Selections from the Sordoni Collection

AMERICAN ILLUSTRATION & COMIC ART

Selections from the Sordoni Collection
AMERICAN ILLUSTRATION & COMIC ART
The collector, Andrew J. Sordoni, III at his desk. Behind
him are Frank E. Schoonover Stephen’s one desire and Mead
Schaeffer Stede Bonnet faced his last fight.
Selections from the Sordoni Collection
AMERICAN ILLUSTRATION & COMIC ART

Stanley I Grand
with contributions by
David Apatoff, Sam Gross, Laurie Norton Moffatt,
David Saunders, Heather Sincavage,
Jim Steranko and Fred Taraba

April 7– May 20, 2018

Sordoni Art Gallery

Wilkes University
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
This book was published on the occasion of
“SELECTIONS FROM THE SORDONI COLLECTION
AMERICAN ILLUSTRATION & COMIC ART”
at the Sordoni Art Gallery from April 7–May 20, 2018

Published by the Sordoni Art Gallery

Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, PA
www.wilkes.edu/arts/sordoni-art-gallery/index.aspx

Designer: Douglas Martin, Turtleboy Productions

Photographer: Tom Musto
Editor: Gary Mayk
Printer: Payne Printery, Dallas, Pennsylvania, on
McCoy Silk 100# Text and McCoy Silk 120# Cover
Set in Adobe Garamond, a serif typeface named for
Claude Garamond (c. 1480 –1561)

ISBN 978-0-9997534-0-8

© 2018 by Sordoni Art Gallery

Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
or any other information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher.

Cover: John Gannam, Gone Gal [Advertisement for

Balanced Pacific Sheets]. 1948
Contents
Artists in the Exhibition 6
Foreword 8
Acknowledgments 9
Preface 10
Introduction 12

Illustration Art, Commentary and Plates 14

Hopalong Cassidy, Commentary and Plates 80
Comic Art, Commentary and Plates 94

Catalogue of the Exhibition, Illustration Art 132

Catalogue of the Exhibition, Comic Art 164
Bibliography 181
Notes on Contributors 182
Artists in the Exhibition
Charles Addams (1912 –1988) Robert Eckstein (b. 1963)
Alfred Andriola (1912 –1983) Heinz Edelmann (1934 –2009)
Rolf Armstrong (1889 –1960) Anton Otto Fischer (1882 –1962)
Paul Bacon (1923 –2015) Ham Fisher (1900 –1955)
Walter M. Baumhofer (1904 –1987) Harrison Fisher (1875 –1934)
Rudolph Belarski (1900 –1983) James Montgomery Flagg (1877–1960)
Frederick Blakeslee (1898 –1973) Thomas Fluharty (b. 1962)
Enoch Bolles (1883 –1976) Hal Forrest (1895 –1959)
Arthur William Brown (1881–1966) Harold R. Foster (1892 –1982)
Buck Brown (1936 –2007) Frank Frazetta (1928 –2010)
John Caldwell (1946 –2016) John Gannam (1907–1965)
Milton Caniff (1907–1988) William Glackens (1870 –1938)
Al Capp (1909–1979) Floyd Gottfredson (1905 –1986)
Pruett Carter (1891–1955) Ray Gotto (1916 –2003)
Howard Chandler Christy (1873 –1952) Chester Gould (1900 –1985)
Jack Cole (1914 –1958) Walter Granville-Smith (1870 –1938)
Dean Cornwell (1892 –1960) Harold Gray (1894 –1968)
Bradshaw Crandell (1896 –1966) George Gross (1909 –2003)
Douglass Crockwell (1904 –1968) Bob Haggart (1914 –1998)
Paul Davis (b. 1938) V.T. Hamlin (1900 –1993)
Phil Davis (1906 –1964) Fred Harman (1902 –1982)
Chon Day (1907–2000) John Held, Jr. (1889 –1958)
Billy DeBeck (1890 –1942) George Herriman (1880 –1944)
Roy Delgado (b. 1935) Al Hirschfeld (1903 –2003)
Joe De Mers (1910 –1984) Burne Hogarth (1911–1996)
Rafael DeSoto (1904 –1987) Walter Beach Humphrey (1892 –1966)
Walt Disney Studio E.M. Jackson (1896 –1962)
Maynard Dixon (1875 –1946) John Jonik (b. 1942)
Harvey Dunn (1884 –1952) Walt Kelly (1913 –1973)

6
Frank O. King (1883 –1969) Charles Rodrigues (1926 –2004)
Anita Kunz (b. 1956) Arthur Sarnoff (1912 –2000)
John LaGatta (1894 –1976) Norman Saunders (1907–1989)
Walter Lantz Studio Mead Schaeffer (1898 –1980)
Robert Lavin (1919 –1997) Frank E. Schoonover (1877–1972)
William R. Leigh (1866 –1955) Charles M. Schulz (1922 –2000)
J.C. Leyendecker (1874 –1951) E.C. Segar (1894 –1938)
George Lichty (1905 –1983) Everett Shinn (1876 –1953)
Richard Lillis (1899 –1995) John Sloan (1871–1951)
Andrew Loomis (1892 –1959) Margaret Barnard Sordoni (1915 –1989)
Tom Lovell (1909 –1997) Jack Sparling (1916 –1997)
Orson Lowell (1871–1956) Dan Spiegle (1920 –2017)
Mike Lynch (b. 1962) Saul Tepper (1899 –1987)
Mara McAfee (1929 –1984) UPS Studio
George McManus (1884 –1954) Alberto Vargas (1896 –1982)
Leo Meiersdorff (1934 –1994) Harold von Schmidt (1893 –1982)
Richard Merkin (1938 –2009) E.F. Ward (1892 –1990)
Fred Mizen (1888 –1964) Jon Whitcomb (1906 –1988)
Willard Mullin (1902 –1978) Walter Whitehead (1874 –1956)
Rose O’Neill (1874 –1944) Coby Whitmore (1913 –1988)
William Overgard (1926 –1990) Al Williamson (1931–2010)
Maxfield Parrish (1870 –1966) Gahan Wilson (b. 1930)
C.F. Payne (b. 1954) N.C. Wyeth (1882 –1945)
George Petty (1894 –1975)
Coles Phillips (1880 –1927)
Howard Pyle (1853 –1911)
Henry Patrick Raleigh (1880 –1944)
Alex Raymond (1909 –1956)
Norman Rockwell (1894 –1978)

7
Foreword
The Sordoni family and Wilkes University have a history programs to identify which were outstanding and which
of working together to promote learning, thought, and civic needed improvement. He assembled and personally led an
engagement in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Today’s University Arts Task Force that included Andrew as the sole community
began as Bucknell Junior College in 1933. At the time Senator member. After much deliberation and some controversy, the
Andrew J. Sordoni was on the Bucknell College Board of Arts Task Force unanimously embraced Dr. Leahy’s vision to
Trustees and actively encouraged the establishment of a re-commit to the visual arts by building a new Sordoni Art
center for higher learning in the Wyoming Valley. In 1947 Gallery, creating an exhibition endowment, and hiring a
as thousands of World War II veterans took advantage of professional director. As planning for the new facility began,
the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 (the “G.I. Bill”), President Leahy extended an invitation to Andrew to exhibit
Wilkes became an independent four-year college and in works from his collection of American Illustration &
1990, Wilkes University. Comic Art, which he accepted with the proviso that professional
curators determine the content. As Director of the Sordoni
Following the deaths of Senator Sordoni (1887– 1963) and his
Art Gallery, it has been my pleasure to work with the Guest
son Andrew J. Sordoni, Jr. (1916 – 1967), Margaret “Barney”
Curator, Dr. Stanley I Grand, on this project.
Sordoni (1915 – 1989, Cat. 128) worked with Dr. Eugene S.
Farley, the first president of Wilkes College, to create a unique This exhibition and catalogue have benefited from the efforts
resource for the college and community, and by 1973, her of numerous people. The catalogue in particular has been
son Andrew J. Sordoni, III had joined the Gallery Advisory enhanced by contributions from recognized authorities in
Commission, on which he continues to serve. The Sordonis’ the field including David Apatoff, Sam Gross, Laurie Norton
gift of an Art Gallery to Wilkes also represented a profound Moffatt, David Saunders, Jim Steranko, and Fred Taraba.
commitment to the rebirth of a community devastated by
It is a privilege to be entrusted with the leadership of the Sordoni
the great Agnes flood of June 1972.
Art Gallery. The Gallery has an enviable tradition of mounting
Andrew Sordoni has continued to advance culture at Wilkes. excellent exhibitions accompanied by scholarly catalogues.
Over the years he has sponsored “Celebrations of Music and Previous directors Judith Hansen O’Toole, William Sterling,
Art,” featuring performances and art exhibitions by prominent and Stanley I Grand set high standards to which the revitalized
musician/artists, including Bob Haggart (1984), Pee Wee Gallery will adhere. Attaining this goal requires the wholehearted
Russell and George Wettling (1986), Mel Powell (1987) support of the University Administration, especially Dr.
and Paul Bacon (1999). Andrew also has collaborated on Patrick Leahy, president; Dr. Anne Skleder, provost; and
exhibitions at the Gallery, most notably as curator of the Dr. Paul Riggs, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and
pioneering 1976 “Comic Strip Art from Private Collections.” Social Sciences. Their commitment has been unfailing.
In recognition of his outstanding support of the arts, Wilkes Active community support of the arts is essential as well
University bestowed on him the honorary degree of Doctor and the Gallery is fortunate to have a dedicated Advisory
of Humane Letters in 1998. Commission, chaired by long-time supporter Virginia Davis.

Shortly after assuming the presidency of Wilkes University, – Heather Sincavage, M.F.A.
Dr. Patrick Leahy assessed all university departments and Director, Sordoni Art Gallery

8
Acknowledgments
As Andrew Sordoni built and refined this collection over more than 50 years, many individuals
helped along the way, and he has requested that these friends and colleagues be recognized.

American Illustrators Gallery, NYC Kenneth Marquis / Marquis Art & Frame

Ed April* Charles Martignette*
Paul Bacon* Jerry Muller / Museum Graphics
Jordan Berman Newman Gallery, Philadelphia
Buck Brown* Hank O’Neal
Terry Brown Judith Hansen O’Toole
Diane Caldwell Joe Parente / Little Nemo Shop, NYC
Peter Crafts / The ARTDOC Roger Reed
Charles Crane* Walt Reed*
Russ Cochran Lorraine Rodrigues
Mark Cohen, CA* John Schoonover
Judy Goffman Cutler Larry Shar/Julius Lowy & Co., NYC
Thomas de Doncker Helen Farr Sloan*
Eye of Newt Gallery, Chestnut Hill, PA Susan Sordoni
George Fernandez Sotheby’s (Parke-Bernet)
Alan Goffman* Fred Taraba
Margo Feiden Galleries, NYC Michelle Ury*
Graham Gallery, NYC Vose Gallery, Boston
Jim Ivey* Morris Weiss*
Ed Jaster / Heritage Auction Galleries Art Wood*
Steve Kennedy*

*Deceased

9
Preface
Illustration and Comic Art differ from other genres in that This exhibition and catalogue cover works created in various
they were created for the printed page and not originally to media for various purposes between the end of the 19th century
be displayed and appreciated like “fine art.” By definition and the beginning of the 21st. The period saw more than its fair
illustrations illustrate something, a story or a product for share of war, economic growth and decline, and advances in
example. In the former, the illustration provides the reader technology including agriculture, medicine, communications,
with entry into the story even before a word is read. Based on printing, and indeed most other areas. Perhaps the greatest
this initial impression, the reader may decide whether or not to change has been in the world’s human population, which first
continue. The important role of the illustrator was frequently reached the 1 billion milestone in 1804. In 1927, 123 years later,
recognized with a credit line directly under the author’s. the 2 billion marker was attained. World population exceeded
7 billion in 2011 or early 2012 and is continuing its upward
Illustration art is also commercial art created to motivate
track. How we communicate with each other has undergone
consumers to do or buy something. John Gannam’s painting
comparable changes that have left some once powerful means
on the cover of this catalogue was commissioned by Balanced
faltering. Magazine and newspaper circulations, for instance,
Pacific Sheets to sell bed sheets. It did so by conflating an image
have suffered greatly as has the demand for original illustrations.
of Sunday morning leisure and relaxation with a product. No
longer simply a place to sleep, the bed becomes a vessel that This catalogue is organized into three sections. The introduction
transports the imagination into another realm, on Balanced Pa- provides a brief portrait of Andrew J. Sordoni, who collected
cific Sheets, of course. Like all advertising, the painting had to these works over a lifetime. The next section includes introductory
appeal to a clearly identified consumer: In this case the woman essays followed by annotated examples of Illustration or Comic
who purchased sheets. Art. The introductory essays provide a brief overview of topics
relating to Illustration and Comic Art and are intended for
Magazine covers, on the other hand, sold the periodical.
the general, educated lay reader and not the specialist. It is
Typically the artist had greater freedom designing covers since
axiomatic that one cannot fully understand these art forms
they were not always tied to a specific story, though editors
without knowing the story or purpose behind them. A single
usually required that certain seasonal events be memorialized.
daily comic strip, for example, was part of a continuous
J.C. Leyendecker, Norman Rockwell, and other artists produced
narrative that developed over months. In order to contextualize
multitudes of covers commemorating the major recurring
it, one needs to read the entire narrative. The same is true of
holidays from New Year’s Day to Christmas and everything in
magazine and book illustrations and, therefore, most of the
between. Reflecting the cover’s importance in the sale, they
catalogue entries begin with a précis of the story. If one were
were printed in full color on glossy stock for maximum impact.
writing about Italian Renaissance art, for instance, one would
Illustration art, in sum, has a purpose other than pure aesthetics study the lives of the saints, the hagiographies, their symbols
or self-expression. As such it required client approval prior to and attributes, their cults, and contemporary historical,
seeing print. Further, the limitations of the print media and political, and literary influences in addition to formal or stylistic
photo reproduction often created parameters different than concerns. That same general approach has been employed in
those for works intended for gallery walls. Nonetheless, these writing about 20th-century American iconography (literally
considerations did not preclude works of illustration from “picture writing”) as seen in art that appeared in popular
attaining a high degree of visual quality. media. In the period covered by this exhibition, it is safe to say

10
that American Illustration and Comic Art has been seen and With some exceptions, professional art historians have not
admired by, and has influenced countless Americans and for examined the field extensively while institutions such as the
that reason alone deserves serious consideration. Delaware Art Museum and the Norman Rockwell Museum
have broadened our understanding and knowledge of the art
The collector has had a strong interest in art relating to the
through research and publication. Catalogue raisonnés, which
fictionalized American West. More specifically, he has been
detail every work created by an artist, have begun to appear,
connected to the fictive cowboy character Hopalong Cassidy.
including volumes on Norman Rockwell by Laurie Norton
Hoppy, as he was known, is of especial interest as an example
Moffatt, N.C. Wyeth by Christine Bauer Podmaniczky, and
of a traditional character evolving over time in response to
Frank E. Schoonover by John Schoonover and Louise
different media (movies and television) and marketing
Schoonover Smith with LeeAnn Dean. The History of
considerations. A small section of this book presents some
Illustration Project represents an important initiative to bring
of these Hopalong Cassidy illustrations.
scholars and academics together to create a textbook on the
Finally the catalogue contains illustrated entries of the works subject. Knowledgeable dealers such as the late Walt Reed and
on view. Every effort has been made to locate precise original Fred Taraba, who has graciously contributed an essay to this
publication data. We believe that this should be the standard catalogue, have also advanced the field. Daniel Zimmer,
for all publications and we appreciate assistance received in Judy Goffman Cutler and Laurence Cutler have contributed
tracking down references from the Walt Reed Archives at greatly as have scores of dedicated bloggers who serve to
Washington University, Fred Taraba, Dan Zimmer, and advance awareness of artists and images.
independent researcher Karl Schadow. Regrettably some
We have endeavored to produce a visually pleasing catalogue
works remain unidentified and are so indicated.
that gives primacy to the art and is reader friendly. Tom Musto
Unidentified works present a problem regarding copyright. photographed all the art and Douglas Martin designed the
Since many of the works on display were created for periodicals catalogue. Contributors have been identified with their essays.
or companies that have ceased to exist, it is impossible to trace I am the author of those without a specific credit.
ownership. That said some copyright holders such as King
Speaking personally, Andrew Sordoni has been the most
Features remain in business and have been contacted. We state
profound influence on my understanding of the genre. I have
unequivocally that the copyrights belong to their respective
known him since the early 1990s and we have worked together
owners, whomever they may be. Further, we believe that all the
on a number of projects over the years although none dealt
reproductions in this catalogue fall under the fair use doctrine.
with illustration or comic art. His passion for and
This is an educational project with no unjust enrichment
knowledge of the field convinced me to undertake writing
published under the aegis of a university. Indeed most of the
this catalogue, which I view as a true collaboration but hasten
copies of this catalogue will be distributed at no charge to
to add that any errors or misstatements are my responsibility
other universities and libraries, museums and galleries,
alone. It is our pleasure to share with others another wonderful
scholars, critics and artists.
manifestation of the human spirit.
Although monographs have been published on many of the
– Stanley I Grand
artists, scholarship is in its infancy and much work remains.
Guest Curator

