Edward Koren: Two Cards for Leo Lerman

Author and editor Leo Lerman (1914-1994) spent more than fifty years on the payroll of Condé Nast, working on major magazines including Vogue and later Vanity Fair at the time of its 1983 relaunch. Cartoonist Edward Koren congratulated him on his role in the reimagined magazine with an illustrated postcard. In the year before, 1982, Koren had sent him a printed card invitation to an exhibition of prints and drawings at SUNY, Albany, adding an original note with a small but distinctive illustration. Today Lerman's papers are in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Columbia University and in the Billy Rose Theatre Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. But the libraries apparently did not show much interest in his two Koren cards with original drawings and ten years ago they instead went to auction at Doyle, where bidders also did not show much interest.

Edward Koren
Doyle, September 24, 2013

https://doyle.com/auctions/13lf01-leo-lerman-gray-foy-collection/catalogue/482-art-koren-ed-two-cards-inscribed-leo

04268

Edward Koren: A Mask Drawing, With Thanks

Over his monumental 1982 mask drawing executed in pencil on deckle edged paper, cartoonist Edward Koren added a highly personal inscription, an expression of thanks to a couple, Marvin and Carol, for their "generous contribution to the success of our wedding." The work as such evidently meant a great deal both to the artist and to the recipients, who framed it. Nearly four decades later, early in 2019 in Williston, Vermont, the big drawing with the heartfelt inscription went up on the auction block. The piece failed to generate much bidder interest, selling, in all probability, for less than the original cost of the frame.

Inscribed "For Marvin and Carol—With much gratitude
for your generous contribution
to the success of our wedding.
Ed & Curtis         1982"

Edward Koren
Merrill's Auctioneers & Appraisers, January 27, 2019

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/edward-koren-am-1935-533-c-50d4888a91

04267

Edward Koren: Lifted by the Numbers

An eBay seller offers an original illustration by cartoonist Edward Koren. The undated drawing depicts a seated man in a three-piece suit being supported by a large group of anthropomorphic numerals. The piece has the look of an advertising illustration for the financial services industry, but the eBay seller believes it was created for the pages of The New Yorker. The original art has acquired some foxing. It is priced at $1,267.50, but there is a Best Offer option.

Edward Koren's signature

Edward Koren
eBay listing accessed March 21, 2023

https://www.ebay.com/itm/265123861466?hash=item3dba9d13da:g:CdgAAOSwBlBgdwBL&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4P493cdcBt%2BIoqgH6qq58Sh2O54UJkd9AdOhVWQh56dy65EwkVqXHE8z1RUwGAwSVqT2624I2xyLO7EjGBsocenv2qcMlS5H4X5DbPJNIiEE9QhzucCWfv8R7A7GYA9P

GrL9R4pf2j7TXMAHQOPGcljAfu%2F5SdG6sZm%2Fz5gtrI81sdlG96kVg2fuo8lY4N%2BFsZJt9ck5E9wvIrZHud4L3gps3a54uFDFik9JbK3QQMQi3BFQrIFwkvYYeZjPst9vzHXgx8ZQeIQOIoYCX6LPXWDIBazxBLjXAGND9bUlw%2Fbq%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR-qWo-zgYQ

Edward Koren
eBay item description

Note:  Perhaps some reader will recall where this drawing was published. Help me to make the numbers add up.

04266

Edward Koren: The Breadwinner Comes Home

Contributor David from Manhattan writes about an original 1970 New Yorker cartoon by the one and only Edward Koren:

This captionless drawing, fairly large at 17 ¼ x 23" (inside the matte) and framed, turned up at an Aston, PA Modern Design Auction by Uniques & Antiques on Dec. 12, 2017, estimated at $200-300, and where it sold for $175. The buyer must have been passing through  Aston as the item was on eBay only a few days later and sold on Dec. 19th to me for $414.02 including shipping. On Dec. 28 it was in hand from Minnesota, via USPS. For the holiday season, that's pretty impressive. The hard part was sitting with it on the bus at 5:30 p.m. for an hour and a half. I haven't examined that many original Korens, so I wonder if all the collage work visible here is typical. I remember reading somewhere that a George Booth cartoon, as part of a traveling New Yorker exhibit, now and then shed a piece of art and had to be glued back. Despite the travel involved, and my own moves in deciding where it should hang, that hasn't happened. I've included some close ups of his "repair" work; the running dog (?) in two pieces seems the most extreme. Still, there's a lot going on here: children, parents, posters, furniture, and plenty of living room crapola. He could have started over, but he managed to keep his image of what it should look like alive in his head. Certainly the cartoon that appeared in the magazine on July 4, 1970 gives no hint of difficulties.

