Four souvenir sketches on colored index cards by cartoonist Nicolae Asciu (1942-2013) were offered for sale on eBay in 2015. Two of them are gags about stethoscopes, one is about the violin, and one is about boating. All four sketches are dated September 19, 1982 and since they were sold together they might be inscribed to members of a single family or possibly medical practice. Initially offered at $49 each, one was sold at an undisclosed Best Offer price at which point the other three were reduced to opening bids of $8.99.
Nicolae Asciu eBay Listing Ended November 11, 2015
Note:Nicolae Asciu is new to Attempted Bloggery. I would love to receive scans or photos of original works by the artist. Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives Souvenir Drawings
Ronald Searle's magazine cover proposals submitted to the New Yorker often consisted of finished art ready to go to press. Living, as he did, in the south of France, he avoided the cumbersome process of submitting roughs and only later reworking them into finished designs. Some of Searle's New Yorker rejections were never printed anywhere, but he learned he could publish many of them in his own sumptuously-produced collections. Thus I Remember It Well... from 1972 was included in More Cats (1976) and several later collections as well. Alternatively called Ah yes, I Remember It Well..., the title comes, of course, from the well-known duet in Lerner and Loewe's film score "Gigi" (1958).
But this watercolor does not depict a duet. One window, indeed, remains darkened with the blinds down. In the other window a lone cat sits solitary in his chair, violin close at hand, a wistful far-off gaze in his eye, as he contemplates days gone by. The original artwork was in the collection of Searle's wife Monica and was later given to E. and V. Caloutsis. Artist Valerios Caloutsis was born in Crete in 1927 and is an abstract painter.
Ronald Searle,I Remember It Well..., 1972 Proposed New Yorker cover art More Cats, 1975, as Oh yes, I remember it well . . . , pages 18-19 Ronald Searle, 1979. as Ah yes, I remember it well . . . , page 143 Ronald Searle's Big Fat Cat Book, 1982, as Ah yes, I remember it well . . . Searle and Searle, 2001, as I remember it well . . . , cat. no. 20
Ronald Searle Christie's South Kensington, November 23, 2016
Ronald Searle,I Remember It Well..., 1972 Proposed New Yorker cover art More Cats, 1975, as Oh yes, I remember it well . . . , pages 18-19 Ronald Searle, 1979. as Ah yes, I remember it well . . . , page 143 Ronald Searle's Big Fat Cat Book, 1982, as Ah yes, I remember it well . . . Searle and Searle, 2001, as I remember it well . . . , cat. no. 20
"I Remember It Well"
"Gigi" (1958)
Book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
Music by Frederick Loewe
Maurice Chevalier as Honoré
Hermione Gingold as Mamita
The MGM Studio Orchestra
André Previn, conductor
Note: While not all cover concept proposals are deemed worthy of subsequent publication, the New Yorker was in the enviable position of receiving far more outstanding cover submissions than they could possibly use. Original New Yorker cover submissions are eagerly sought after here whether or not they're as evocative as the current work by Ronald Searle.
On December 15, Bonhams will be offering two original ink drawings bySaul Steinberg in its Fine Books and Manuscripts sale. The first is a female violinist drawn on music paper. The second is a pair of women reportedly similar to "Three Liberties."
Sale 19427 - Fine Books and Manuscripts, 15 Dec 2011 New York
The first drawing:
Lot No: 5151
STEINBERG, SAUL. 1914-1999.
Original gouache and ink on large sheet of musical score, 500 x 330 mm, of a corpulent Baroque violinist, signed lower right, laid down, matted and framed.
Estimate: US$5,000 - 7,000
December 15, 2011: Sold for US$7,500 inclusive of Buyer's Premium
Original ink and traces of color on paper, 360 x 280 mm, of 2 women similar to his "Three Liberties" but wearing curiously anachronistic punkish pants, signed and dated at lower right ("Steinberg 1951"), colors faded, matted and framed.
Estimate: US$5,000 - 7,000
December 15, 2011: Sold for US$6,875 inclusive of Buyer's Premium
For the record, here are Steinberg's "Three Liberties" (1949-1951). I don't find the resemblance between the drawings all that compelling. I do find it intriguing that he spent three years working on the drawing, which shows three female subway riders in a pose glibly suggestive of the Statue of Liberty.
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