11
Introduction
Even as a child, Andrew J. Sordoni, III was fascinated moved his cels from the basement to the first floor, but when
with “great characters who never were,” and their lives full the torrent neared the second floor, all the water-soluble
of adventure and action. He avidly followed Tarzan’s jungle cels were lost.
escapades in the national and local newspapers that his father
Andrew Sordoni grew up in a family that valued and lived
brought home, and Andrew delighted in the audacities of
with art. His mother Margaret Barnard Sordoni (1915 – 1989)
Launcelot and the other knights of King Arthur’s roundtable.
was a talented watercolorist who had attended the Art Students
These legendary tales came alive in the book illustrations, two
League in New York and graduated from the Philadelphia
of which are included in this exhibition, created by “Golden
College of Art, subsequently a founding partner in the
Age” artists Howard Pyle and his student N.C. Wyeth
University of the Arts. She had worked for a large Chicago
(Cats. 60, 81). Growing older, Andrew’s interests expanded
department store as a staff artist. Family friends included
from adventures set in exotic locales and the distant,
Andrew Wyeth and other artists. In addition the family’s
mythological past to contemporary hard-boiled villains and
Sterling Hotel was a repository of fine art, decorated with
intrepid cops like Dick Tracy (Cats. 106, 107).
original paintings by 19th- century European academic artists
Like many others who amass interesting collections, Andrew including William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Jean-Léon Gérôme,
has a “collecting urge.’” He began collecting lobby cards created and Jehan Georges Vibert. As is well known, these artists received
by the Hollywood studios to publicize movies in the local extensive training in drawing the human form as the core of
theaters. Cheap and readily available at the time, these lobby their education, and it is perhaps through early and frequent
cards piqued his interest in fantasy, action, and the world of contact with these works that young Andrew developed his
film. As his interests expanded, Andrew began collecting appreciation for the well-drawn human figure. An equally
original animation cels produced by Disney and other important lesson was to trust one’s own eye. Andrew found his
studios for their animated films (Cats. 97, 99, 117, 131). own way and collected works that were considered of lesser
Each is a unique piece that began as a concept drawing importance at the time, but are now highly regarded both in
and subsequently worked up into a fully colored image market and aesthetic terms. Indeed one might well argue that the
that, when strung together with others, created the illusion two very different styles, academic landscape and genre painting
of movement. and American illustration and comic art, share characteristics
beyond technical proficiency: Both have a popular appeal.
Animated films trace their origin to Eadweard Muybridge’s
(1830– 1904) stop-action photographs from the 1870s and The collector acquired his first serious artwork while still in
1880s of animal and human locomotion, which combined with prep school when he borrowed money from his parents to
his zoopraxiscope were a precursor to moving film projection. purchase a Maxfield Parrish drawing from the Vose Gallery
The use of separate panels (cels) to denote movement in time in Boston. In the years following, he bought according to his
is also similar to the comic strips’ sequential format. Tragically, means and interests what he calls “lowbrow art” that included
Andrew’s earliest collection of cels was destroyed in 1972 when daily and Sunday comic strips, cartoons, pinups and pulp art,
Hurricane Agnes caused the Susquehanna River to over-run illustrations for magazine covers and stories, advertisements,
its banks and flooded Forty Fort, Pennsylvania. Andrew had book jackets and album covers. Popular art by definition must

12
be accessible to the majority, be legible, comprehensible, and Sordoni’s interest in jazz has been another lifelong passion. His
share a vocabulary of forms, values, and quotidian assumptions. interest in “popular” art and music must be qualified since it is
Elite art, on the other hand, is frequently closed, self-referential, predominantly the art and music of another time. Although he
obtuse, and intimidating to the general public. It often adopts has supported and promoted contemporary musicians, his taste
a sophisticated, hermetic language, that is incomprehensible to is grounded in the pre-bebop, more melodic jazz of the 1930s
the uninitiated. Beauty and pleasure are often diminished in and 1940s. Likewise is his interest in comic art, which includes
favor of higher values that appeal more to the intellect than to examples from the earlier days. The irony of course is that what
the emotions. However, the visceral rather than the cerebral has was once popular culture has been supplanted by succeeding
been the defining principle throughout the Sordoni collection. waves of mass culture, leaving a situation where many of the
once famous artists, illustrators and musicians have been
The Sordoni collection is not encyclopedic. A passionate
relegated to a type of obscurity, best known to scholars,
amateur, not a scholar, assembled it. Reflecting his interests,
collectors, and fans rather than the populace as a whole.
some areas are well-represented, Western pulp art for example.
Indeed, Sordoni is a recognized authority on Hopalong Cassidy The Sordoni Collection contains many examples of fine
and owns several examples of paintings that once illustrated draftsmanship, clarity and accessibility. Moreover many of
Clarence E. Mulford’s original Hopalong stories in the first the artists show an idealized vision of another time. More
decade of the 20 century. Science fiction, on the other hand,
th
than mere nostalgia, they provide a vision of the way we
holds no interest to him and correspondingly the collection could be rather than the way we are. But the art also has a
contains no examples despite their importance. Nor is the darker side especially in the way that minorities and
collection comprehensive. Over the years, he has traded works immigrants were depicted. We as a nation have made
with dealers and other collectors. For example, the great strides in moving away from odious stereotypes, but
collection currently contains no examples by the early it is important in understanding the current state of race
important comic strip artist Winsor McCay, creator of relations, for example, to know the historical backstory as
Little Nemo, although it once did. it played out daily in the “funnies”.

Andrew Sordoni is first and foremost a businessman. He has Back in the late 1930s the avant-garde critic Clement
a sense of value, and more specifically what a given item is worth Greenberg bemoaned the growing influence of kitsch in art.
to him. His collecting has been marked by discipline: He decides Today the once clear boundary between high and low art,
what he’ll pay and doesn’t revisit that decision. He has been the between elite and popular art, has blurred and become porous
under-bidder of record on numerous iconic examples of American under the assaults by Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol,
illustration art now in other collections. He did not chase Jasper Johns and other so-called Pop Artists. Today we are more
chimeras, but was always well grounded balancing his passion inclined to say “both/and” instead of “either/or.”
for art with the responsibilities of maintaining a large family
that included five children and managing successful business
enterprises. The collection therefore represents what was
possible at the time, what was available and affordable to him.

13
American Illustration
In the decades after the Civil War, the publishing industry each other, the rival printers Andrew Bradford and Benjamin
experienced unprecedented growth and influence. The Franklin each used a press not much evolved from
convergence of technological advances, market growth, Guttenberg’s. In 1821, an American expatriate in England
mass distribution outlets, and innovative competitive practices designed the first press with a rotating ink disk, but it was
culminated in a demand for high-quality illustrations. The not until a decade later that Stephen P. Ruggles invented a
artists who fulfilled this need, especially between the 1880s press where the paper or card was placed on a vibrating
and 1920 represent what is generally considered the “Golden platen instead of directly on the type. This innovation greatly
Age” of illustration. Book illustrations by notables such as increased productivity, especially when combined with another
N.C. Wyeth are among the highlights of this creative period of Ruggles’ advancements: power operation. Despite the fact
(Cats. 81, 82). Other artists produced first-rate magazine covers that the printer supplied the power to operate the press by
that appeared in full color. means of a foot treadle, “this machine enabled a boy to print
thirty sheets in the time required for a man and boy to print
In 1894, Will Bradly, an artist working for the Inland Printer,
four sheets on the old hand-press.”* George Phineas Gordon
convinced his publisher to try a radical idea: Change the
furthered the Ruggles innovations, culminating in his famous
magazine’s cover monthly. Although not entirely original, this
“Franklin” press (1858) whose design, Gordon claimed, came
notion defied conventional wisdom, which held that doing
to him from Benjamin Franklin in a dream. Be that as it may,
so was unnecessary, expensive, and diluted brand recognition.
printing technology had advanced significantly in under
After all the cover masthead templates of Harper’s Weekly or
30 years after centuries of dormancy. By the end of the 19th
Scribner’s remained unchanged from issue to issue, year to year,
century, high-speed rotary and web presses supplied the
and were thus instantly recognizable by their audiences. (As
burgeoning demand for newspapers, magazines, and calendars.
an aside, the National Geographic Magazine was one of the last
holdouts and only first published a photograph on its cover in Along with the faster presses, ancillary innovations including
1959.) Being a trade publication, the Inland Printer was ideally rolls of cheap paper that used wood pulp instead of rags (in
suited to experiment with cover layouts and typefaces. Artists time eliminating the occupation of rag picker) and advances
were commissioned to create covers and often given the in coating the papers with various clay compounds to produce
freedom to create a unified composition of image and text, high-quality glossy or “slick” sheets. New cutting, folding, and
instead of conforming to a pre-established masthead and cover binding machines kept pace with the high-speed presses.
format. The Inland Printer not only highlighted technical
From an artistic point of view, however, the most significant
advances in the field of printing, it also used them. General
advance was the introduction of photosensitive plates. Prior to
circulation magazines took notice.
this time all reproductions were of two basic types: intaglio and
Foremost among the new technologies were advances in relief printing. The former involved cutting lines into a copper
presses, paper manufacturing, half-tone photo-reproduction, plate. Next the plate was inked and wiped clean leaving ink
and of course electrification. The 19th century saw printing only in the groves formed either by the engravers burin (cutting
evolve from a labor-intensive, manual craft to an industrialized tool) or in the case of an etching, by acid eating away portions
high-speed manufactured product. When the first magazines of the copper plate. After covering the plate with paper, the
published in the Colonies appeared in 1741 within days of printer would apply great pressure and force the paper into the

14
grooves to receive the ink. Relief printing, on the other hand, artist’s work could now be reproduced exactly as conceived
involved cutting away the areas that would not be printed and without intermediate hands or being restricted to a single color:
inking the raised portions. black. The transition from line drawings to paintings set the
stage for the “Golden Age of American Illustration.”
Thomas Beckwith greatly improved the quality of illustrations
by employing boxwood rather than the softer woods commonly In the early decades of the 20th century, the numbers of magazines
used for woodcuts and most importantly by using the denser published increased exponentially. Lest one think this assertion
end grain instead of the side grain. He cut his blocks with an pure hyperbole, one need only consult Frank Luther Mott’s
engraver’s burin (graver). This technique allowed for a great monumental A History of Magazines in America (5 vols.) or
deal of precision, detail, and delicate line-work. As a relief John Tebbel’s and Mary Ellen Zuckerman’s more readable
technique, the blocks could be the same height as the type The Magazine in America: 1741–1990 to realize that this claim
(“type high,” approximately 1 inch) and could be readily is actually understated.** As magazine content evolved from
composed on the page layout. The cutting process, however, primarily literary or religious texts to more diversified topics,
was very labor intensive. After polishing and priming the specialization occurred. Magazines began to target audiences
block, the artist’s drawing was transferred in reverse onto the with texts and illustrations that represented such areas as family
whited surface. Reproducing a freehand drawing, for example, fare, women’s interests, outdoors, sports, satire, pinups and
required that most of the wood be cut away leaving only the pulps. Today it seems there is a magazine for every activity or
lines or ridges to be inked. interest imaginable. A case study of the pulps is instructive.

Frank Leslie, formerly the head of engraving at the Illustrated Like a 4th of July fireworks display, the trajectory of the pulps
London News emigrated to the United States in 1848 where he was brief, spectacular, full of fury and sound, before flaring
established Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper. Among many out in the 1950s. And like a fireworks display at its apex, the
other innovations, Leslie pioneered the use of multiple blocks cut field exploded into hundreds, indeed thousands, of individual
by different engravers in his covers and interior illustrations. This illuminated entities. For a dime, the pulps provided their
greatly shortened the time required to produce an image. On the readers, who numbered well over 10 million at one time, a
other hand, the finished product was only as good as the weakest ticket to adventure, romance, fantasy, or whatever Mittyesque
link in the production chain. Many artists felt that their work vision best suited the individual.
was diminished as it underwent production.
Historians credit Frank Munsey with leading the way when in
As the 19 century progressed, several advances occurred with
th
1896 he converted Argosy into an all-fiction periodical printed
the most significant artistically being the use of an electrotype on cheap, uncoated paper made from wood pulp. Prior to this
process to create a metal relief plate from a photographic switch, Argosy had undergone several incarnations from a boy’s
image. This was quickly augmented by the development of the weekly (The Golden Argosy) in 1882, to a mass-market mix of
halftone process that allowed middle values between black and stories, articles, photographs, and advertisements printed on
white to be reproduced quickly and inexpensively. By 1900 expensive, coated (“slick”) paper. With the all-fiction format and
engraving departments were a thing of the past, superannuated boasting “The biggest magazine in the world. A dollar’s worth of
by the new technology. Moreover, by the turn of the century, reading for Ten Cents,” Argosy had at last found its market niche.
color reproduction was possible and expanding greatly. The By the teens Argosy’s monthly sales topped 700,000.

15
Argosy was well positioned at the end of the 19th century. The 1920s saw the widespread emergence of the “New Woman.”
Before the era of movies and television, radio and Edison’s She had moved into the workforce in increasing numbers during
phonograph, entertainment options were limited. Minstrel WWI and with the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920
shows and vaudeville provided occasional entertainment, along could now vote. The growing popularity of the automobile
with organized spectator sports including baseball and, earlier, enabled many young women to lead freer lives away from the
rowing. Chautauqua-style gatherings delivered pleasing, edifying watchful eyes of their parents. Old social norms were crumbling
lectures and performances on a wide variety of topics. On a in an era of hot jazz, cool speakeasies, bathtub gin, and rampant
daily basis, however, most Americans relied on reading for both financial speculation (Cat. 30). Romance stories were tailored
news and entertainment. The Civil War had fueled Americans’ for and marketed to this emerging new woman.
appetite for news, and subsequent civic initiatives, including
Western pulps, heir to the dime novels of the late 19th century,
Carnegie libraries and public education, had produced a more
were as popular with men as romance pulps were with women.
literate population. Furthermore as the population shifted from
Combining nostalgia with action and a mythic geography
rural to urban environments, leisure time increased and with it
where men were men, pulps focusing exclusively on Western
time to read. By the end of the 19th century, for example, New
subjects first appeared beginning in 1919 with Western Story
York City boasted over a dozen daily newspapers.
Magazine, whose covers proudly proclaimed “Big, clean stories
Argosy’s success spawned imitators. In 1903 Street & Smith, of outdoor life.”
publishers of dime novels and weekly “story papers,” began
But “clean stories,” weren’t the only ones with appeal. The
publishing The Popular Magazine, but at 96 pages — half
twenties saw an outburst of lawlessness, one consequence of
the number of Argosy’s — plus its focus on boys limited its
Prohibition. Newspaper headlines screamed the exploits of
circulation. Munsey, having previously courted the youth
bootleggers and flamboyant mobsters like Al Capone and their
market, realized that as boys grew up their subscriptions lapsed.
nemeses including J. Edgar Hoover and his G-Men, a term
Besides, as a group, boys did not have much money, which
coined by “Machine Gun” Kelly during his 1933 arrest by
limited advertisers’ interest. The Popular Magazine, however,
government agents from the Bureau of Investigation, the
did add an important element to the all-fiction market: A
precursor to the FBI. The appetite for cop and gangster stories
full-color cover, a feature that Argosy, and indeed all pulps,
seemed insatiable, and the detective pulps endeavored to supply
would subsequently adopt.
the demand with increasingly salacious, violent, and bizarre
In the 1920s the pulps increasingly moved from general fiction stories. The pulp covers kept pace with the editorial content,
to specific genres including romance, Westerns, mystery, or and in many cases surpassed the stories’ sensationalism. Covers,
science fiction. In 1915 Street & Smith launched Detective after all, needed first to catch the eye of the newsstand browser
Story Magazine, the first pulp magazine specializing in a if a sale were to happen. The detectives could be anonymous
specific category. Initially published every other week, it gumshoes, private eyes in the tradition of dime-novel
soon became a weekly. Street & Smith followed up this protagonist Nick Carter, or mysterious crime fighters like
success in 1921 with Love Story, the first pulp dedicated Lamont Cranston, better known as The Shadow. Created
exclusively to romance stories. by Robert Leslie Bellem, Hollywood Detective Dan Turner

16
was the hero of his own pulp, a cover of which by Richard with the success of heroes such as Hopalong Cassidy. Moreover,
Lillis is included in the Sordoni Collection (Cat. 41). comic books and cheap paperback novels cut into the pulps’
market. By the mid-1950s the pulp era was over.
Unlike the family-oriented, general magazines printed on
coated paper —Saturday Evening Post, Liberty and other Of the thousands of pulp cover paintings created during the
“slicks” — the pulps relied on newsstand sales and not heyday of the genre, few remain. Most were simply discarded
subscriptions or advertising revenue. Indeed, many of the after publication since nobody valued them as art. It is said that
ads in pulps were hucksterist, offering success through the publishers would gladly return the paintings, providing of
correspondence schools, self-help manuals for seekers and course that the artists paid the postage. Most artists felt that
the lovelorn, and goods sold on the installment plan. As the the paintings weren’t worth it.
number of pulps proliferated, cover art became the key to
Interest in the pulps has revived substantially among collectors,
profitability along with specialized editorial content. The cover
cultural historians, and fans. Pulp pages have proliferated on
art of pulps with a male audience became increasingly lurid,
the web and numerous specialty publications have appeared
sadistic, outlandish, and sexual. Boldly hued covers, which
including pioneering surveys by Robert Lesser (1997) and
were usually printed in three primary colors (cyan, magenta,
co-authors Frank M. Robinson and Lawrence Davidson
and yellow), augmented the sensationalist art designed to catch
(1998). Reflecting the Sordoni Art Gallery’s long-standing
the eye of the newsstand browser and produce a sale.
interest in popular culture, Lesser was an invited lecturer
The pulps flourished during the 1920s and 1930s claiming at back in October 1998.
their peak ten million readers. With widespread unemployment
As exemplars of popular culture, magazines and their
during the Depression, many nevertheless managed to find a
illustrations reflected broadly shared ideals that were
dime to buy a pulp, which provided a way to help pass time
simultaneously created and propagated by the print media.
and escape from present realities.
Often times they depict a vanishing or imaginary world seen
After the recession of 1937, the Depression waned as numerous through nostalgic filters. As America became an urban and
economies here and abroad switched to wartime preparations. consumerist society, a romantic and idealized iconography
In the United States, factories geared up to provide war matériel, of small town life and old-fashioned values appeared regularly
which was distributed to allies even before the 1941 Lend in print. The Sordoni collection recalls many aspects of
Lease program and America’s entry into the conflict following this bygone era.
the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Although
the pulps remained popular during the war, various factors, * Thomas MacKellar. “Ruggles and Gordon.” Typographic Advertiser,
including paper shortages and rationing, were hastening their vol. 24, nos. 95 & 96 (Philadelphia, 1879), p. 689.

