 

William Steig
AbeBooks listing ended May 17, 2026

https://www.abebooks.com/art-prints/ORIGINAL-1969-NEW-YORKER-CARTOON-Signed/32447222280/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=readmore_low

William Steig
AbeBooks item description

The original art has sustained considerable toning, but the image appears forever young on the pages of the magazine. Not the same can be said for Steig's couple.

William Steig
The New Yorker, November 8, 1969, p. 167

William Steig
Original art
The New Yorker, November 8, 1969, p. 167

With a spot drawing by Mario Micossi and a cartoon by William Steig

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1969-11-08/flipbook/166/

* * * 

"The Art World" spot drawing
Mario Micossi

Note:  For those who remember William Steig chiefly as the creator of Shrek!, that children's book wasn't published until 1990, twenty-one years after this drawing.

05269

Peter Arno: Former Femme Fatale

The life of Mata Hari informs our views of the alluring secret agent as seductress to this day. In 1917, the exotic dancer was convicted as a German spy and killed by firing squad in France.

Come 1940 and a second World War, cartoonist Peter Arno revisited the idea of the femme fatale as spy, giving her a new code name and her story a decidedly different ending.

"That's Q37, in her day one of the most effective secret agents this country ever had."
Peter Arno
Original art
The New Yorker, August 24, 1940, p. 17

The original art came to light at Halls in early 2016.

Halls, 16th March 2016

https://issuu.com/jammdesign/docs/h107-085_listing/44

Given a presale estimate of 600-800 GBP, it sold for a healthy 2,100 GBP.

https://www.lotsearch.net/artist/peter-arno/archive?orderBy=dollarBasedPrice-startPrice&order=ASC&perPage=50&page=1

The buyer, in all probability, was London illustration dealer Chris Beetles. The work was included in the catalogue for Beetles's annual The Illustrators sale for 2016:

Chris Beetles The Illustrators 2016 Catalogue

https://issuu.com/chrisbeetles/docs/the_illustrators_2016_cover_text_co

Michael Maslin's biography Peter Arno: The Mad, Mad World of The New Yorker's Greatest Cartoonist had just been published, and it was cited by Beetles under Further Reading.

A scanned image shows some of the details. Arno's plaza seems German or Prussian. The two paired men, military and civilian, walk in lock step. That uniform of the man in front is impressive right down to the spurs. As we read left to right, the men lead our eyes to Q37 herself, in widow's garb, looking after her six children. The big joke is not merely the number of progeny but that they represent so many different races. Such racial caricatures were deemed acceptable in the pages of The New Yorker of 1940 by the editorial staff, the readership, and the advertisers. 

"That's Q37, in her day one of the most effective secret agents
this country ever had."
Peter Arno
The New Yorker, August 24, 1940, p. 17

https://www.ebay.com/itm/166922564572?mkpid=0&emsid=e11021.m43.l1120&ch=osgood&euid=d2fd7229aaae45b9

163679d70c0ff7d&bu=43186000575&ut=RU&osub=-1%7E1&crd=20240817013610&segname=11021

Here then is how the cartoon appeared in the magazine:

A spot drawing and a cartoon by Peter Arno

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1940-08-24/flipbook/016/

* * *

Horse in a blanket
Spot drawing
Artist Unidentified
The New Yorker, August 24, 1940, p. 1

Note:  I would appreciate hearing from anyone who retains a price list from the Chris Beetles 2016 catalogue for The Illustrators show. The item in question is no. 119. 

Also, the spot artist's initials may be recognizable to someone in the know.

Do I need to keep asking for original art by Peter Arno to display in these pages? Yes, I think I do.

05219

Peter Arno: A Bit of Wisdom for Poffinger

An original New Yorker cartoon by Peter Arno published in the spring of 1939 was sold at auction on Sunday. The seller was Locati LLC of Pineville, PA. The art, framed and matted, came from a Philadelphia collection.

"I tell you, Poffinger, conversation is a lost art."
Peter Arno
Original art
The New Yorker, April 15, 1939, p. 15

The two figures walking in the park are central to the composition. They occupy much of the cartoon and they wear apparel with the darkest tones in the image. Clearly, we are meant to see them first before noticing the activity that surrounds them. The older men stand and stroll; the speaker carries a walking stick. The amorous younger couples seated on the benches have found something better to do.

