Twelve by William Steig

David from Manhattan reports on a group of twelve unpublished drawings by New Yorker cartoonist William Steig that were sold at Swann Galleries on September 29, 2016. In keeping with yesterday's subject matter, The Art of the Redraw, we'll start with a variant of a New Yorker cartoon that rivals and quite possibly outshines the published version. Though technically not a redraw done after publication, it is an alternative version very likely intended by the artist to appear in the magazine as the final version. Why didn't it? I believe the magazine's editors requested, somewhat unnecessarily, that Steig make it clearer this man returning home is inebriated, hence the too-obvious bottle of liquor in his pocket. But I'll let David tell the story of all twelve drawings his own way. He writes:

The drunk cartoon with penciled caption has had a chunk of paper torn off at left. Possibly an earlier version of something published, as it is definitely not a rough. Luckily I had some matching paper, and that, plus a matte, makes it quite presentable.

The drawing "Where's the reception committee?" falls into the different, better version category. The final version appeared [in The New Yorker of] Apr. 3 '65. The caption is an improvement, but the drunken husband falls short I think. Of course, Steig I suspect would have been quite content to draw drunken husbands all day long if he was in the mood.

Cartoon by William Steig

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1965-04-03/flipbook/086/

Businessman dragging a clock. Scan is on the Swann website. A curious drawing which has grown on me.

Stairway to the stars. Again, scan on website. As a reader, and book buyer, this obviously appeals to me, and looks very nice on the wall. Probably done around the time of the clock drawing.

William Steig

https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/Lots/auction-lot/(CARTOON)--WILLIAM-STEIG-Group-of-12-unpublished-drawings?saleno=2423&lotNo=264&refNo=717886

The dog and sleeping master is my favorite.

The satyr drawing is another favorite.

Watercolor: 10 x 10 but my scanner cut it off at the sides. The children are a bit generic for Steig, but the explosion of plants and color is quite nice. Unsigned.

The lovers: similar size to the above, and once again my scanner couldn't quite handle it. Looks like a rejected or preliminary drawing for Male/Female.

Small sketch of a man. Reverse has the handstamp of a Lewis Nichols of West 10th St. struck many times and clearly cut from a larger sheet. Perhaps Steig rescued some free art materials as he was strolling through the Village on garbage day.

Portrait of a woman. One of Steig's "odd ducks" to quote his widow. Signed in pencil.

Bird cage in the garden. Sweet but nothing special.

Medieval king. Unsigned, wear, notes in the same ink on back giving info on a Louise Spillia, including what appears to be a social security #, 2 addresses and 2 phone #s! In spite of the faults I rather like the guy!

Desk on the mountain. Smeared, in anger it seems, with the same pinkish ink as the clock drawing. Utterly without charm. Idea for some dopey ad or commercial? Awful.

Note: And there you have it. My sincere thanks to David from Manhattan for providing all these images as well as the informative commentary. This is his thirty-ninth contribution to Attempted Bloggery.

I am still hoping to publish a few posts with the heading The Art of the Redraw. The problem is I don't have any further examples of redraws which surpass the published version. Readers are invited to submit examples of redrawn cartoons or other variants that can be said to be superior in some way to the published originals.

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

William Steig

Henry Martin (1925-2020)

Alcohol

Redraws

Attempted Bloggery's Index Under the Influence

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Frank Modell (1917-2016)

New Yorker cartoonist Frank Modell died Friday at age 98. In a tribute published on Ink Spill yesterday, cartoonist Michael Maslin called him "a cartoonist's cartoonist." He was also a collector's cartoonist, happy to provide the art market with work that was sometimes more delightful than even his published cartoons.

For example, an original cartoon of his was shown at the Westport Historical Society on April 25, 2014. It looks for all the world like a New Yorker cartoon, but it is actually a close variant of one. The topic, as it happens, is the reading of a will.

"The will reads as follows: 'Being of sound mind and disposition, I blew it all.'"
Frank Modell, Variant cartoon art, The New Yorker, February 5, 1972, page 31

Now a similar drawing of his was sold back in 2013 from the Mark Birley collection at Sotheby's London. It went for the astonishing sum of 4000 GBP, although it too is not the published New Yorker drawing, but another variant.