demise. With the end of the war and a new era beginning, the **Frank Luther Mott. A History of Magazines in America, 5 vols.
pulps were increasingly seen as anachronisms. The first to suffer Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1930–1968.
were the Westerns, which faced stiff competition from movies John Tebbel and Mary Ellen Zuckerman. The Magazine in America:
1741–1990. Oxford and New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1991.
and especially from television beginning in 1949 and the 1950s

17
Rolf Armstrong
In the 1920s Rolf Armstrong’s glamorous portraits of beautiful popular imagination after Howard Carter brought to light
women appeared regularly on the covers of Photoplay, Screenland, the riches from boy-king Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922. Like
Pictorial Review, and especially College Humor, for which he William Butler Yeats’ horseman, she will “Cast a cold eye/On
created over 65, beginning in 1925. Thinking of You (c. 1930) life, on death,” but from behind beautifully mascaraed lashes.
was immensely popular and appeared not only on the cover of
Armstrong’s preferred medium was pastel. Like Edgar Degas
College Humor, but also on calendars and even playing cards.
(1834 – 1917), who did so much to establish pastel as a modern
As is typical for Armstrong during the 1920s, the head fills medium, Armstrong favored the vibrant, brilliant colors of
the page. The sensual lips are often, as here, small, closed, pure pigment that characterize pastels. Moreover, the ability to
and shaped like Cupid’s trouble-making bow. The chin is blend hues was a further attraction, though it should be noted
tilted, either down, or more often up, allowing the dark that on occasion the artist chose not to: This may be seen in
nostrils to assume a prominent role in the composition. the highlight on the figure’s cheek beneath the veiled eye. Pastel
If the eyes are the windows of the soul, then the nostril is is a medium as well that suits rendering a variety of textures
the conduit for the breath of life. such as the leather of her gloves, the fragility of a feather, or
the gossamer delicacy of lace. Overall Thinking of You reflects a
Rolf Armstrong’s women are the antitheses of John Held Jr.’s
Deco sensibility in its fascination with the exotic, luxury, and
androgynous, thin, flat-chested boyish flappers (Cat. 30).
mass, in contrast to the linear Art Nouveau.
More significantly Armstrong eschews Held’s comic aloofness
in favor of an alienating familiarity. Armstrong’s disembodied, Thinking of You, 1930, may be seen as the endnote of an era
Art Deco heads float into our consciousness from a void, characterized by frenetic hedonism, bootleg gin, hot jazz,
devoid of incident. Their eyes engage ours. We find it difficult women’s suffrage, and fortunes made and lost. When the
to escape their penetrating gaze — a gaze that is mysterious, Stock Market crashed, everything changed. Shortly after editor
haughty, mesmerizing, and privy to dark secrets. H.N. Swanson left College Humor in 1932, Armstrong found
his contributions no longer in accord with the magazine’s
Nowhere is this more apparent than in Thinking of You, where
new editorial direction. Armstrong, however, was resilient and
strong side lighting reveals one emerald eye, and casts into
responded to the new environment by incorporating more
shadow the other. She is simultaneously ancient and modern,
background and rendering the entire figure in his later work.
timeless. With turban and veil, she is a creature of inscrutable
power, evoking the Egyptian mysteries that so captured the

18
1. ROLF ARMSTRONG (1889 –1960)

Thinking of you. 1930

Pastel.
231⁄4 × 20
Published: College Humor, March 1930, Cover.

19
Paul Bacon
Joan Delacourt was fifteen, five-feet-eight in height, and previously showcased Bob Haggart (1984), Pee Wee Russell and
weighed two hundred forty-five pounds. Uncommunicative George Wettling (1986), and Mel Powell (1987). Backed by
at her mother’s fancy dinner parties, Joan opened her mouth all-star musicians, Bacon’s performance as singer and “hot comb”
only to take in food. When younger, she was pudgy, having not player remains a high point for those fortunate to have attended.*
yet shed her baby fat, much to the chagrin of her mother, who
On display at the Sordoni Art Gallery were representative
promptly enrolled her daughter in Miss Flegg’s school of dance.
examples of Bacon’s jazz and book covers, including his 1956
This failed to produce the intended result — a svelte, trim body
jacket for Meyer Levin’s Compulsion. Revolutionary at the
like the eponymous Joan Crawford’s — and shortly thereafter,
time, this design launched Bacon’s signature “big book look”
in Joan’s recollection, her mother gave up on her. Joan’s
characterized by prominent typography and a small image,
predilection for consuming large quantities was not so much
a formula that he repeated with great success for Joseph
due to a love of food, but rather to an ongoing battle waged
Heller’s Catch-22. In some mysterious way, Bacon’s designs
with mother. Simply put, the issue was one of control in general
became visual signatures of, and inseparable from, the books
and of Joan’s body in particular, and clearly the daughter
themselves: Think Portnoy’s Complaint, The Confessions of
was winning. Indeed Joan acted on a tactical gestalt: She
Nat Turner, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,
understood that she would receive the same amount of
Slaughterhouse-Five, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,
maternal scolding whether she ate a single slice or half the pie.
among others.
Thereafter her course was ordained.
Bacon worked in a small format, usually no larger than 6 × 8
Paul Bacon’s design for Margaret Atwood’s Lady Oracle
inches or so. His work was doubly haptic — that is, meant to be
alludes to Joan’s dancing school days, but also to the cliché
held and drawn by hand. He was a master of calligraphy who
that there’s a skinny person inside every fat one. More critically
insisted on hand lettering even after computer fonts became
the illustration mirrors the myriad “plots within plots” and
ubiquitous and widely adopted by most other designers.
the protagonist’s shifting personae in this novel.
For somebody so in touch with the spirit of the times — whose
Gifted in two fields, Bacon was also a singer of jazz standards, a
hand is literally on the works that define the era: Mailer,
crooner, who performed weekly for decades at the now-defunct
Kerouac, Caro — Bacon was remarkably low key. Yet he was
Cajun in New York City. In 1999 he had a one-person exhibition
an essential player in the New York publishing world: Surely
at the Sordoni Art Gallery and performed at Wilkes University
his work sold more books than any reviewer’s words.
as part of the Celebration of Art and Music series that had

*Jon-Erik Kellso (trumpet), Herb Gardner (trombone), Orange Kellin (clarinet), Keith Ingham (piano),
Eddy Davis (banjo), Vince Giordano (bass sax), and Stanley King (washboard).
Note: As principals of Chiaroscuro Records, Andrew Sordoni and Hank O’Neal commissioned Paul Bacon
for numerous CD album covers, posters, and graphic designs.

20
2. PAUL BACON (1923–2015)

Lady Oracle. 1976

Mixed media.
91⁄2 × 73⁄4
Published: Margaret Atwood. Lady Oracle. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1976, Cover.

21
Walter M. Baumhofer
In the fall of 1942, the first American Nobel Laureate in Baumhofer’s story illustration shows Gwynne’s fancy hairdo
literature, Sinclair Lewis abruptly and perhaps impetuously with hair rolling over the forehead like a wave breaking on
began teaching a creative-writing course at the University of a beach and a riptide of hair massed behind. The tilt of her
Wisconsin. His position was untenured and indeed unpaid. shoulders and head creates the impression of deep concentration.
Faculty members questioned his motives and wondered if The contrast of shadow and highlight on her forehead suggests
Lewis was merely gathering material for his next novel. the dualistic complexity of the creative process. She holds a
Previously he had skewered religious hypocrisy, the vacuity sharpened pencil poised to record any inspiration in the
of middle-class life, greedy businessmen, and American unlikely event that her muse obliges. As is typical of period
fascism. Was academia next? interior illustrations it was printed in only two colors for
economy’s sake. That said Baumhofer effectively uses red to
Undergraduates, faculty wives, and other aspiring novelists
move the eye from the cuffs to the bow to the mouth and ears.
submitted manuscripts seeking a coveted spot in his class.
The composition likewise is simple: a square composed of the
In the end he enrolled 22 students, almost half again as
arms and torso on which an oval is set. No background was
many as the original limit. After 5 or 6 tumultuous weeks
necessary; the figure alone sufficed and gave the art director
in Madison, which included a visit by his “niece,” the
great flexibility in its placement on the page.
young actress Marcella Powers, Lewis announced that
he had taught all he had to teach and departed for Baumhofer had made his reputation in the 1920s and 1930s
New York. One tangible outcome of his teaching with pulp covers. When the genre declined in the late 1930s,
experience was the short story “Nobody to Write About,” he was able to transition to the “slicks,” which published higher
which was published in Cosmopolitan the following June quality, less lurid stories on coated paper. As the war was fought
and illustrated by Walter Baumhofer. The main protagonist in Europe and soon to include the United States, the taste for
in the story, Gwynne, wishes to become a writer and hyperbolic characters, whether historical or fantasy, began to be
dreams of historical romantic escapades, while lamenting superseded by more down-to-earth concerns.
the utter paucity of interesting characters in her own
In his collecting of art, Andrew Sordoni has often been
home town. It turns out of course that she’s the boring
drawn to works depicting the solitary figure. This painting is
one, her neighbors lead drama-filled lives and, at the end,
a particular favorite. As a collector he has identified a number
her dull unimaginative husband catches a train out of
of works that he plans “to die with.” This is one.
town for a new life.

22
3. WALTER M. BAUMHOFER (1904–1987)

Gwynne. 1943
Oil on canvas.
23 × 22
Published: Sinclair Lewis. “Nobody to Write About.” Cosmopolitan, July 1943, p. 25.

23
Enoch Bolles & Bradshaw Crandell
In 1554 Ludovico Dolce published a letter, purportedly written often includes a narrative component, a gag of some sort: The
decades prior, by Raphael Sanzio to the courtier Baldassare dropped panties, the farmer’s daughter, the damsel in distress, or
Castiglione. The painter observed: “I say that to paint a the obliging zephyr uplifting a dress to the amusement of male
beautiful woman I need to see many beautiful women, on gawkers. Marilyn Monroe’s film staging of the latter over a subway
this condition: that you are here with me to judge the best. grate is perhaps the best-known example of this visual cliché.
Yet lacking both in good judges, and in beautiful women,
The Sordoni Collection has few examples of classic pin-ups
I avail myself of a certain Idea that comes to my mind.”*
other than the Arthur Sarnoff, Petty, or Bolles, and none has
The letter evokes the Neo-Platonic notion, popular during the
a corny narrative. (Cats. 63, 58, 6) Glamour is more to the
Renaissance, of Ideal Forms that exist beyond the imperfections
collector’s taste.
of the sub-lunar realm. The role of the artist, therefore, was not
simply to imitate or “ape” nature, but rather to create an Ideal Generally speaking, artists who created pin-up and glamour
that improved upon nature itself. When painting a beautiful art specialized in the genres, as did the magazines, advertising
woman, the artist must not rely solely on what the eye sees, agencies, and calendar publishers that purchased the art: The
but must combine bits and pieces from many sources, both covers of Breezy Stories, for example, were usually pin-ups,
Classical and contemporary, to create an ideal type. Raphael’s whereas The American Magazine preferred glamour girls.
letter, which was regarded as genuine for centuries, has had an
Pretty girls were, as the name implies, images of attractive
outsized impact on how the female form is depicted.
young women and classic beauties created by mainstream
American Illustration has seen a variety of ideal female types illustrators who worked primarily for the higher-end,
that are often identified with their creators, including the family-friendly magazines, such as the Saturday Evening Post.
Gibson Girl, Christy Girl, Varga(s) Girl, and Petty Girl,
As a group, pin-up, glamour, and pretty girls represent changing
among others. Charles Martignette and other authorities have
ideals of female attractiveness, objectification, and exploitation.
classified the various ideal types as glamour, pin-up, or pretty
Seductive but unattainable, they are the stuff of fantasy
girls, with some overlap, of course.** The glamour girl can be
representing the eroticism and playfulness of Aphrodite in
shown either full length or simply head and shoulders, as in the
contrast to the solidity of Hera, goddess of maternity and
case of the Bradshaw Crandell, opposite, or the George Petty
domesticity. During WWII, when countless pin-ups were
in which the girl wears a gown, evening dress, or similar fancy
tacked to barrack walls, taped to ship hulls, and painted on
outfit (Cat. 57). A pin-up girl, on the other hand, is always
airplane fuselages, the images not only served as reminders
full length, wears skin-tight bathing suits, shorts, or lingerie,
of home but as apotropaic totems warding off evil. Changing
and often favors gymnastic poses, as in the Enoch Bolles. In
mores and a diversified workforce have greatly reduced the
the more risqué examples, the lingerie is transparent, but that
ubiquity of these images that once adorned the backrooms
which is revealed was limited by contemporary standards more
of countless commercial concerns.
restrictive then those in vogue today (Cat. 58). The pin-up

*Ludovico Dolce. Lettere di diversi eccellentiss. huomini, raccolte da diversi libri: tra le quali se ne leggono
molte, non piu stampate, Venice, Gabriel Giolito de Ferrari, pp. 226–8, translation by K. Christian.
**Charles G. Martignette and Louis K. Meisel. The Great American Pin-Up. Koln, Lisboa, New York,
Paris, Tokyo: Taschen, 1996, p. 22.

24
4. ENOCH BOLLES (1883–1976) 5. BRADSHAW CRANDELL (1896–1966)

Dancer. 1935 Woman with Hand Muff. 1930

Oil on masonite. Oil on masonite.
26 ⁄4 × 21 ⁄2
1 1
30 × 24
Published: Breezy Stories, August 1935, Cover. Published: The American Magazine, February 1934, Cover.

25
Pruett Carter
Vina Cote represented a new generation of stable owners shows his mastery of observation in the complex and graceful
and trainers. Her late father, known to all as The Gentleman, motion with which the other jockey mounts. It is likely that
had been an old school, generous horseman who’d gladly keep Carter was familiar with the equine paintings of Sir Alfred
a horse, such as Cloverdale, even if he had no intention of Munnings (1878 – 1959) and perhaps with those of Sam Savitt
racing her. Vina rejected this outlook and saw racing as a (1917– 2000), another master of the horse who grew up in
business run with one’s head and not one’s heart. If a horse Wilkes-Barre.
were a non-performing asset, get rid of it.
The equestrian portrait was once among the most revered in
Like The Gentleman, Cloverdale had an over-sized heart, and art. Great men astride warhorses epitomized power, and over-
that was her problem. She had run one race that nearly killed life-size bronzes of Roman emperors on horseback were a standard
her and thereafter been retired. Now Vina, with her eyes on feature of Imperial fora. The exceptional survivor from the
a rich Brooklyn Handicap purse, insisted on racing the mare Classical past is the Marcus Aurelius, now in Rome’s Capitoline
despite the objections of her rider Nicky and others who knew Museum, but which until recently anchored Michelangelo’s
that the mare could win but not survive. Campidoglio piazza. (A copy now serves instead.) That this
great equestrian survived is due to a fortunate misunderstanding
Pruett Carter has painted an intimate moment just before
that misidentified the rider as Constantine, the first Christian
the horses move to the starting gate. Astride Cloverdale,
emperor. The bronze, which during the Early Renaissance
Nicky listens, and Vina whispers strategy. As the caption
stood in front of St. John Lateran, Rome’s cathedral, inspired
notes, he hated her orders, but would obey. He does not
and challenged Donatello, whose own Equestrian Statue of
smile at the beautiful trainer. His face, half cast in shadow,
Gattamelata (1453) was the first bronze, non-funerary
is as dark as his thoughts. He loves the mare and hates the
sculpture of this type to be created since antiquity. In the
view that puts pure gain above all else.
centuries thereafter, the public spaces of Europe and the
Like many accomplished illustrators, Pruett Carter had Americas have filled with commemorative sculptures of
deftness and bravura handling oil paint on stiff hog bristles mounted rulers and generals solemnly surveying the scene.
and the palette knife. The Cote racing silks are broadly and Leonardo da Vinci, however, offered an alternative to this
thickly rendered in quick strokes. Light from the left is closely rather staid depiction in his now lost Battle of Anghiari (1505),
observed as it illuminates his silks and Vina’s face and purse. in which rearing, writhing, snorting horses battle. This same
The highlight on Cloverdale’s flank is but a splash of paint. explosive energy persists in regard to Fred Harman as Jim
Carter is supremely confident in his ability to evoke the essence Steranko discusses (Cat. 111).
of a scene through suggestion and without fussiness. He also

26
6. PRUETT CARTER (1891–1955)

Nicky hated her orders but he would obey. 1939

Oil on canvas.
28 × 50
Published: Borden Chase. “You Can’t Have a Heart.”
The American Magazine, August 1939, pp. 20 – 21.