Edward Koren
Original art
The New Yorker, July 4, 1970, p. 35

By the way, the original auction description, after calling it "Comical Political Illustration," adds "Women's movement. Pen & ink illustration sketches in progress," the latter presumably a reference to Koren's collage work. Politically it has held up fairly well, and outlived the Playboy Clubs, though the image of bunny ears on the central poster may one day require some further information. For now though, Koren fans know where to find it: on the unnumbered pages of Do You Want to Talk About It? (1976).

David provides more of the eBay photos of the original art:

The eBay photos are clearer than the Pennsylvania Modern Design Auction by Uniques & Antiques:

Edward Koren's signature

Edward Koren
Uniques & Antiques auction of December 12, 2017

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/edward-koren-comical-political-illustration-wome-228-c-e3f478f9eb#

Edward Koren
Uniques & Antiques auction item description

Here's how the cartoon first appeared in The New Yorker alongside the original art:

Edward Koren
Original art
The New Yorker, July 4, 1970, p. 35

A spot drawing by Raymond Davidson and a cartoon by Edward Koren, one of two of his from the issue

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1970-07-04/flipbook/034/

   

Note:  My thanks to David from Manhattan for this, his fifty-fourth contribution to Attempted Bloggery. Above, David inquires whether other art by Edward Koren has as many patches as this one. So I ask on his behalf, does anyone else have access to similarly patched Koren art for comparison?

Spot artist R. Davidson is better known as New Yorker cover artist Raymond Davidson. A signed, untrimmed proof of one of his covers has previously appeared on the blog here. Remember that one?

Raymond Davidson

04265

My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #842

The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #842 from the issue of March 20, 2023 is ready for takeoff, but am I? My caption is shown below. The drawing is by Akeem Roberts.

"These new planes fly themselves. I'm just the mascot."

These captions weren't airworthy:

"Guess which brand of flight insurance I'm selling?"
"As for the flight plan, I'm just going to wing it."
"I can land just as well on water."
"I hope that luggage floats."

April 2, 2023 Update:  The Finalists

April 7, 2023 Update:  I winged it and voted for the caption from Springfield.

April 17, 2023 Update:  The Winner

04264

Edward Koren: Five Authenticated Sketches

Many Old Master drawings retain antique collector's annotations and ink stamps that give a rough history of ownership and scholarship from generations back. Today, some dealers and, presumably, some collectors are embracing an authentication technology that imprints original artwork and autographs with a unique code that links to a permanent database. This is an updated version of the Certificate of Authenticity, which is not always reliable.

The five sketches by cartoonist Edward Koren seen on eBay have been examined by PSA/DNA authenticators, issued a certificate, and marked with the stickers and invisible ink that characterize the process. Whether this adds anything to the value of such obviously authentic Koren art is the decision of the buyer.

It's not clear whether the database will still be accessible in ten, twenty, or fifty years. It's also unclear whether newer technology will render such databases obsolete. It's possible that soon we might be tracking artwork as it changes hands through blockchain technology. Each individual work could be accompanied by an NFT that show's the piece's history from the artist's studio to the current owner with all transactions along the way. Nevertheless, quick sketches such as these may never merit such careful documentation, and could still leave them subject to the judgment of professional authenticators.

First up is a Koren sketch of a fish. Here's the full eBay listing:

Edward Koren
eBay listing accessed March 18, 2023

https://www.ebay.com/itm/325341844447?hash=item4bbfe293df:g:xwgAAOSw0eBjILZ-&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA0KHxzMdnhLE249Ec%2FAkam7a7iA%2BCERY4%2F96aoZt7W%2BwHiWq4UFT0TGQLA5P1u75yW6VR1GqgQDVivaszyPWqNXho5Swh0y5sGi0%2FsKgvQ2gj0FNwrtb58uwpl%2FvYlfJUABJrLIvN%2FBcAxQ8YkCcCtnqHNrQNVwVpnwPBDrl6F5JsAkgHNKgiG2yP0n9U3g9UY8KuH5m64n3TdQq5SCFGp7c7UJHuLos%2F%2FTck6To5d%2Be3wUZlsH8B6lyrrlMLUjc7EcYEgGRI6yvyUQtqO%2B3RgOg%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR9iu8u_eYQ

Edward Koren
eBay item description

The other Koren sketches have very similar eBay listings, so we can look at just the photos.

Two of the five sketches remain available:

Three of them have already been sold:

04263