"His will reads as follows.  'Being of sound mind and disposition, I blew it all.'"
Frank Modell, Variant cartoon art, The New Yorker, February 5, 1972, page 31

Sotheby's London, March 21, 2013, Lot 491

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2013/mark-birley-collection/lot.491.html

After seeing and admiring these two versions of the drawing, the actual published cartoon looks more like a rough sketch. It's hard to imagine either of the other versions being preliminary to this. They most likely are redraws of the published cartoon created to meet the demand of eager collectors.

"His will reads as follows.  'Being of sound mind and disposition, I blew it all.'"
Frank Modell, The New Yorker, February 5, 1972, page 31

http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1972-02-05#folio=030

Frank Modell leaves a legacy which includes much joy. His website features a print of his clown signature...

Modell's Dancing Clown print

http://frankmodell.com/index.html

...and on eBay there is an example of his dog signature:

Frank Modell's dog signature

eBay Listing

Note:  Ink Spill's tribute to Frank Modell mentioned above and older posts can be found here.

Attempted Bloggery's previous posts about Frank Modell are here.

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Peter Arno: Waiting for the Good News

When sorrows come, they come not single spies
But in battalions.

William Shakespeare, Hamlet IV.5

So says King Claudius to his distraught wife Gertrude. Peter Arno has his butler put it almost as memorably—if somewhat less succinctly—to the lord and master who is already acquainted with the sorrows which come after a night on the town.

"I regret to report, Sir, that Standard Oil of California is off two points, your second wife called about her alimony, Firefly ran last at Belmont, the man from the Internal Revenue is downstairs, and we are all out of aspirin."

Peter Arno, Original artwork

"I regret to report, Sir, that Standard Oil of California is off two points, your second

wife called about her alimony, Firefly ran last at Belmont, the man from the Internal

Revenue is downstairs, and we are all out of aspirin."

Peter Arno, Original artwork

Peter Arno's signature

"I regret to report, Sir, that Standard Oil of California is off two points, your second
wife called about her alimony, Firefly ran last at Belmont, the man from the Internal
Revenue is downstairs, and we are all out of aspirin."
Peter Arno, Original artwork

Susanin's Item Description

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/41132641_peter-arno-american-1904-1968-i-regret-to-report-s

Inspired by the tradition of Shakespeare's many editors, I have taken the liberty of editing what I believe to be obvious errors in the Arno caption, substituting Internal for International and aspirin for asperin. Where and when this color cartoon may have been published are unknown to me, but anyone with relevant information should email me with AB, for Aspirin Bottle, in the subject line.

May 10, 2016 Update:  What do you know? A sharp-eyed reader has pointed out that the Arno drawing from Susanin's is a variant of a cartoon published in the September 25, 1937 New Yorker. It was the presence of color that threw me off the trail. This color version has some minor differences from the published cartoon, most notably a nude hanging above the bed which might have displeased the magazine's editors. As the New Yorker did not publish color cartoons in the 1930's, this may be a redraw created for a friend or a fan, presumably male, rather than a preliminary version. It has the look of having been drawn somewhat hastily. My two corrections to the caption proved correct, but I should not have capitalized sir.

"I regret to report, sir, that Standard Oil of California is off two points, your second
wife called about her alimony, Firefly ran last at Belmont, the man from the Inter-
nal Revenue Department is downstairs, and we're all out of aspirin."
Peter Arno, The New Yorker, September 25, 1937, page 14

Note:  This blog proudly publishes fine examples of original cartoon art.

If you now feel an urgent need to learn everything you can about Peter Arno, you're in luck. Peter Arno: The Mad, Mad World of The New Yorker's Greatest Cartoonist by Michael Maslin is hot off the presses. Read the excerpt The Peter Arno Cartoons That Helped Rescue The New Yorker published May 5 in the New Yorker online.

You can also learn quite a bit from the following links:

Peter Arno posts on Ink Spill. 

Peter Arno in Chris Wheeler's Cartoon(ist) Gallery. 

Peter Arno in the April 26 Record.

Peter Arno in April's Vanity Fair. 

Peter Arno in the March 29 Wall Street Journal. 

Peter Arno posts here on Attempted Bloggery. 

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