27
Dean Cornwell
The painting illustrated Cynthia Stockley’s romance novel, is the healing balm of youth and hope. The contrast between
The Garden of Peril, set in colonial Rhodesia and serialized in the figures echoes the story’s underlying polarities of loyalty
Cosmopolitan in 1923. Pam Heseltine, a sardonic Englishman, and deceit, temptation and resistance, love and lust, sickness
has spent a dissipated life for which he is now suffering. His and health, narcissism and self-sacrifice.
one remaining desire is to outlive his elderly cousin, Lord
Light fills the shaded Minto Lodge veranda where they sit.
Kenchester, and inherit the family title and estate for the sake
The still-life objects  — a seltzer bottle, tall glass and tray resting
of his vain and unloving wife, Doria. Should Pam die prior to
on a vaguely Indian side table beside a pith helmet — evoke
the current lord, the estate would pass instead to his younger
an exotic, tropical locale. The painting has a spontaneous and
brother Richard. Having returned to Rhodesia to pay a final
confident feeling, especially in the loosely brushed lush foliage
visit to his cousin Punch, Pam undergoes an experimental
behind Peril.
treatment using herbal infusions from Dr. Bruce Kelly’s garden.
Peril Kelly, the young woman attending Pam, is the doctor’s Patricia Broder in her 1978 monograph on Cornwell observes
niece, ward, and at the story’s conclusion, Punch’s wife. that during the 1920s his primary audience was the women
readers of Cosmopolitan and related women’s magazines.
Dean Cornwell, once known as the “Dean of American
Broder notes that “Cornwell heroines of this period have
Illustration,” depicts both figures in cool whites offset against
great, fragile beauty. They stare wistfully into the distance
cobalt blues, antidotes to the oppressive African heat. Slumped
as they tend their children or the ill or wait for their exotic
in his chair, Pam, who “looked like some wild, hawkish bird
lovers.”* Peril certainly fits this description.
that had been winged and chained to a post,” is the picture
of melancholic resignation. Holding a book of poems, Peril, Once a popular author, Stockley is today virtually unknown.
“calm and tranquil as a gardenia opening in the moonlight,” Like Pam in the novel, Stockley died a suicide.

*Patricia Janis Broder. Dean Cornwell: Dean of Illustrators. New York, NY: Balance House/Watson-Guptill, 1978, p. 21.

28
7. DEAN CORNWELL (1892–1960)

“Gad,” said Heseltine to Peril, “if the Doctor can only keep me going long enough.” 1923
Oil on canvas.
36 × 30
Published: Cynthia Stockley. “The Garden of Peril.” Cosmopolitan, April 1923, p. 23.

29
Joseph De Mers
Joseph De Mers sketches out an age-old tableau: The wife asked: “Is he the greatest living painter in the United States?”
sulks, her nose turned up, while the husband heads for the
De Mers sought out the essence of the scene, the dramatic
couch, dragging a six-point star-pattern quilt, a pillow, and
moment that well reflected his many years working in
sheets. The illustration accompanied a 1954 story of adultery
Hollywood for Disney and other studios. His approach was
and forgiveness, with a twist at the end. In this painting, Tom
reductive and at times sketchy. It’s enough to leave the
and Georgianne have returned to his parents’ home for a family
doorknobs and key unfinished but to add color to the lock
reunion. Their marriage has been on the rocks since Tom’s
faceplate. Although the couple is representative of post-war
affair with a high-powered female executive, but he had hoped
achievers — she, sophisticated and independent, and he, a
for a show of unity in front of the family. This hope is dashed
“Madison Avenue” type — the room furnishings recall an
when Tom’s brother is assigned the spare room with twin beds.
older aesthetic with the spindles of the brass bed echoing
The story written by Frances Ensign Greene seems old-fashioned, the mirrored vanity. As an aside, De Mers often painted the
but De Mers’ 1950 illustration was very contemporary. The Danish Modern/Mid-century furniture preferred by urban
background is spare, even incomplete with a rigid geometry professionals, but here the setting creates a tension between
of verticals dividing the painting, in a manner that suggests old and new mores. The tension is made more excruciating
familiarity with Barnett Newman’s “zip” paintings of the same by compressing and flattening the space. The bed, for
time. The careful rhythm created by these controlling verticals, example, does not recede but is tilted up instead. Considering
combined with a palette limited to yellows, blues, greens, and the cramped quarters, his head is much too small and hers
a touch of red, shows an understanding of Piet Mondrian’s too large. The “big head” with loosely painted hair, here with
abstract compositions from the 1940s as well. This is not really surprising highlights of blue, was often found in De Mers’
surprising since the California-born De Mers had been trained illustrations. Other critics have compared his handling of
in the fine art tradition before moving to New York to work at hair with contemporary Abstract Action Paintings.
the famous Cooper Agency. De Mers would certainly have been
Although sympathetic to the hurt feelings involved, De Mers
aware of the excitement created by vanguard artists associated
manages to see humor in an otherwise difficult situation.
with Abstract Expressionism. Life magazine (August 8, 1949),
for example, had run a feature article on Jackson Pollock and

30
8. JOSEPH DE MERS (1910–1984)

“Why don’t you go back to her?” she cried. And hated herself as much as she hated that other woman.
Only another man could understand Tom when he said: “But I didn’t love her…” Only another
woman could understand his wife when she said: “I could forgive you anything but that…” 1950
Gouache and Conté pencil.
36 × 30
Published: Frances Ensign Greene. “It Didn’t Mean a Thing.” McCall’s, March 1954, pp. 38–39.

31
Harvey Dunn
In George Pattullo’s short story, Ed Banty and wife Goldie are and bent at the knee. The dynamic asymmetry continues with
hard-luck wanderers in search of the Promised Land. They had one arm at rest, freely hanging at his side, and the other poised
grown corn near the Nations, then drifted over to the Panhandle and tense. Weight shift is carried upward to his sloping shoulders.
before heading west to New Mexico. There in the shadow of Goldie, at his feet, seems less stoic, but with equal dignity and
the Capitan Mountains, they tried raising sheep, but again a profound quietude. In some ways the grouping recalls antique
misfortune followed and they lost their entire herd during a compositions of dying warriors and their wives, but without
raging storm. Picking up stakes once again, Ed and Goldie the extreme emotions often found in Hellenistic art.
set their sights on southern California. With their meager
Dunn was born to homesteading parents in the Dakota Territory
possessions —“a canvas-topped wagon, some blankets, a few
and understood first-hand what moved “nesters” and other
pots and pans, an ax, a spade, and a dog”— they prepared to
migrants to seek a better life in the West. He worked hard as
cross the desert that stood between them and their dream.
a youth and his paintings have a muscular, broadly brushed
Taking a shortcut through the barren wastes, they soon lost
quality; numerous commentators observed that he seemed to
their dog, then their horse. Ed carried his wife for some
attack the canvas with his brush. He left the Prairies to study
distance. Now she rests gently on the ground. From here
at the Art Institute in Chicago where he met a visiting
they will go no farther.
Howard Pyle, whom he followed East in 1904 and studied at
The artist Harvey Dunn endows their plight with an epic the Pyle School for two years. After leaving Pyle, Dunn quickly
quality. In this work he follows his own teachings, as recorded achieved success as an illustrator and subsequently as a teacher.
by his student Dean Cornwell: “When doing an illustration, He once observed: “Art schools teach complexities, while
the first step is to feel your subject, then the idea, and last the I teach the simplicities.”** Water! demonstrates his ability
composition.”* Dunn has eliminated props, emphasized to simplify a composition for maximum emotional impact.
bleakness, and employed a muted pallet in order not to distract With a limited pallet of earth tones, an empty, alien landscape,
from the essence of a doomed love story. His face obscured in and a centered, axial figural composition, he has created a
dark shadow, Ed stands like a classical statue in a contrapposto tragic tableau that despite its setting in the American West,
with one engaged or weight bearing leg and the other relieved evokes a Classical gravitas.

*Walt Reed. Harvey Dunn: Illustrator and Painter of the Pioneer West. Santa Cruz, CA: Flesk Publications, 2010, p. 211.
**Judy Goffman Cutler and Laurence S. Cutler. Howard Pyle, His Students & The Golden Age of American Illustration.
Newport, RI: The American Civilization Foundation, 2017, p. 67.

32
9. HARVEY DUNN (1884–1952)

Water! Water! Water! 1910

Oil on canvas.
35 × 21
Published: George Pattullo. “Off the Trail.” McClure’s, March 1912, p. 519.

33
Anton Otto Fischer
That April things were going well for the Gaff and Gun, Sons, 1947). Eventually landing in New York, he went to work
a schooner from Tumbleton Tickle, Notre Dame Bay, for illustrator A.B. Frost. This was followed by two years of
Newfoundland. The hunt had been successful, the hold study in Paris at the Académie Julian under Jean Paul Laurens,
chock-full of seal pelts, when a nor’easter blew up and and upon his return to the States, with Howard Pyle.
trapped the ship in ice. Further disaster followed: The ice
In this painting, Fischer combines his strong realistic skills, the
splintered the ship, and the frozen pans split, throwing
result of a vigorous academic training that emphasized mastery
some of the surviving crew into the frigid waters where they
of the human form, with a lesson learned from Pyle: “Project
perished. Six castaways survived, at first.
your mind into your subject until you actually live in it.”
Anton Otto Fischer, who specialized in marine scenes, ships, Indeed, Fischer was well known for his ability to capture
battles at sea, and nautical nightmares, painted the six survivors, emotional and psychological nuance in his subjects. The desolate
stranded together. Grouped on the right, they peer at the vast landscape that dominates the entire left-hand side of the
emptiness of a desolate sea. With twilight falling, surrounded painting creates a sober balance between the forlorn castaways
by water, they watch the distant cliffs and realize that their and the cold indifference of nature. The manner in which the
plan to hike to shore has been dashed. Youngster Sandy Lee figures are grouped creates a unity, albeit one with inklings
has collapsed in exhaustion, fear, and despair. Standing next of disintegration. Although many of Fischer’s marine scenes
to him, Tom Bald expresses a defiant pugnaciousness. Old included ships, this is noteworthy for their absence, which
Uncle Bill Tuft*, bearded and weary, epitomizes resignation here serves to underscore the emotional. Fischer’s brushwork
as offshore winds slowly push them out to sea. is loose, confident, and powerful. It reinforces the sense of
movement and instability of the floe, and by extension the
Fischer knew ships and the ocean’s moods. Orphaned as a child
anxiety of the men themselves.
in Germany, he shipped out at 16 and spent the next six years
on the mane. He subsequently recounted that experience in
Focs’le Days: A Story of My Youth (New York: Charles Scribner’s

*When the story was republished as “Jimmie Horn’s Last Cruise” in Norman Duncan, Battles Royal Down North. New York, NY:
Fleming H. Revell Company, 1918, Billy Turf had undergone a name change to Jimmie Horn. Fischer’s illustration did not appear in that volume.

34
10. ANTON OTTO FISCHER (1882–1962)

With the cliffs of the coast in view the castaways came to a breach of water. 1915
Oil on canvas.
16 × 30
Published: Norman Duncan. “Battle Royal.” Saturday Evening Post, July 3, 1915, p. 5.

35
James Montgomery Flagg
This rather unusual watercolor by James Montgomery Flagg manner of a Gibson Girl or a pal in the manner of a [Har-
was published as a Judge cover in August 1914, shortly after the rison] Fisher or [Howard Chandler] Christy Girl. In Flagg’s
beginning of World War I. Carolyn Kitch has sought to explain artistic world, beautiful women seduced men and led them to
“Flagg’s … drawing of a woman dancing with a lobster who ruin.”*** In this watercolor the woman is indeed saucy. She is
was all claws” as “a humorous reference to the animal dances” confident, whereas “her steady” is a lobster, which the Oxford
then popular.* Ragtime music had spawned animal-dance English Dictionary defines as: “a slow-witted, awkward, or
fads such as the Turkey Trot, Bunny Hug, Grizzly Bear, gullible person; a fool, dupe; a bore” in American slang. (The
Kangaroo Hop, and Fox Trot; the guardians of public morals earlier association with British Redcoats does not apply here.)
were appalled. President-elect Woodrow Wilson cancelled his
The dancer is an ideal Flagg Girl. According to the artist,
1913 inaugural ball out of concern that the attendees would
as quoted by Susan Meyer: “She should be tall, with wide
create a scandal by dancing the Turkey Trot. In The Social
shoulders; a face as symmetrical as a Greek vase; thick,
Dance (1924), the righteous Dr. R.A. Adams bemoaned: “It is
wavy hair, either dark or light; thick, long lashes; straight
a sad reflection on the people of this Nation that they should
short nose tipped up a bit at the end; her eyes so full of
run out of dance steps and dance names and come down to the
feminine allure.”****
level of the brutes whose sexual actions they imitate in what are
called animal dances. It is well known that these animal dances Flagg’s mastery of the watercolor technique is apparent. He
are imitations of the animals in their sex relations and sex has confidently sketched out a rough composition in graphite,
exercise, and that they are intended to arouse sexual desire traces of which are visible, and quickly painted the rest from
and result in sex satisfaction.”** That many of these dances direct observation. His colors are crisp and not muddy. Flagg
originated with African-Americans further underscored their did not draw from photographs and tended to belittle the
lewd and licentious propensities in the moralists’ view. talent of those who did.

In 1914 James Montgomery Flagg was a wealthy cosmopolitan Although Flagg was steadfastly opposed to “Modern Art,” this
celebrity whose friends included movie stars such as John particular work would not have been out of place in a Dada or
Barrymore and numerous social celebrities. Flagg was in great Surrealist exhibition. Salvador Dalí, for example, created complex
demand as an illustrator, whose skill with pen and ink was works featuring lobsters as a symbol of male vulnerability in the
equal to Charles Dana Gibson’s. But as Kitch notes: “The Flagg presence of the eternal feminine. The lobster, after all, turns red
Girl who appeared in color on his magazine covers was a different only when boiled.
kind of woman. She was ‘saucy’ rather than proper in the

*Carolyn Kitch. The Girl on the Magazine Cover: The Origins of Visual Stereotypes in American Mass Media. Chapel Hill, NC:
The University of North Carolina Press, 2001, p. 63.
** https://blogs.loc.gov/now-see-hear/2014/11/its-scandalous-its-immoral-its-the-turkey-trot/
*** Kitch, p. 63. Flagg himself was well known for having many affairs with beautiful women and did not appear to be ruined by these liaisons.
**** Susan E. Meyer. James Montgomery Flagg. New York, NY: Watson-Guptil, 1974, p. 21.

36
11. JAMES MONTGOMERY FLAGG (1877–1960)

Her Steady. 1914

Watercolor.
247⁄8 × 181⁄4
Published: Judge, August 8, 1914, Cover.

37
Thomas J. Fluharty
Thomas Fluharty created more than 100 covers for the Weekly completion for these two Art Deco marvels built under Mayor
Standard, including this one for a story by Fred Siegel and Jimmy Walker with the fitful rebuilding of the World Trade
Michael Goodwin, “The Mystery of Michael Bloomberg.” Center under Mayor Bloomberg.
The subtitle of the article sums up its thesis: “Why does a
The chair is a powerful symbol of authority dating back
popular but mediocre mayor think he should run for president?”
millennia. The English word derives from Old French chaiere,
A puzzler a decade ago in 2007, it now appears prescient.
which in turn is from the Latin cathedra, meaning “seat,” but
Like David Levine, whose caricatures graced The New York now primarily referencing a bishop’s home church. Cathedrals
Review of Books for years, Fluharty favors the big head on a obviously have long been symbolic of temporal and spiritual
small body. In addition to training as an illustrator, Fluharty power. The chair is profoundly anthropomorphic with its
studied classic Northern European painting techniques with arms and legs, back and seat. That the inanimate object is so
Jeff Hurinenko and Joe Paquet. Unlike many illustrators who much more majestic than its occupant further emphasizes his
prefer quick-drying water-based media such as watercolor or shortcomings. In Egyptian or Babylonian art — for example
acrylic, Fluharty works traditionally, laying down thin layers or the stele of the Code of Hammurabi — the ruler is typically
glazes of oil paint to produce the jewel-like surfaces associated seated and much larger than those attending him. Here the
with Dutch or Flemish Old Masters and the illustrations of chair, and not the man, dominates.
Maxfield Parrish (Cats. 53, 54).
Two other details in Fluharty’s painting are of interest.
His portrait of Bloomberg seated on a monographed throne The first is its photographic quality whereby the wall
wryly points out that his subject lacks the stature to match sconce with candles and the window mullions are distorted.
his ambition or, for that matter, the ambitions of the two Second is the view out the window with the ever-present
buildings (the Chrysler and Empire State) carved into the symbols of New York City: a rooftop water tower (tank)
legs of the chair. Indeed, one might compare the speed of and a steam-belching chimney.

38
12. THOMAS J. FLUHARTY (b. 1962)

The Mystery of Michael Bloomberg. 2007

Oil on archival linen.
24 × 18
Published: The Weekly Standard, May 14, 2007, Cover.

39
John Gannam
Faith Storm was beautiful, rich, and, at 28, thrice divorced. warm, graceful curves of her broad shoulders, the firm,
Her ex-husbands had been an overweight poet, a dabbler in the high breasts, the flat stomach and the glorious sweep of
art trade, and a middle-aged “grass widower”— that is, divorced thigh which was the courtier’s delight. Her skin was the
like herself. But despite, or perhaps on account of, her great color of honey and her eyes…”
beauty, each husband in turn had sought and found love with
Gannam was well known as a perfectionist. Typically, after
another, a situation that Faith did not find particularly troubling.
completing preparatory sketches inspired by the text, he
Now she had fallen for a wounded veteran just off the boat would photograph models in the studio and then work up
after V-E Day, but he did not reciprocate her affection. After a rough color sketches to finalize the composition and hues.
soiree at her fancy Fifth Avenue mansion, the sergeant declined Using opaque gouache and transparent watercolors, he was
her invitation to linger and departed with another. Alone, her able to achieve a balance between the foreground and
guests gone, Faith confronted her naked self in the mirror and background. His use of props — here hard crystal candlesticks,
asked herself what she stands for. perfume bottles, and a glass dressing-table top — contrasts
with the warmth and softness of flesh and flowers. This effect
The artist captures both her exquisite form and pensive mood.
is enhanced by light from the right falling on the figure’s
As Gannam noted in a 1946 book by Ernest W. Watson and
hip and thigh, which appear to come forward, while the
subsequently quoted by Fred Taraba, “Word descriptions have
shadows of the back recede. The indistinct reflection in the
a tremendous power for fixing a visual impression.”* Gannam
mirror, excepting the vibrant red lips, further adds to the
faithfully captures author Dale Eunson’s description of the
atmosphere of ambiguity between the material and spiritual,
scene: “She let her white robe slither to her boudoir chair and
the body and the heart.
she crouched, naked, before the mirror of her dressing table… .
She leaned closer, her eyes searching the face, tracing the

*Fred Taraba. Masters of American Illustration: 41 Illustrators and How They Worked. Saint Louis, MO: The Illustrated Press, 2011, p. 234.

