My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #388

I don't know why The New Yorker's cartoonists think doctors are so funny. I'm pretty sure we aren't. But I love Tom Cheney's cartoons, so I'll play along to the best of my ability. Here then is my entry for The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #388 for July 22, 2013.

"Hey, only doctors play golf in here!"

July 29, 2013 Update:  The Finalists

Note:  My previous entry in The New Yorker's Cartoon Caption Contest is here. Or see some earlier blog posts with Tom Cheney here.

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A Cartoon Portrait in Roz Chast's The Party, After You Left

This copy of Roz Chast's The Party, After You Left (2004) is signed and inscribed with an original cartoon portrait. A general rule about cartoon collections is ridiculously easy to remember: Cartoon books are great, but they're even better signed, and especially better signed with an original drawing. This book appeared last year on eBay. Incredibly, I was the only bidder.
 

Roz Chast, The Party, After You Left (2004)

Roz Chast, cartoon portrait inscribed "To Alex + Carolyn / Cheers, / Roz Chast" in a copy of The Party, After You Left (2004)

Roz Chast, "The Crummiest Generation," from The Party, After You Left (2004)

Roz Chast, Signed and Inscribed with Drawing, The Party, After You Left, eBay Listing Ended January 29, 2012

http://www.ebay.com/itm/200704107659?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_642wt_1413

Roz Chast, Signed and Inscribed with Drawing, The Party, After You Left, eBay Item Description Ended January 29, 2012

http://www.ebay.com/itm/200704107659?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_642wt_1413

Note:  More posts about Roz Chast can be found here.

If you too have a book or two with an original drawing by Roz Chast or another New Yorker cartoonist, please consider sharing it on Attempted Bloggery. You know you want to.

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Charles Addams Birthday Greetings

In 1975, Charles Addams sent this hand-colored birthday greeting featuring Grandmama from the Addams Family. The artwork, approximately the size of a postcard, sold for between $400 and $500 on eBay back in 2005.

Charles Addams, Souvenir Drawing of Grandmama with a Birthday Cake
Inscribed "For Bassie Holmes /
Happy Birthday / from the Family / Chas Addams / 1975"
EBay image courtesy of David from Manhattan

Note:  More artist's birthday greetings can be enjoyed here.

I am grateful to reader David from Manhattan for providing this eBay image and information about the sale from his personal archives. EBay, as you may know, does not maintain auction listings with any consistency beyond approximately three months. Over the years many images of great cartoon artwork have come and gone, and once they're gone they are pretty much irretrievable. I've managed to preserve a few wonderful images over the years, and I use this blog to make many of these public and, I hope, permanent. It occurs to me that I am not the only one with such a personal virtual collection, and others who have similar obsessive tendencies might be willing to share some of their archival material here on Attempted Bloggery. It is not easy to describe exactly what I am looking for, but if you've seen a few blog posts, you probably have a good idea. A good starting point would be original drawings, published or unpublished, by the artists typically featured on this blog, particularly but not exclusively those associated with The New Yorker. I generally look for as much information as possible to go with each image, including the source of the image and the sale price, if known. So, if you have access to something as nourishing as Grandmama's birthday cake, please contact me at my email address.

0817

Sink or Swim?

 Sink?  I don't think so. But it could use a wash.

"SWIM"
Vermont License Plate

Note:  See more license plates on Attempted Bloggery here.

0816

William Steig: Preliminary Shrek Book Cover Art

I would never want to minimize the importance of William Steig's Shrek! but it is after all but one small part of the artist's output over a long and brilliant career. The Shrek movies have no doubt enriched the Steig estate greatly, and for most people Shrek! is probably the only Steig work they have heard of, if only through Hollywood's outsized adaptations of it. Still, the auction estimate for Steig's preliminary book cover art was stratospherically high, and I was almost a bit relieved when it didn't sell for such a price in 2009. I would hate to be permanently priced out of the Steig market.

But then why shouldn't it sell at a premium? Classic children's book illustrations by Maurice Sendak, Ted Geisel, or Garth Williams could certainly go for a lot more than this. The issue, though, for collectors may be about how different the movie is from the book. Fans of the film's slick computer-animation may scarcely recognize images from the hand-drawn book that gave rise to it.

Lot 339. STEIG, William (1907 - 2003)

 Shrek!

 Watercolor, ink and pencil. (285 x 240 mm). Preliminary jacket design for Shrek! New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1990. Provenance: William Steig Estate.

Capture the Imagination: Original Illustration & Fine Illustrated Books
Bloomsbury Auctions. New York, NY
Wednesday 9th December 2009 at 2:00 pm

http://www.bloomsburyauctions.com/detail/NY040/339.0

William Steig, Shrek!, 1990, The Published Cover

Note:  While you're at it, why not check out these William Steig posts?

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