Detail of the men's heads

We don't get to see Poffinger's face here; his name and bearing convey whatever we need to know about him. He is placed in the scene merely to receive the other man's observation, and his reaction to it, if any, is immaterial.

The artist is having some fun at the expense of his oblivious speaker. Arno's sympathies here, one gathers, are with the younger crowd enjoying the day nonverbally. At the time of the drawing's publication, Arno is thirty-five years old. He knows what his fans expect from him.

Peter Arno's signature

The printed caption on the matte is no doubt clipped from a copy of the magazine.

Peter Arno
Locati LLC auction listing accessed on Invaluable January 13, 2026, five days before the sale

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/peter-arno-american-1904-1968-watercolor-214-c-467b44b3be?objectID=201830422&algIndex=upcoming_lots_lotNumber_asc_prod&queryID=2ebcc1f9abc42bad91ea2d95905609fd

Peter Arno
Locati LLC item description

Bidding as of January 13, 2026, five days before the sale

Sold!

That $1900 hammer price comes with an additional buyer's premium of $532.

The cartoon appeared in The New Yorker on less than a full page.

"I tell you, Poffinger, conversation is a lost art."
Peter Arno
The New Yorker, April 15, 1939, p. 15

"I tell you, Poffinger, conversation is a lost art."
Peter Arno
Original art
The New Yorker, April 15, 1939, p. 15

With a spot drawing by L.W. and a cartoon by Peter Arno

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1939-04-15/flipbook/014/

* * *

The spot drawing by L.W. on the page facing the Arno cartoon shows one of the tanks that used to store gas at various sites around the city. It's alongside some railroad tracks, which may be a clue to the location.

Spot drawing
L.W.
The New Yorker, April 15, 1939, p. 14

Note:  Collectors fortunate enough to possess original art by Peter Arno that is crying out to be shared on this blog should contact me please.

Also, any reader who can provide the identity of spot artist L.W. is urged to get in touch. If you can recognize the site of the illustration, I await this information as well. Might this be one of the tanks that were located in Elmhurst?

05187

Ilonka Karasz: Spots of Two Couples

Two original spot drawings in ink by Ilonka Karasz were offered by Swann Auction Galleries in the December 4 sale of Illustration Art. Both, we are told, were published in The New Yorker circa 1925, its first year of publication. One depicts a couple floor dancing and the second shows a different couple outdoors walking. The lot, estimated at $800 to $1,200, did not find a buyer.

Ilonka Karasz
Swann Auction Galleries Illustration Art Sale of December 4, 2025

https://www.swanngalleries.com/auction-lot/_7264AE42E2

Ilonka Karasz
Swann Auction Galleries item description

Note:  The publication history has yet to be verified. Please get in touch if you have seen one or both of these spots by Ilonka Karasz in print.

05184

Susanne Suba: Typesetter

A spot drawing of a typesetter by Susanne Suba was sold at Swann Auction Galleries in the Illustration Art sale of June 17, 2025. It was published in 1948 in The New Yorker. The man's attention, and ours, is focused on his hands.

Susanne Suba
Swann Aucton Galleries Illustration Art sale of June 17, 2025

https://www.swanngalleries.com/auction-lot/_61E45A9AB3

This is how it looked in the magazine:

Susanne Suba
The New Yorker, March 20,1948, p. 105

Susanne Suba
Original art
The New Yorker, March 20,1948, p. 105

With a spot drawing by Susanne Suba

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1948-03-20/flipbook/104/

05183

A Signed Copy of Spots by Suba: From The New Yorker

Spots by Suba:  From The New Yorker is exactly what the title indicates. The 1944 book collects spot drawings by Susanne Suba that were originally published in the pages of The New Yorker. The signed first edition sold in November on eBay was no doubt a rarity, but that doesn't mean it was expensive. 

Susanne Suba
eBay listing ended November 26, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/205862771079?

Susanne Suba
eBay item description

Note:  I can't get enough of interesting signed books related to The New Yorker, such as this one by Susanne Suba. If your library boasts such a volume, why not let me take a look at it. It might make for a future post.

05182