40
13. JOHN GANNAM (1907–1965)

She studied herself in the mirror of her dressing table. It was characteristic of Faith
to look for the answer in her mirror, for it had never failed her. 1945
Gouache on illustration board.
18 × 13
Published: Dale Eunson. “Sleeping Beauty.” Cosmopolitan, January 1946, p. 42.

41
William James Glackens and John Sloan
In February 1908, a group of artists known as The Eight of space to the drawing. Sloan, who seemed to delight in visual
participated in what was to become a seminal exhibition at puns, placed the older man next to a cold, stone column and
the Macbeth Gallery in New York City. Encouraged by Robert the younger group around a living, growing sapling. The
Henri, a leading artist and educator who had resigned from drawing takes on gravity and becomes a memento mori,
the National Academy of Design jury in protest after it had a reminder that, like changing fashions, our time is short
rejected paintings by William Glackens, George Luks and with the destination always in sight.
Everett Shinn as unworthy for inclusion in the Academy’s
In Emery Pottle’s “The Wedding Guests,” a comedy of
spring 1907 exhibition, the Macbeth exhibition marked a clean
manners illustrated by William Glackens, the postman has
break with the Academy’s conservative aesthetic. The Eight was
just delivered “the impressive, pleasantly fat, ‘creamy’ they call
not a homogenous group, stylistically speaking. Henri, John
them in novels, envelope” announcing the upcoming nuptials
Sloan, Glackens, Luks, and Shinn painted gritty urban scenes
of Maud and Willie. Anne’s initial reaction is joyful with a hint
and came to be known as The Ashcan School. Ernest Lawson,
of accomplishment. Her husband, a freelance writer, takes a
Maurice Prendergast, and Arthur B. Davies, on the other hand,
somewhat mordant view of the happy event but is careful not
exemplified the refined sensibilities of nineteenth-century
to dampen her enthusiasm. When Anne is tapped to be the
French painting.
matron of honor and her husband as usher, however, she
John Sloan’s drawing reminds us that he began his career as frets that the money she has been carefully saving for a new
an illustrator working for the Philadelphia Inquirer. In a few dining-room table is about to be squandered on an ugly pink
deft strokes he has captured a dramatic and poignant encounter crêpe dress and hat with a black feather, a new outfit for him,
between a solitary older gentleman and a pair of younger men and a present of some sort.
lavishing attention on a fashionably dressed lady with hand
Glackens depicts the fashionable couple at table. Anne is
on hip. Her posture and confidence suggest that she is a “New
reading while her husband watches her reaction with
Woman,” more liberated and independent than her mother’s
dispassion. Anne’s hair, piled up in a style reminiscent of the
generation. The diagonal placement of the figures and the
then popular Gibson Girl, is topped with a ribbon. Shown in
intervening space add a dynamic tension as well as symbolizing
a strict profile, she absorbs the news with a slightly downturned
their different worldviews. The elder gentleman, wiping his
mouth. In a drawing in which almost all the lines are sketched
vintage top hat with a handkerchief, muses that when the hat
loosely, the sharp outline around her face and neck serves to
was new and in vogue, “me blood was warm” and none would
focus the viewer’s eye on her. Glackens has included an assortment
dare trifle with him. Sloan further emphasizes the distance
of props, including candelabra, a jar, and a fancy coffee pot to
between figural groups by rendering the foreground figure
evoke a middle-class setting. The addition of a shorthair cat
darker than the others. This perspectival devise, along with
serves as a humorous aside.
showing less detail in the background grouping, adds a sense

42
14. WILLIAM JAMES GLACKENS (1870–1938)

I watched Anne with dispassionate certainty as she opened it. 1904

Charcoal and wash.
93⁄4 × 113⁄8
Published: Emery Pottle. “The Wedding Guests.” Saturday Evening Post,
March 5, 1904, p. 14.

15. JOHN SLOAN (1871–1951)

The butt o’ the loafers. 1912

Charcoal.
17 × 121⁄4
Published: T. A. Daly. Madrigali. Philadelphia, PA: David McKay, 1912,
facing p. 88.

43
J.C. Leyendecker
J.C. Leyendecker created more than 300 covers for the novel, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Vicente Ibáñez
Saturday Evening Post between 1899 –1943. All the major described the rider of a white horse dispensing pestilence from
holidays were his, but according to Walt and Roger Reed, his “brass quiver filled with poisoned arrows, containing the
the annual New Year’s baby covers were “among the most germs of all diseases.”** These germs had begun to spread and
famous” and eagerly anticipated.* In 1918, Leyendecker was by 1918 –19 engulfed the world, completing a task commenced
on a tight deadline. He had to create a New Year’s cover and by the horseman War. The death toll from the Influenza is
everything had just changed. estimated to have exceeded that of the just ended Great War
by a factor of two. And within decades the war to end all wars
1919, painted shortly after “the eleventh hour, of the eleventh
was recast as merely Chapter 1 of a century long horror story.
day, of the eleventh month” (Armistice Day, November 11,
Mankind was resourceful when it came to killing, and the past
1918), expresses a sentiment shared by the entire world. World
century had witnessed the most lethal arsenal ever developed
War I had raged in Europe for four long years beginning in
and deployed.
August 1914. The carnage was unprecedented: 18 million
deaths, of which 7 million were civilians. The destruction In 1919, the chubby little infant — a well-known trope for
was apocalyptic: Shelling, mortars, and bombs reduced entire the New Year — is really a winged putto.*** Leyendecker’s
cities to rubble, yet for the most part, the war was an extended characteristic broad-brush technique is readily apparent in the
stalemate, fought from opposing trenches that snaked from ground and diaper. The only discordant note is in the baby’s
the North Sea to the Franco-Swiss border. Despite incessant anatomy, especially with the foreshortening of the arm and the
bombardments and occasional orgies of bloodletting, the Western rendering of the hand and fingers. This seems incongruent in
Front remained basically unaltered, give or take a few miles. as much as Leyendecker had had a very traditional fine art
New technology — poison gas, tanks, and airplanes — finally education, commencing with the famous anatomy teacher
enabled the Allies to slowly gain victory and led to the German John H. Vanderpoel at the Art Institute of Chicago and,
surrender. Peace, long imprisoned, was once again free to soar, between 1886 and 1899, at the Académie Julian in Paris.
or so it seemed.
Try as we might, we cannot imagine how this cover impacted
Peace, however, did not mean respite. In his prescient 1916 a war-weary people and what hope it may have expressed!

* Walt and Roger Reed. Illustrator in America: 1880-1980 A Century of Illustration.

New York, NY: Madison Square Press for The Society of Illustrators, 1984, p. 98.
** Vicente Blasco Ibáñez. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, trans. Charlotte Brewster Jordan.
New York, NY: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1921, p. 174.
*** For a brief discussion of “putto,” see Rose O’Neill, Plate 19.

44
16. J. C. LEYENDECKER (1874–1951)

1919. 1918
Oil on canvas.
27 × 19
Published: Saturday Evening Post, December 28, 1918, Cover.

45
Tom Lovell
The Sordoni Collection includes two works by Tom Lovell employs a limited palette: it is basically black and white with
that illustrated Louis Bromfield’s Night in Bombay, serialized reds and oranges added. The red accents move the eye around
in Cosmopolitan during the fall and winter of 1939 –1940. the picture plane, while the highlights animate the work.
Set in India on the eve of WWII when the Subcontinent was In this and the following work, Lovell demonstrates two great
still an integral part of the now vanished British Empire, the gifts: his understanding of light for dramatic purpose and his
novel is redolent with the scents of jasmine and cow-dung appreciation of the female form. The light coming through
smoke, patchouli and sweat all stirred together in a cauldron the brim of Carol’s hat is nothing short of spectacular.
of unrelenting heat.
In the second painting, which comes later in the story,
In the first painting, Lovell focuses on the psychological Bill Wainwright watches Carol dress in her room at the
states of three spectators at the racetrack. Holding binoculars, Taj Mahal Hotel. An American oilman and reformed
Mrs. Trollope — Stitch to her friends — marks the progress of “Good-time-Charlie,” Bill is described by a friend as “a child
Tinker’s Dam, a small mare on whose success depends her own. of the sun, to whom the Gods had given everything — good
Stitch is desperate. She has borrowed a thousand rupees and looks and charm and intelligence and physique and worldly
bet it all on a 20-to-1 long shot. Lovell conveys Mrs. Trollope’s wealth.” He was also once married, briefly, to Carol, “a
intense hope in her tense, highlighted fingers. Beside her stands beautiful woman, blond, with a fresh lovely complexion and
Carol Halma, a Scandinavian-American beauty and erstwhile superb figure which she made no attempt to hide.” Lovell
Miss Minnesota, who drifts carelessly wrapped in a gauze of paints her as if nude and then drapes her with a clinging fabric
gin through colonial and Raj society. Holding a racing form to that accentuates rather than obscures the underlying form.
chin, she realizes that Mr. Botlivala — a wealthy Indian and her Both illustrations leave the lower section unfinished in order
fiancée whom she has no intention of actually marrying — has to accommodate captions.
told Mrs. Trollope to bet on a horse he believes has no chance
Carol and Bill call to mind glamorous movie couples such as
of winning. Carol’s cold, evaluating glance toward Botlivala
Carole Lombard and Clark Gable or Lauren Bacall and
conveys her knowledge of his deception. Botlivala’s impassive
Humphrey Bogart. The latter were married at their friend
face and heavily lidded eyes conceal his anger as Tinker’s Dam
Louis Bromfield’s farm in 1945.
somehow manages to win.

As an interior illustration rather than a cover, this painting

46
17. TOM LOVELL (1909–1997)

Carol watched the scowl deepen on Mr. Botlivala’s face as the little black mare increased her lead. 1939
Oil on canvas.
23 × 37
Published: Louis Bromfield. “Bombay Nights.” Hearst’s International combined with Cosmopolitan, November 1939, pp. 48 – 49.

18. TOM LOVELL (1909–1997)

“That figure,” Bill said, “is what has always got you into trouble, Carol.” 1939
Oil on panel.
28 × 36
Published: Louis Bromfield. “Bombay Nights.” Hearst’s International combined with Cosmopolitan, December 1939, pp. 50 –51.

47
Rose O’Neill
Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and raised in Nebraska, Although the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
Rose O’Neill was a most remarkable and pioneering individual. had seen popular comic characters such as Richard Outcault’s
Independent, feminist, careerist, autonomous, and sexually Yellow Kid and Buster Brown become avatars of merchandising,
liberated; O’Neill epitomized the “New Woman,” a phrase O’Neill’s success was unprecedented. She had created what
coined by the British writer Sarah Grand (1854 –1943) in 1894. many regard as the first mass-market doll. And she had become
a millionaire. Nonetheless, the Kewpies, commencing with
O’Neill’s talent manifested itself early on when she won a drawing
their initial appearance, often contained an element of
contest in Omaha. By age fifteen she was contributing drawings
social commentary, whether on economic inequity or the
to local print media. In 1893 she moved to New York and with
suffragette movement.
the sale of a cartoon to True magazine three years later became
one of the first, if not the first, published female cartoonists. Although Kewpies were identified as small Cupids, they more
resemble putti. The putto, a chubby winged male-child, had
Previously illustration had been almost exclusively a male
become a fixture by the second century on Roman sarcophagi,
occupation, but the barrier was breaking. Beginning in the
particularly those of children. Often dancing or playing music,
1890s, the famous illustrator and educator Howard Pyle
these guardians epitomized childish joys. Cupid, on the other
(1853 –1911) had enrolled numerous female students in
hand, played adult games with his arrows. After a long hiatus,
his classes, first at the Drexel Institute and subsequently at
the putto re-emerged during the Renaissance —Donatello’s
his school in Wilmington Delaware. Among the successful
(c. 1386–1466) being particularly noteworthy — and thereafter
graduates were the “Red Rose Girls,” Jessie Willcox Smith
became a staple in art through the 19th century. In many ways,
(1863 –1935), Elizabeth Shippen Green (1871 –1954), and
when Kewpie demand faded in the 1930s, it marked the end
Violet Oakley (1874 –1961).
of the line of this lovable invention.
O’Neill’s Kewpies first appeared in the Ladies’ Home Journal
After years in New York living a celebrated bohemian life — she
(December 1909) illustrating the artist’s Christmas poem. A
is said to have inspired the popular song “Rose of Washington
note explained that the reason “these funny, roly-poly creatures
Square”— O’Neill moved to Paris in 1921, where she studied
are called Kewpies (pronounced like Q and P together, Q-Ps)
with Auguste Rodin, exhibited her sculptures, and was elected
is because they look like little Cupids… . ‘Kewpie’ means a
to La Société Coloniale des Artistes Français. She returned to
small Cupid, just as puppy means a small dog.” Instantly
New York in 1927. By the late 1930s she had moved perma-
popular, these mischievous, shy, sexless creatures, with
nently to the family homestead, “Bonniebrook,” in southwest
top-knots inspired by turnips and wisps of hair about their
Missouri.As an artist, illustrator, novelist, poet, businesswoman,
ears, were soon hawking Jell-O and other consumer products.
and free spirit, Rose O’Neill was truly unique.
In 1912, the first of a flood of Kewpie dolls hit the market.

48
19. ROSE O’NEILL (1874–1944)

The Kewpies. 1928

Pen & ink, collage.
22 × 17 1⁄2
Published: Delineator, May 1928, p. 29.

49
Maxfield Parrish
Maxfield Parrish was one of the most famously imaginative Just as important as Parrish’s clean, high-contrast style in these
illustrators in American history. His dreamscapes with enchanted pictures is the refreshing humor and sophistication in content,
gardens and fairytale palaces captured the imaginations of fans which is usually absent from Parrish’s fairytale paintings.
around the world. One of his paintings, “Daybreak,” became
In A Man of Letters, Parrish “breaks the fourth wall,” the imaginary
the single most popular art print of the 20th century.
line between the audience and the self-contained world of a
Yet, these two cover paintings for Life magazine (A Man of painting. The sign painter is fully aware that he is painting the
Letters and A Dark Futurist) reveal that Parrish’s trademark title of the magazine. And is he looking over his shoulder to
dreamscapes were only one side of his great talent. In these blame us for the vandalism? This displays more elevated humor
two paintings, Parrish abandoned his customary heavy details and self-awareness than other cover paintings of the day that
and rainbow colors to present a bolder, more high-contrast simply superimposed the title on a picture so the two could
design silhouetted against a stark white background — a coexist side-by-side. Parrish’s creative touch would later become
treatment more suitable for a modern magazine cover vying popular in modern and postmodern theater and illustration.
for attention on a crowded newsstand.
A Dark Futurist shows us a different kind of modernism.
Despite the seeming simplicity of the lone figures on these Parrish steps out of his timeless fairy tales to tweak one of the
covers, Parrish squeezes enough character into them to keep most incendiary artistic movements of his day. Futurism, with
us entertained and to keep their outlines interesting. Note, its militant manifesto and its outspoken artists, was all the rage
in A Man of Letters, the bow legs, the rounded posture, the in Europe. Parrish pokes them, showing a “dark” and anxious
positioning of the fingers clasping the brush or holding the futurist with pursed lips and thick glasses, poised to paint but
paint, and the glowering expression of the painter peering over not exactly sure of, or optimistic about, what the “future” will
his glasses and under his derby hat. These lovely touches would hold. This suggests that Parrish was alert to, and had opinions
be lost in a typical crowded Parrish painting, where the faces about, current events of the day — something one might never
often contained just vacant smiles. guess from his usual subject matter.

A Dark Futurist is similarly silhouetted against a white field To get a broader sense of Parrish’s true gifts, paintings such as
with no background or details to prop it up. The composition these Life covers must be viewed in conjunction with his fairy
is carefully centered with only differences in the hands and the tale paintings.
artist’s necktie to break the symmetry. These are crucial to the
– David Apatoff
success of the design.
Art Critic, Saturday Evening Post

50
20. MAXFIELD PARRISH (1870–1966) 21. MAXFIELD PARRISH (1870–1966)

A Man of Letters. 1921 A Dark Futurist. 1923

Oil on paper board. Oil on wood panel.
145⁄8 × 115⁄8 14 7⁄8 × 111⁄2
Published: Life, January 5, 1922, Cover. Published: Life, March 1, 1923, Cover.

51
C.F. Payne
Franklin Delano Donuthead is a world-class germaphobe, playground warily. His nervous mouth and protruding ears
if indeed a fifth grader can merit such renown so early. His are alert to any inkling of unpleasantness or, at worst, disaster.
name reflects his mother’s adoration of the 32 president
nd
Something unpleasant is about to happen; He’s just not certain
and the inability of an Ellis Island official to render properly what form it will take, and the possibilities are endless. The
a Russian surname. Franklin is averse to conflict and schoolyard or the baseball backstop is equally threatening:
dangerous activities of all types, especially those that can In the former fists are thrown and in the latter, leather balls.
impact and bruise soft tissue. Among these is baseball, which And the most ferocious fists belong to Sarah Kervick, who has
creates a troubling family dynamic since his mother sees a promised to pound Franklin into a gelatinous pulp if he fails
future for her son as a New York Yankees third baseman. to meet her after school. Sarah, who is described as fearless
Franklin’s protestations that his handicap will prevent the and lacking a normal aversity to pain, has already bloodied the
realization of this fantasy fall on deaf ears. His handicap, for boys’ basketball captain’s nose. As she puts it succinctly: “I don’t
the record, is that one arm is eight-tenths of an inch shorter take crap from anybody.” Small wonder then that Franklin
than the other, according to his daily self-measurements. approaches her warily and with trepidation, facial expressions
The same affliction affects his legs. He loves statistics that that Payne captured masterfully.
underscore life’s dangers, such as the odds of being struck by
Donuthead is a contemporary novel for young readers. It
lightning, which are greatly increased if one is holding a metal
addresses gender roles and its heroine, Sarah, gives as good
object such as a golf club. He shuns Twinkies and other
as she takes. The novel also looks at the challenges faced by
pseudo-foods laced with artificial dyes and preservatives.
single-parent kids, and in particular the crushing burden of
In sum, he is a most careful young man and doomed to a life
poverty and ignorance on young minds. But it is positive as
of ridicule, bullying, and general disdain from his peers.
well, promoting the virtues of generosity, friendship, and hope.
In this illustration, C.F. Payne’ s big-headed boy surveys the

52
22. C.F. PAYNE (b. 1954)

Donuthead. 2003
Mixed media on illustration board.
151⁄4 × 101⁄4
Published: Sue Stauffacher. Donuthead. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003, Cover.

53
George Petty
A 1940 ad for Jantzen’s “Petty Girl” swimsuit included a Newton watercolor Vermilion #572, diluted) with a fine sable
testimonial by the artist George Petty: “If you like smooth brush and then layer in the colors with an airbrush. As can be
curves you’ll love this suit.” The ad goes on to note Petty’s seen in both examples, Petty first painted the figure and then
“master strokes in simplicity of line” and his “conception… added clothing, which characteristically is simple, unadorned,
classic in design, with slenderizing princess lines.” An and revealing.
unexpected source for an evaluation of Petty’s artistic
Petty’s work for Esquire was immensely successful, but over
accomplishment, perhaps, but useful nonetheless.
time his relationship with publisher David Smart deteriorated.
Petty was a master of the graceful curve, a skill that suited well Beginning in 1940, Alberto Vargas’ “Varga Girl”— Smart
his depictions of girls, as young ladies were called. His favorite insisted on abbreviating the artist’s name — replaced the
model, daughter Marjorie, posed for countless images, both “Petty Girl.” After a hiatus of nearly fifteen years and Smart’s
clothed and not. Born in 1919, Marjorie modeled for her death, Petty did work again for Esquire and produced 1955
father from her teen years until her marriage in 1948 when and 1956 “girl calendar(s).” The Sordoni Collection includes
she left Illinois and joined her husband in San Francisco. Petty’s February 1956 painting, in which a modern-day Eve
She appears in this 1937 painting for Esquire, a leading men’s tempts with an apple or more likely herself.
magazine founded by David Smart in 1933.
Miss February has a big, toothy smile and wears a transparent
When the woman in a red dress was painted, Marjorie was negligee and ballet shoes, a motif incongruously introduced
17 or 18 and shortly to enter Northwestern University, from in Petty’s advertisements for Ridgid Tools. The ballet shoe
which she graduated in 1941. She had the “slenderizing replaced his earlier signature device: the telephone. The ballet
princess lines” of late adolescence/early womanhood. shoe, merely outlined in the aforementioned red, continues
Trim and athletic, with long legs, she combined a demure Petty’s longstanding stylistic treatment of including
wholesomeness with a hint of the coquette. She’s both the “unfinished” details with meticulously rendered, realistic
girl next door dressed for the prom and an objectification flesh. Although Esquire readers in the 1930s often complained
of male desire. about his incomplete paintings, Petty remained steadfast in
his vision. Today we have no difficulty with his decision and
A close look at either Marjorie in an evening gown or Miss
indeed relish the contrast as we do in the drawings of
February reveals Petty’s technique. He would begin with a
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780 –1867) or Anthony
concept sketch for the pose, then work separately on details
van Dyck (1599 –1641). One troublesome detail, however,
for the legs, hands, and finally the face. With the detail studies
that spans both paintings and much of Petty’s work in between,
complete, the model would assume the “general,” and Petty
concerns his renditions of hands, which often verge on the
would sketch the entire figure with a soft-lead pencil on tracing
grotesque. His love of “smooth curves” distorts the model’s
paper, which he would transfer to a Whatman drawing board
hand reaching for the apple but is essential to the ideal of
that consisted of a stiff-pulp base, covered by two layers of
the “Petty Girl.”
paper. Petty would next outline the figure in red (Winsor &

54
24. GEORGE PETTY (1894–1975)

I don’t mind inviting guys

To play the ancient game
Because no matter how it starts
They always blame the dame. 1956

Watercolor and gouache.

111⁄2 × 131⁄4
23. GEORGE PETTY (1894–1975) Published: Calendar: Esquire, February 1956.

“They’re very glamorous, Colonel, but where are the trousers?” 1937
Watercolor and gouache.
171⁄2 × 10 3⁄4
Published: Esquire, February 1937, p. 44.

55
Coles Phillips
Basically self-taught, Coles Phillips had an innate sense of she will decide whether or not to employ the scissors that
design. His ability to arrange simple, flat shapes on a ground, overlap the hem measuring stick. She has no need to face the
and then, as in his “fadeaway” girls, to obliterate the distinction viewer, nor to seek the viewer’s approval. Typically Phillips has
between figure and ground was in many ways revolutionary. He chosen the quiet, pregnant moment before any action occurs.
had an elegant, reductive aesthetic. He eliminated background He infuses her deliberations with a tinge of melancholy,
objects and created environments with a minimum of props, recognizing that cutting will change and destroy the beautiful
unlike other illustrators of the time whose paintings overflowed object that is her dress.
with swords and pistols, boots and costumes of every sort.
Phillips’ style matches perfectly his underlying content of
His emphasis on the patterned picture plane, rather than
considered choice. The design is linear and spare. Beginning
the illusion of three-dimensionality, paralleled similar
with her bowed head, a graceful curve flows down the spine,
contemporary experiments by Pablo Picasso, Georges
reversing course at her hips before ending abruptly. The
Braque, and other European Modernists.
viewer must imagine her feet. The sinuous line contrasts
Phillips was a painter of “girls,” attractive, modern young with the sharp, acute angle formed by the stick and upholstered
women, whose images appeared on the covers of Life, other low bench. The medallion with a smiling tailor echoes the
magazines, and in advertisements. Indeed, he saw no difference roundness of the woman’s head and serves to counterpoint her
between the two — both were created to sell something — and thoughts. The use of an icon of some sort appears frequently
he was among the first to sign his ads. Like other creators of in Phillips’ paintings as shorthand for various choices: love,
female types, Phillips’ had distinctive and easily recognizable money, fame, pleasure, God. The diagonal stick placement
characteristics. Although by 1924, when he painted this Life rigorously controls both heads. Fortuitously, even the text adds
cover, Phillips had moved away from his earlier signature to the meaning: Life entails choices. Phillips’ use of negative
“fadeaway” paintings, his subject and content had remained space, unencumbered ground, and single figure will become
consistent: the solitary figure foregrounded on an empty closely identified with another artist: George Petty and the
ground. As usual the figure is fashionable, confident, privileged, “Petty Girl” (Cats. 57, 58).
and powerful. Her strength is mental; lost in her own thoughts,

56
25. COLES PHILLIPS (1880–1927)

Orders / Skirts will be shorter this fall. 1924

Watercolor and gouache.
201⁄2 × 161⁄4
Published: Life, August 28, 1924, Cover.

57
Howard Pyle
Howard Pyle undertook the task of writing and illustrating he faced the mighty Sir Balamorgineas, huge of frame and
The Story of King Arthur and His Knights from a profound belief possessed of strength extraordinary. Undaunted, Kay stunned
that the heroes of the Round Table exemplified “high nobility his opponent with a mighty blow to the helmet, but in so
of spirit [and] afforded such a perfect example of courage and doing snapped his sword at the hilt. Retreating from the field
humility that anyone might do exceedingly well to follow after of battle, Kay ordered his brother to rush to their father’s
their manner of behavior in such measure as he is able to do.” pavilion and procure another sword. Unable to locate any of
his father’s men — they were all watching the tourney — Arthur
After the death of King Uther-Pendragon, lawlessness and
recalled seeing the sword at the cathedral and with ease
anarchy ruled Britain. Lesser lords claimed the throne, but
extracted it from its anvil grip. Sir Kay’s broken sword is thus
none commanded the respect and authority of the erstwhile
the prologue to the Arthurian legends
sovereign. Travelers were constantly set upon and either held
for ransom or, if unable to pay, left dead along the highways. In Pyle’s illustration, Kay, holding the hilt of his ruined sword,
Seeking redress, the Archbishop of Canterbury implored raises his shield, emblazoned with the family griffin, in an
Merlin the Wise to help locate the next true king. Merlin effort to stave off Balamorgineas’ blow.
installed a great marble block in front of the cathedral and on
Often called the “Father of American Illustration,”
this block set an iron anvil in which the blade of a sword was
Howard Pyle excelled as writer, illustrator, and teacher.
buried. Whosoever could pull the sword from its iron sheath
First as an instructor at Philadelphia’s Drexel Institute,
would be the next king. The Archbishop then scheduled a great
and subsequently at his own school in Wilmington, he left
tournament, which was attended by grandees, kings, earls,
an indelible mark on the field through his own efforts and
dukes, knights and their retinues. Among them was Sir Ector
those of his students, including Harvey Dunn, Anton Otto
of Bonmaison, known as the Trustworthy Knight, and his
Fischer, Frank Schoonover and N.C. Wyeth, all of whom
sons, the elder being Sir Kay and the younger, Arthur. Knights
figure prominently in this exhibition.* Harvey Dunn
deemed worthy of participating in the tournament were
subsequently founded his own school based on principles
divided into two groups consisting of 96 and 93 men who
learned from Pyle. Dunn’s students represented in this
came together on the field of Mars in a great clash of horses,
exhibition include Dean Cornwell, Arthur Sarnoff, Norman
lances and spears. Bedlam ensued and in time the combatants
Saunders, Mead Schaeffer, Saul Tepper, and Harold von
separated to regroup while squires and pages removed the
Schmidt. Pyle’s influence extended further to such luminaries
injured, the trampled, and the fallen. Sir Kay had comported
as Norman Rockwell, who greatly admired the master. Truly
himself well and was eagerly anticipating the next round, which
Pyle exemplified the Arthurian “high nobility of spirit.”
was limited to swordplay. After vanquishing several opponents,

*See the catalogue of a recent exhibition at Drexel University: Judy Goffman Cutler and Laurence S. Cutler.
Howard Pyle, His Students & The Golden Age of American Illustration. Newport, RI: The American Civilization Foundation, 2017.

58
26. HOWARD PYLE (1853–1911)

Sir Kay breaketh his sword, at ye tournament. 1902

Pen and ink.
91⁄4 × 61⁄4
Published: Howard Pyle. The Story of King Arthur and His Knights. New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1903, p. 8.

59
Norman Rockwell
Norman Rockwell was an American illustrator of immense and this inviting Halloween cover featuring a contented
popularity who lived from 1894 until 1978. His career fiddle player aglow in the autumn light was an indicator of
ascended during the heyday of the mass-circulation magazine his abilities as an astute observer of the world around him.
before the advent of television, when print media presented
In this work, all the elements of storytelling are present; the
the most dominant visual platform for an artist. Rockwell rose
details are subtle, but reveal clues. The glowing jack-o’-lantern
to fame with the public largely through his illustrated covers
sits next to the kindly gentleman. Is it possible that he carved it
for the popular Saturday Evening Post, created over forty-seven
himself, or might he have had a grandson whose jack-o-lantern
years, from 1916 until 1963. At the age of 22, his work caught
design mirrored his grandfather’s smiling face and twinkling
the eye of George Horace Lorimer, the powerful editor of the
eyes? This loving, kindly character is supported with simple
Post — the ultimate show window for an illustrator — because
props. Rockwell suggests the setting is outdoors in the warm
of the artist’s early success as an illustrator of such youth
glow of an autumn evening. Harvest details hang from the
magazines as Boys’ Life, Youth’s Companion, and Saint
veranda, faintly suggested by an overhead trellis and the stone
Nicholas. It was through his early work for The Country
wall against which the figure’s shadow is cast. What is the light
Gentleman, however, that his talent for storytelling, character
source? Magazines were just beginning to publish in full color
development, and good-natured humor was honed in
at this time. Rockwell’s early black, white and red palette is
thirty-four covers painted from 1917 to 1922. Artists coveted
warmed by the golden glow of ripened corn cobs and fall leaves
the showcase of holiday covers, as these editions were generally
that complement the rich vibrant hues of the orange pumpkin,
printed in larger numbers and were widely anticipated by
cherry wood of the violin, and red painted chair. The hard
eager audiences. Being commissioned to paint Christmas,
work of the harvest is in, and it is time to relax and enjoy some
Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, and Easter covers was a mark
fiddling. As the man stamps out the beat of the music, might
of an artist’s popularity and success. Country Gentleman
others be dancing to his tunes?
provided a strong platform for Rockwell as a growing artist,
– Laurie Norton Moffatt
Director/CEO, Norman Rockwell Museum

60
27. NORMAN ROCKWELL (1894–1978)

The Fiddler. 1921

Oil on canvas.
27 × 231⁄2
Published: The Country Gentleman, October 22, 1921, Cover.

61
Norman Saunders
“The Seven Skulls of Kali” by James W. Poling (1907 –1976) a Brotherhood of Man. If you ever amount to anything at all, it
was featured on the cover of the October 1936 issue of Black will be because you are true to a deep desire that made you seek
Book Detective from Ranger Publications. The magazine editor artistic expression. If you can express your basic feelings, don’t
Lincoln Hoffman (1900 –1987) possessed the visionary insight worry about the details. They’ll take care of themselves!”
to hire a twenty-nine-year-old aspiring artist from Minnesota
This aesthetic criterion is clearly evident in The Seven Skulls of
who visited his offices, without an appointment, to show a
Kali. The artist has handled the paint in a dramatic and brutal
portfolio and ask for work during the Great Depression.
fashion, with a sinister dark background and brightly contrasted
That entry-level artist was Norman Saunders (1907 –1989),
essential elements of design, white demonic skulls, mysterious
who went on to achieve a legendary status as an American
white satin evening gown, exotic white turban, and the white
Master of pulp art. No matter how great his reputation grew,
shirt and tie on the elegant foreign dignitary with a threatening
the artist never forgot the editor who gave him his first big
pistol. This is an eye-catching composition designed to stand
break to paint covers. In later years Saunders recalled that
out among competing magazines on sidewalk newsstands —
although he was paid only $65 for the cover, he was grateful
simple, bold shapes with no extraneous detail, working in
for the opportunity, which in turn boosted his professional
perfect coordination with the editor’s text. The suave villain is
reputation and led subsequently to higher-paying assignments.
handsome and seductive, until he reveals his savage brutality.
When he created The Seven Skulls of Kali, Saunders was still Who could resist such dynamic power!
studying with Harvey Dunn (1884 –1952, Cat. 18) at the
The painting had an interesting second act appearing on
Grand Central Art School, where students were taught: “Art is
the walls of a Coney Island spook house for over forty years.
a universal language, because it is the expression of the feelings
Now lovingly restored, the canvas epitomizes the spine-tingling
of a man. Any man can look at a true work of art and feel a
attractions that the pulp magazines once provided.
kinship to it and with he who made it. By this we know there is
– David Saunders
Artist, Author, and Art Historian

62
28. NORMAN SAUNDERS (1907–1989)

The Seven Skulls of Kali. 1936

Oil on canvas.
35 × 24
Published: Blackbook Detective, October 1936, Cover.

63
Mead Schaeffer
In September 1718, things were going from bad to worse intimacy between the viewer and figures furthered by cropping
for Captain Stede Bonnet, “late gentleman of the island of their legs at the picture’s lower edge. Schaeffer adds several
Barbados, honorably discharged as major from the army of decorative flourishes to the painting, including outlining the
his Majesty, since turned sea-rover for no apparent cause, and figures in blue, which adds a Japanese woodcut quality to the
now one of the most notorious plunderers of the coast.” work in addition to recalling works by Dean Cornwell, with
From the all-black sloop Royal James, formerly the Revenge, whom Schaeffer had studied. Another master illustrator from
Bonnet preyed upon the unlucky and unwary, one of whom whom Schaeffer had learned much, Harvey Dunn, might well
was Bob Curtis, a lad abducted by the pirates. Bonnet demanded have inspired the pulsating chromatic aurora that dominates
a ransom in exchange for the youth. Instead Bob’s father, the left-hand portion of the painting.
Mr. Curtis, organized a small flotilla that surprised and
Mead Schaeffer was a precocious artist. Beginning in his
trapped the pirates at the mouth of the Cape Fear River in
twenties, he illustrated classic adventure novels in the tradition
North Carolina. Bonnet then made a desperate dash for the
of his predecessor, N.C. Wyeth. Ardently read by generations of
open sea, only to become grounded on a hidden sandbar.
schoolboys, these stories were paradigms of the manly virtues:
Our painting captures a tense moment aboard the black courage, loyalty, and decency. The youthful heroes transitioned
buccaneer. Colonel Rhett‘s Henry has pulled up opposite. to adulthood by way of adventure, overcoming obstacles,
Hopelessly outgunned and vulnerable, Bonnet’s crew prepared escaping danger, and, like wily Odysseus, triumphing through
to strike the black flag fluttering from the masthead and ingenuity and cleverness. Once Stede Bonnet had been defeated,
surrender. But Bonnet, in a final show of defiance and rage, the youthful protagonists are given their choice of spoils from
had threatened to “scatter the deck with the brains of any the captain’s quarters. One selects a silver-handled pistol, the
man who will not fight to the end!” other a copy of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. Their choices might
be said to represent the ideals of fortitude and learning.
Considering the drama, the figures have assumed curiously
static poses. Bonnet, elegantly dressed in a red coat — perhaps This painting and Captain Blood, an illustration for Rafael
alluding to his former service in the King of England’s Sabatini’s “Blood Money” and also in the exhibition, are
army — faces down his men with pistols drawn. His features characteristic of Schaeffer’s earlier interests in fictional
are grim, his eyes in shadow, a convention that Mead Schaeffer romantic characters (Cat. 66). With the coming of World
often employed to add ambiguity or mystery. The helmsman War II and his growing friendship with Norman Rockwell,
Dave Herriot, having rushed to his captain’s side, has seized Schaeffer’s art became increasingly focused on contemporary
the wheel. The shallow, hierarchical composition creates an life in his own country.

64
29. MEAD SCHAEFFER (1898–1980)

Stede Bonnet faced his last fight. 1920

Oil on canvas.
32 × 26
Published: Stephen Meader. The Black Buccaneer. New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1920, facing p. 160.

65
Frank E. Schoonover
Stephen Claghorn, the youthful hero of Ralph Paine’s The sits dejectedly and morosely, hand on cheek, and stares emptily
Privateers of ’76, was anxious to participate in the great historical at the sea swells contemplating his own imminent demise.
adventure of his time.* A resident of Old Salem, Massachusetts, In his present dire situation, he questioned the wisdom of
he longed to join the fight for American independence and having escaped.
indeed had already suffered a broken nose in a melee between
The collector observed: “I bought this painting in 1974
British troops and local citizens months before the “shot heard
from Joe Parente, who owned the Little Nemo Shop, which
round the world” was fired at Concord. Having grown up in
specialized in comic strip art, pulps, illustration, and the
a thriving blue-water port, the boy yearned to ship out as a
like. Opened in 1969, the shop—the first of its type in New
privateer, but his widowed mother was adamantly opposed,
York—was named in honor of Winsor McCay’s early comic
having previously lost her own husband, Captain Joel, in a
strip character. About to leave, I spotted this painting. It was
battle off the Isles of Shoals.
filthy, covered with grime, a real mess. We took a rag and wiped
A gallant captain finally persuaded the pretty widow to allow the surface, revealing first Schoonover’s signature and then the
Stephen to join the crew of the Atlantic. After an initial boat’s transom. Checking the reverse side of the painting,
success capturing a poorly outfitted ship, the Atlantic engaged I saw numbers on the stretcher. I knew that Frank Schoonover
in a firefight with a well-equipped opponent and ended up had kept meticulous records in his diaries, which resided at
surrendering. Incarcerated aboard the victorious ship, Stephen the Delaware Art Museum. I left the shop, found a pay phone
and his shipmates were transferred to Old Mill Prison on arrival beside the expressway (no cell phones then), and called the
in Plymouth, England. Eventually Stephen and his erstwhile Museum. Finally managed to get through to an assistant, but
schoolmaster executed an audacious escape, which after further as it was late in the day, not able to get a confirmation that the
adventures, led to Stephen’s commandeering a small skiff on stretcher number was Schoonover’s. Informed that the Museum
the Plymouth beach in which he attempted unsuccessfully to had given a copy of the diaries to the newly founded Brandywine
join a Dutch vessel heading out to sea. The tide and an offshore River Museum, I called them and they confirmed that the
breeze slowly carried the lad even further from the harbor, and number matched Schoonover’s Cast Adrift. Returning to the
he awoke the next day, enveloped in fog, hungry, parched, and Little Nemo Shop, I bought the picture. Probably paid twice
adrift in the English Channel in a disorienting miasma of mist. what it was worth, but it would be a bargain today, and more
importantly, it’s a work that I’ll keep until I die.”
Frank Schoonover painted the desperate drama of an exhausted
boy lost at sea, alone in a small boat, lacking provisions. Stephen

*Privateers fulfilled an essential function at a time when no American navy existed and England ruled the seas.
Entrepreneurial captains or syndicates would outfit a warship and obtain a governmental letter of marquis that
authorized them to attack and capture enemy vessels. Patriotism and profit went hand in hand.

66
30. FRANK E. SCHOONOVER (1877–1972)

Stephen’s one desire was that the dense fog might turn to rain so that he could wet his aching throat [Cast Adrift]. 1923
Oil on canvas.
30 × 36
Published: Ralph D. Paine. “Privateers of ’76.” The American Boy, October 1923, p. 18.

67
Everett Shinn
Everett Shinn was an artist who walked the tightrope between We see these qualities on display in his drawing Old Saint Nick,
illustration and fine art. His work appeared in the most where Shinn stylizes Santa’s hat and adds a winning smile and
prestigious museums and in the cheapest newspapers. He an appealing tilt of the head. Touches like these go beyond
was a distinguished painter who played an important role in mere accuracy. Most of all, when faced with a subject that was
American art in the early twentieth century, and yet he was mostly beard, Shinn knew how to depict that beard so that
also a sketch artist sent out on assignment to record local it stood up and grabbed the attention of the viewer. A less
events in time for the afternoon newspaper deadline. experienced artist would have rendered a more passive, normal
looking beard, resulting in a less dynamic drawing.
As a fine artist, Shinn was one of “The Eight,” a legendary
group of artists who took a bold public stand against the Unlike other illustrators such as Winslow Homer or Edward
dominant tastes of their day. In a historic exhibition in Hopper, who began their careers as illustrators and ended
1908, Shinn and seven other artists shook up the art world. as fine artists, Shinn continued his work as an illustrator
Afterward, Shinn became a founding member of the “ashcan throughout his career. He worked for magazines, including
school” which remained influential over the first two decades Vanity Fair, Life, The Century, and McClure’s. He also
of the twentieth century. Rebelling against popular styles such illustrated books, such as Rip van Winkle. The discipline
as academic realism or American Impressionism, the ashcan of illustration — drawing recognizable pictures to satisfy a
school artists painted gritty urban subjects, such as city commercial audience — continued to serve as an anchor for
buildings and alleys, Broadway theaters and gambling dens. Shinn in an era when Picasso and Matisse were leading the
way and many other fine artists found themselves adrift after
As a commercial illustrator, Shinn started out working for
abandoning technical skills and experimenting with more
newspapers such as the Philadelphia Press and the New York
subjective and self-indulgent approaches to art. Shinn rejected
World. Before photography became widespread in newspapers,
many of the teachings of modern art.
Shinn would go to newsworthy events and record them in
pen and ink. He described his apprenticeship, served in the Shinn’s dual role, in which he continued to see the benefits of
Art Department of the Philadelphia Press “on wobbling, both fine art and illustration, served to elevate the field of illustration
ink-stained drawing boards” as “a school that trained memory and attract audiences who might otherwise not have lingered.
and quick perception.” Shinn was forced to learn not only
anatomy and technical drawing skills but also how to draw
with clarity and personality to appeal to newspaper readers – David Apatoff
with short attention spans. Art Critic, Saturday Evening Post

68
31. EVERETT SHINN (1876–1953)

Old Saint Nick. 1942

Brush & ink, wash.
81⁄2 × 9
Published: Clement Clarke Moore. The Everett Shinn Illustrated Edition of the Night Before Christmas.
Philadelphia, PA: The John C. Winston Co., 1942, copyright page.

69
Alberto Vargas
In 1919 Alberto Vargas was engaged in decorating a New York fabric, which depicts a domed and columned circular temple,
shop window when his work caught the eye of a passerby who typically associated with Venus, and a couple. She, wigged
suggested that the artist contact the impresario Florenz Ziegfeld and wasp-waisted, and he, wearing a harlequin hat, appear like
Jr. Ziegfeld, known as the “glorifier of the American girl,” characters from commedia dell’arte. Both sing, but the song
and the artist recognized their common interest and the is sad, judging from her gesture of despair and his tilted head.
former immediately commissioned the latter to paint a series Perhaps the nude is experiencing the same emotion.
of portraits of his leading ladies for the lobby of the New
As a teenager Vargas had learned airbrush techniques from his
Amsterdam Theatre.
father, Max, a successful photographer. Originally developed
This Seated Nude dates from Vargas’ early association with and patented in 1876 by the Stanley Dry Plate Company for
the Ziegfeld Follies and differs considerably from what coating photographic plates, the airbrush atomized paint and,
becomes the typical pinup girl in that it is neither humorous in the hands of a skillful artist, allowed for extremely subtle
nor perky. Rather the model, straddling a chair, is withdrawn transitions of hues and gradations of light from darker
and introspective, lost in her own melancholic reverie. Eyes contours to highlights. Pinup artists in particular appreciated
downcast and concealed by heavily mascaraed lids, she has the technique’s ability to render smooth, realistic skin tones
discarded her undergarment or slip yet clings to its blue ribbon and volumes, and equally important, revealing/concealing
delicately as if to a fading memory. She is simultaneously on garments like silk stockings and sheer negligees.
display but inaccessible. Her masterfully sculpted hair reminds
Andrew Sordoni had owned this work since 1984 when, in
us that Vargas also drew hairstyle illustrations for Harper’s
1988, he and Hank O’Neal decided to use it on the cover of
Bazaar magazine during the 1920s. Her beautiful face, perfect
the Chiaroscuro Records Last of the Whorehouse Piano Players:
body, and lack of false modesty suggest that she is a showgirl,
Ralph Sutton and Jay McShann. John Devries provided the
likely in the employ of Ziegfeld.
design, which resulted in converting a work not originally
This conjecture is supported by the chair’s printed blue intended as an illustration into one.

70
32. ALBERTO VARGAS (1896–1982)

Seated Nude. 1920

Airbrush on paper.
27 × 14
Last of the Whorehouse Piano Players: Ralph Sutton and
Jay McShann, Chiaroscuro Records (CR(D) 306), 1988, Cover.

71
Harold von Schmidt
Harold von Schmidt’s painting of John Peter Zenger in prison for the First Amendment protections of speech and the press.
illustrated a Charles Spencer Hart story that appeared initially However, as late as 1804 an American court held that the truth
in 1934 and subsequently as a chapter in his book recounting was not a defense against libel (People v. Croswell).
“forgotten heroes of history.” Despite Hart’s efforts, Zenger
Von Schmidt portrays the printer incarcerated in a subterranean
remains mostly unknown to the general public. Nonetheless,
gaol tenderly reaching through the iron bars to grasp his wife’s
his trial and eventual acquittal helped establish one of the most
hand. An assistant takes dictation; a young man holds an
sacred and fundamental American rights: freedom of the press.
inkpot and papers. The lad’s left arm is deftly foreshortened.
During the Colonial period, John Zenger (1697–1746) The visitors have descended a curving stone staircase at the
published and printed The New-York Weekly Journal, in which right partially illuminated from above. A second light source,
he expressed opinions critical of the royal governor William also from the right, highlights Mrs. Zenger’s ruddy cheek
Cosby. Cosby seems to have been particularly unpopular due and the couple’s clasped hands and casts a shadow on the
to financial disputes — he felt that he was insufficiently brightly lit stucco wall behind her. This same light silhouettes
compensated — and his decision to replace the colony’s Chief the scribe’s profile and gives sheen to his velvet coat.
Justice with James DeLancey, a Royal Party loyalist. A member
Von Schmidt preferred to paint with oil, a medium well suited
of the opposition Popular Party, Zenger satirized Governor
for capturing textures as varied as lace, brocade, plaster, and
Cosby and his associates, employing techniques developed by
flesh. The artist handled his brushwork with great facility as
Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, and other great British satirists
can be seen, for example, in the confidence and freedom with
of the time. Cosby was not amused and ordered the sheriff to
which he painted the wall. This is an artist who relishes the
lock him up for seditious libel.
expressive and tactile qualities of paint itself.
Zenger spent eight months in jail awaiting trial. When the
A sense of heroic pathos permeates the painting. At this
case finally came to court in 1734, Zenger’s attorneys Andrew
point, none of the participants knows what the legal
Hamilton and William Smith Sr. mounted a novel defense: if
judgment will be. Zenger looks from the shadows into the
true, a defamatory statement about a public figure cannot be
light with a conviction that the ability to question authority
libelous. Moreover, they made their case to the jury and not
is fundamental to freedom.
the bench. After a brief deliberation, the jurors acquitted. The
Zenger trial tentatively established a precedent and the need

72
33. HAROLD VON SCHMIDT (1893–1982)

“I have had the liberty of speaking through the hole of the door to my wife and servants,” his editorial read. 1934
Oil on canvas.
30 × 40
Published: Charles Spencer Hart. “Not Guilty! His Majesty the King Versus John Peter Zenger.”
The Elks Magazine, December 1934, pp. 12–13.
Charles Spencer Hart. “Not Guilty!,” General Washington’s Son of Israel and Other Forgotten Heroes of History.
Philadelphia, London: J. B. Lippincott, 1937, facing p. 98. [Caption: Zenger edits the Evening Journal from
his cell with the assistance of his devoted wife who came to see him daily.]

73
Jon Whitcomb
Jon Whitcomb perfectly interprets in gouache Ruth Babcock’s In 1948, the year after this illustration appeared in print,
description of Julie: “She had on a dark suit, and a frilly blouse Whitcomb along with Norman Rockwell, Harold von
that was off-white … and a big black hat cast a shadow across Schmidt, and nine others founded the Famous Artists School,
her face, framed in coal-black hair.” Julie had just descended a which eventually enrolled over 60,000 students in correspondence
few steps from the sidewalk and entered a small dimly lit New courses (Cats. 62, 74). Many of the principles taught by these
York City restaurant. She is impeccably dressed with a hat by masters of illustration are apparent in Julie. For instance they
Madame Suzy, the upscale Parisian milliner, and an outfit by all taught that a good illustration must tell a story and that
Molyneux, also of Paris. In 1947 when the story was published, creating a mood is essential. Julie is vulnerable and needs a
cognoscenti would have recognized these fashion designers quiet, protective, and enclosed space away from the hubbub of
 — virtually unknown today — and understood that Julie, a rushing, indifferent city street where cold lights sparkle with
despite being penniless at present, was once privileged. Julie starry haloes, and a bright red stoplight demands attention.
has not eaten recently and Whitcomb captures the wary look The cropped taxi evokes unlimited space existing beyond the
of hunger in her eyes. Madame Esposito, the good-hearted painting’s borders. That the street scene is loosely painted adds
motherly restaurateur, seats Julie with Chad Burns, a young, greatly to its feeling of movement and motion.
ambitious, and impecunious architecture student dining alone.
The monumental scale of this bust-length woman tells us
His initial impression of Julie is not altogether favorable;
that although she is in diminished circumstances, she is not
indeed he resents the intrusion.
diminished. She does not conceal portions of her face, but
From this inauspicious start, the couple gradually fell in love rather addresses us frontally. At the moment she is of two
and Chad assumed the role of protector. We learn that Julie’s minds: One slightly raised eyebrow denotes apprehension,
father was once exceedingly wealthy, but also a spendthrift who while the other suggests resignation. Her gracefully splayed
eventually settled all his debts by exiting a sixteenth-story hand lightly touching cheekbone is a gesture long associated
window at a fashionable Chicago hotel. Julie immediately with melancholia and the saturnine. Whitcomb once observed:
departed the Windy City for New York but was unable to “Next to faces, people seem to notice hands most in illustrations,
retrieve any of her possessions from the hotel since the bill and there is a widely held belief that hands are a better indication
remained unpaid and thus arrived with literally only the clothes of character than faces.”* Finally the dramatic contrast of black
on her back. Although Chad is anxious to marry, Julie demurs. and white in her attire and the dark shadow across her eyes
Eventually she returns to Chicago to marry a prior suitor. In focuses our eye on her beautifully rendered red lips. Whitcomb
many ways her act is altruistic and self-sacrificing because she succeeds because the viewer feels empathy for the young
recognizes that marriage between two struggling individuals woman, her expressive face, and her plight.
would result in him having to forego his dream of designing
tall buildings that soar with the “sound of wings.”

*Quoted in Stephanie Haboush Plunkett and Magdalen Livesey. Drawing Lessons from the Famous Artists School:
Classic Techniques and Expert Tips from the Golden Age of Illustration. Beverly, MA: Rockport Publishers, 2017, p. 166.

74
34. JON WHITCOMB (1906–1988)

You never love a woman you merely want, as much as the one you can do things for. [Julie]. 1947
Gouache on board.
131⁄2 × 14
Published: Ruth Babcock. “Julie.” Ladies’ Home Journal, August 1947, pp. 34–35.

75
Coby Whitmore
Through much of the history of the general interest magazines “What’s the significance of EARTH GETS ITS PRICE FOR
and specifically the “women’s magazines”— those magazines WHAT EARTH GIVES US”… “Whose diploma is that?”
geared toward the woman reader — the illustrator’s primary and the list goes on.
responsibility was to get the casual page turner to want to
Beyond these various concerns comes the next level of analysis
pause and read the fiction. Magazines of this period like
… one that would have been instantly apparent to the reader
Good Housekeeping (in which this piece appeared in February
in February 1946 but is less so today… We’re meant to ask
1946), Ladies’ Home Journal, Women’s Home Companion, as
ourselves (or, that is, the reader of the day was meant to ask
well those somewhat less geared toward domestic life, such as
herself ) “Is the subject meant to be pretty?” The magazines of
Cosmopolitan, McCall’s and Redbook, were mostly maintained
the period were overwhelmingly populated, thanks to a whole
by the advertising dollar. Yet, between their hints on running
cadre of illustrators who specialized, with the fresh-faced beauty
the home and their strength in fueling consumers’ needs, short
that was then in vogue.
fiction also found a sturdy toehold.
Whitmore’s women tend less toward the “girl next door”
There are several ways apparent in which the art director and
look that was pervasive in the pages of the magazines. We
the illustrator assembled this page to grab — and hopefully
see instantly that this subject is world-wise and likely even
hold — the reader’s attention. First, we see here an example
world-weary with an interestingly atypical face and is of mixed
of a revolution in page design. Good Housekeeping was not the
heritage. Having just read the story, it turns out she’s a minor
first or the only large-circulation publication to use such tricks.
character right up until the end ... and that’s she’s apparently
It’s the power of the layout, the dominance of the image and
never been in the space that is occupied by the other items in
the secondary position of the type that draws the reader in.
the composition. Whitmore creates a montage by overlapping
Pictures like this are a compositional marvel. In the printed
elements of the story to catch our interest. For the art director’s
version, details such as the bottom of the woman’s foot and
part (in addition to the ways outlined above) the caption refers
the lower part of the alarm clock are cropped, having the
to a different character entirely but builds our interest between
effect of slowing down the eye. It’s all a function of what our
the written words and the illustrator’s depiction. And that
brains want us to perceive as opposed to what our eyes tell us
is how the 1946 reader’s attention was captured… . THAT
they actually see. Next we go to the strength of the outline
is what the illustrator does: not simply story-telling or even
of the elements of the composition and the foreshortening
graphic communication; it’s all of these things with a particular
of space that entertains the eye. Somehow we can’t help but
goal and on deadline.
want to know more information.
– Fred Taraba
Whitmore was truly a master at putting things together… we
Author, Appraiser, and Owner of Taraba Illustration Art
want to know not only “Who is this woman?” but also

76
35. COBY WHITMORE (1913–1988)

There is a place on earth where a man may make but one mistake — only one mistake and never any more. 1946.
Oil on canvas mounted on Masonite.
113⁄4 × 17
Published: Grace Amundson. “Do You Ever See the Stars?” Good Housekeeping, February 1946, pp. 34–35.

77
N.C. Wyeth
N.C. Wyeth has chosen a dramatic moment of revelation from crown, for example, more closely dates to the 13th century, and
The Boy’s King Arthur: Sir Thomas Malory’s History of King Launcelot’s with its greater visibility is even later. Although
Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table, when after hours both warriors wear mail hauberks (mail shirts with sleeves that
of ferocious battle, Sir Launcelot reveals his identity to Sir reach to midthigh) and chausses (mail armor “socks” covering
Turquine. As both catch their breath, Turquine, who has slain, the legs), the additional plate armor pauldrons to protect the
broken, and imprisoned many Knights of the Round Table, shoulders are not consistent with the earlier period. In sum,
proposes that he and his adversary join forces unless the although creating the illusion of historical accuracy, the armor
unidentified knight be Launcelot, whom he has sworn to is really a pastiche evoking the era when King Arthur appears in
kill to avenge the death of his brother. Turquine, in red with a Geoffrey of Monmouth’s twelfth-century Historia Regum
heraldic lion passant (walking lion) on his tunic, has removed Britanniae [History of the Kings of Britain].
his great helm, dented by broadsword blows, and stares at
As important as props might be in re-creating a historic
Launcelot, whose identity is concealed by a Barbute style
tableau, Pyle stressed thinking and feeling — that is, the effort
helmet. In the middle ground are the damsel on a white
to empathize and identify with the characters portrayed. Fine
palfrey who brought Launcelot to the river’s ford, also seen,
drawing alone would not suffice. In this painting Wyeth
where the battle takes place, and Turquine’s prisoner, Sir Gaheris,
combines realistic detail in the principal figures and their
with hands bound. The warhorse on the ground suffered a
armor with a loose impressionistic handling of the landscape
broken back when the two warriors initially charged each
grasses, leaves, and clouds. He creates a believable spatial
other astride their mounts. In the background looms the manor
setting by means of atmospheric perspective and the elimination
castle whose dungeon holds 34 knights, including Sir Lionel,
of detail in the middle ground figures. But most importantly,
Launcelot’s brother. After this exchange, the battle resumed
Wyeth gives the viewer, intended to be young boys, a
with both inflicting further grievous wounds until Turquine,
ringside seat of the fight to heighten the sense of immediacy,
exhausted, lowered his shield and Launcelot sprung lion-like
identification, and danger. The viewer outside the painting
and decapitated his adversary.
has a better vantage than those within. The use of strong,
Wyeth, who had studied with Howard Pyle between 1902 –1904, saturated primary colors, red and blue, with their traditional
sought authenticity in his re-creations and collected props, symbolism — passion, rage, and violence for the former and
which appear in paintings such as this, to re-create an illusion coolness, rationality, and loyalty for the latter — further
of historical accuracy (Cat. 60). However, the costumes and heightens the drama. Although some commentators have
armor are not consistent with the time of King Arthur — that identified Launcelot as the knight in red, his expression simply
is, the late fifth or early sixth centuries, but rather of the does not accord with the ideals of chivalry. Launcelot, like all
Middle Ages. Turquine’s helmet with its pointed, “sugar loaf ” good knights, sought honorable adventure — not hateful revenge.

78
36. N.C. WYETH (1882 – 1945)

I am Sir Launcelot du Lake, King Ban’s son of Benwick, and knight of the Round Table, c. 1917
Oil on canvas.
40 × 32
Published: Sidney Lanier, ed. The Boy’s King Arthur: Sir Thomas Malory’s History of King Arthur and His Knights
of the Round Table. New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1917, facing page 38.

79
Hopalong Cassidy
A s the ice on Lake Michigan began to melt in the spring Novels recounted the heroic or nefarious acts of other
of 1893, Chicago’s shoreline metamorphosed into the “City Western heroes, villains, ne’er-do-wells, cutthroats, and
Beautiful” or the Great White City of the World’s Columbian other assorted denizens of the prairie. Some of these stories
Exposition. Under the careful eye of Daniel Burnham, the included an element of roughshod romance involving
lakefront was transformed into a vision of what the city of the Calamity Jane and Wild Bill.
future could be through rational planning, symmetry, and
A new type of Western hero, and indeed the emergence of a
aesthetic judgment, It was a vision of hope and a remarkable
new literary genre, appeared shortly after the turn of the
alternative to the squalor, poverty, and disease plaguing many
century in Owen Wister’s The Virginian (1902). The popularity
urban areas and documented in such early photographic
of this novel encouraged others to follow in its hoof prints
exposes as Jacob Riis’ How the Other Half Lives: Studies among
including Clarence Mulford who recounted the adventures
the Tenements of New York (1890). Although the Chicago
of the Bar-20 Ranch cowboys, including Hopalong Cassidy.
World’s Fair was certainly the main attraction that summer,
Hoppy and his comrades first appeared in a series of stories
sideshows galore surrounded the big tent as it were. One
in Outing Magazine beginning in 1905, with illustrations
notable attraction was Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show,
by N.C. Wyeth and Frank E. Schoonover. In these early
which the fair’s august selection committee had refused to
stories, the cowhands portrayed by the author and artists are
include as an official exhibition. Undaunted, Buffalo Bill
not gentlemen like the later incarnations. Their outfits are
rented his own space and proceeded to stage his Western
tattered, often the result of direct hits during various gunfights.
extravaganza to the delight and edification of thousands.
They are pugnacious, quick to anger, foul-mouthed (often
Among the cowboys of every stripe, Native Americans, and
indicated discretely by ellipses in the text), hard drinking
Rough Riders, the show included celebrities including Chief
workingmen. Questioning a man’s word, calling him untruthful,
Sitting Bull, sharpshooter Anne Oakley, and even Calamity
is sufficient cause for gunplay. Rustlers too deserved to be shot
Jane, “the heroine of the plains.”
on sight. Like all cowboys, they hate fences and bemoan the
Far from the noise and dust of Buffalo Bill’s Western re-creation, privatization of the open range. These are men used to driving
Frederick Jackson Turner, a young professor of history at the cattle from Texas to Abilene, Kansas unfettered and then
University of Wisconsin, presented what would become a squandering their wages in saloons, poker games, and brothels.
seminal paper in understanding American identity. In Theirs is a male-oriented world; home is the bunkhouse.
“The Significance of the Frontier in American History,” Mulford’s stories ring true because he was a stickler for detail.
Turner argued that the unique American character was forged He was a careful researcher and sought authenticity both in
and tempered by constant westward migration, by subduing terms of the dialogue and descriptions of cowboy life. Equally
new lands, conquering or displacing earlier inhabitants attentive to detail and verisimilitude were his early illustrators
including Native Peoples, Spanish colonists, or French trappers. Schoonover and Wyeth, both of whom had studied under
If Turner’s Frontier Thesis were correct — a point that has been Howard Pyle, the “father of American illustration,” who
argued since its formulation — then what did the closing of the insisted that period costumes be accurately rendered.
frontier mean to the nation? Already Buffalo Bill had begun
Mulford’s stories were very popular evoking, as they did, a
the nostalization of the Wild West and its legendary figures
vanished world for a new generation of Americans who
including Wild Bill Hickok who appeared as a feature in some
increasingly earned their living in offices and cities. Indeed,
of the earlier shows. At the same time the so-called Dime

80
a widespread concern at the time was the feminization of the June 24, 1949, as the first television Western series and quickly
American male, a denizen of the fast-rising tall buildings where became a hit for NBC. National magazines including
office drones slaved away. The fictional reconstruction of the Time, Look, and Life all featured Hoppy on their covers.
old West was one response to the closing of the frontier. Not only was Hopalong Cassidy among the most watched
television programs, but also its success and popularity
Andrew Sordoni has long been fascinated with the game-legged
encouraged a marketing mania of branded items from boots
cowboy — the result of a gunshot wound — and is a recognized
to school lunch boxes. In 1950 alone, for example, Hoppy
authority on Hoppy. When the American Museum of the
licensed merchandise was valued at 70 million dollars.
Moving Image in New York City held a program on
“Hopalong Cassidy: King of the Licensed Cowboys” Hopalong Cassidy is an unparalleled example of the
(March 27, 1995) in conjunction with an exhibition of domestication and commercialization of a fictive Western
memorabilia, Sordoni along with Grace Bradley Boyd, widow protagonist. His creator Clarence Mulford, with his penchant
of the movie and television Cassidy, was a featured speaker. for accuracy, once lamented: “Imagine, Hoppy wearing clothes
like those Bill Boyd wears…Why, it’s absolute nonsense.
Beginning in the 1930s, William Boyd went on to star in
If Hoppy ever showed up in a saloon in duds like that they’d
over 60 Hopalong movies many of which retain true artistic
shoot him down on sight.”* Nonetheless, in his golden dust,
merit especially those shot by Russell Harlan near Lone Pine
rode other cowboy heroes including Gene Autry, Roy Rogers,
California. Reincarnated as a wholesome Hollywood cowboy,
and indeed a whole genre of television Westerns such as
Hopalong foreswore alcohol, tobacco, foul language, and
Bonanza, Gunsmoke, or the darker Have Gun —Will Travel.
instead came to represent the ideals of justice, loyalty, civility,
The Sordoni Collection artwork in this exhibition uniquely
and the American way. The new Hopalong would never initiate
chronicles the evolution of Mulford’s cowpunchers from
a fight, but was not averse to finishing one. Dressed in all
their first appearances by Wyeth and Schoonover in Outing
black — an exception to the rule that only bad guys wore black
Magazine, to Maynard Dixon’s interpretation in 1911, followed
hats — and with a distinctive longhorn bandana clasp, Hoppy
by George Gross who provided pulp covers in the mid-1930s,
and his sidekicks, usually one old and grizzled and the other
and ending with Dan Spiegle’s comic strips in the 1950s
young, epitomized rough justice in the lawless West. By the
(Cats. 82, 67, 68, 17, 28, 130).
mid-1940s, however, it appeared that Hoppy’s long trek on
his white horse Topper had come to trails end when producer The longevity and development of the main protagonist,
Harry Sherman decided to discontinue the series. Boyd disagreed Hopalong Cassidy, reflects the evolving role of the West in the
and in a most audacious, and ultimately brilliant move, American imagination during the first half of the 20th century.
mortgaged everything he owned to buy all the films from In retrospect the 1950s television boon in Westerns is their last,
Sherman and exclusive rights to the character from Mulford. dusty hurrah. The Depression and WWII had begun to set the
nation on a new course. By 1960 it was time, as President John
As had happened with magazines in the 19th century, obtaining
F. Kennedy said, to explore a new frontier.
content (programming) was an immediate concern in the
post-WWII years, as television became a staple in American
*Bernard A. Drew. Hopalong Cassidy: The Clarence E. Mulford Story.
homes; Boyd possessed an inventory that could be easily
Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1991, p. ix.
adapted to the new medium. Hopalong Cassidy debuted on

81
Maynard Dixon
Buck Peters, the Bar-20 foreman, heard the unpleasant news: Red have caught up with Jerry Brown, who has been riding
Two of his steers had been killed and skinned in a single day. upstream in an arroyo, now swollen, while attempting to
Although his herd numbered in the thousands and the loss of conceal his tracks. Shots are fired, and Jerry is thrown from
a few cattle would make no difference one way or the other, his saddle when his horse is hit. Still he is on the far side of the
the affront stung. Moreover, if the Bar-20 punchers failed to raging river, and his pursuers are at the top of a slippery bluff
respond, the rustlers would be emboldened and their with no way to descend and cross over. The punchers have no
predations likely to increase. choice but to retrace their route and ford the river elsewhere.
Mortally wounded and afoot, Jerry makes his way to a
The Bar-20 wranglers saddled up and headed to Perry’s Bend,
mission where he seeks asylum. Later on, Hoppy and Red
a small community some distance upriver from the ranch
track the fugitive down only to find him in a small, rustic
and known for its population of “shiftless malcontents,”
chapel laid out in a plain wooden coffin.
undesirables, card cheats, and cattle rustlers who headquartered
at Harlan’s Oasis bar. When Hopalong Cassidy and Johnny On the verso of this work, Dixon had made a number of notes
Nelson entered the Oasis looking for Jerry Brown, a hostile in pencil or charcoal in his own hand: “Artist Maynard Dixon
hush fell over the crowd. Scanning the face of each man in 1911; This drawing has in general a purplish tone — no blacks,
turn, Hoppy concluded that their quarry was not presently no tobacco juice browns go easy on the yellows; Illustration for
enjoying Harlan’s hospitality and the two backed out onto Bar-20 Days A. C. McClurg; Suddenly above him on top of
the street. When they returned to the bar shortly afterward, the bluff the figure of a man loomed up against the clouds.”
Jerry Brown was sitting there in plain view. In the pandemonium
The Sordoni Collection is noted for the number of Hopalong
that ensued after Jerry shot Johnny, the rustler managed to
Cassidy illustrations it contains. To our knowledge no other
flee the saloon and head out of town. Leaving his wounded
collection, public or private, has a comparable number of
companion in good hands, Hoppy, along with Red Connors,
early Cassidy works.
set out in pursuit of the fugitive.

Artist Maynard Dixon paints the moment when Hoppy and

82
37. MAYNARD DIXON (1875–1946)

The fugitive’s horse plunged into the deep water. 1911

Gouache, charcoal, and watercolor on paper.
293⁄4 × 215⁄8
Published: Clarence Mulford. Bar-20 Days. New York, NY: A.L. Burt Co., 1911, p. 270.

83
George Gross
George Gross painted this cover for Real Western Magazine, commercial artist. Creating a generic cover on short notice
which republished stories from Clarence E. Mulford’s 1926 would not have been a problem. The painting has all the
novel The Bar-20 Rides Again as “Snake Buttes” in January predictable Western pulp elements: a rearing horse, the flash
1935. The yarns were popular, having been serialized in Short of fire from the revolver’s barrel, the shooter’s grimace, the
Stories in 1926 and were adapted for the feature film Bar-20 clenched fist holding the reins, the victim’s head tilted back
Rides Again — released in December 1935 — starring William in agony as the horseman’s bullet enters his chest. The painting
Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy, George Hayes as his grizzled gives no clue as to who is the villain and who’s the good guy.
sidekick Windy, and James Ellison as Johnny Nelson. Indeed it appears that the victim has not drawn his weapon,
Harry Worth played the rich Eastern dude George Perdue, which is still holstered. He has been murdered in cold blood,
who was also a cattle rustler known as Nevada. Hoppy likewise but for a reason unknown.
assumed a second identity as Tex, a gambler with a grudge
In a typical pulp painting the artist such as Gross relies on
against Johnny. Hoppy’s and Perdue’s shifting personae add
primary colors: the red shirt, and gold neckerchief and shirt,
complexity to an otherwise predictable plot. Max Brand, one
and blue passages on the dark horse, which as reproduced
of many pseudonyms used by the prolific Western writer
on the cover of Real Western are much more apparent. The
Frederick Faust, who incidentally turned out reams of pulp
complementary green is also employed in the blanket roll and
fiction from a villa overlooking Florence, had noted that
kerchief. The colors were chosen both for their visual impact
although the Western had only seven basic stories, there was
(nothing subtle here), attractiveness, as well as representing the
but a single plot: “The good man becomes bad and the bad
basic offset printing press inks of magenta (red), cyan (blue),
man becomes good,” thus ensuring conflict.*
yellow, and black. Even the landscape is a generic pastiche of
The George Gross painting is clearly a generic pulp Western mesa badlands and a high mountain peak with a purplish cast
cover. Artists were frequently called upon to produce paintings caused by the intervening atmosphere between the foreground
without having read the work in question. Gross was a figures and the distant vista. Yet despite a plethora of visual
professional who had graduated from Pratt in 1931 and had clichés, the painting is an attractive example of a genre now
the further advantage of having a father who was a successful largely fallen out of vogue.

*Frank M. Robinson and Lawrence Davidson. Pulp Culture: The Art of Fiction Magazines. Portland, OR: Collectors Press, 2001, p. 83.

84
38. GEORGE GROSS (1909–2003)

Snake Buttes. 1934

Oil on canvas.
301⁄4 × 211⁄8
Published: Real Western Magazine, January 1935, Cover.

85
Frank E. Schoonover
Johnny Nelson, Buck Peter’s young protégé, had a prodigious the foe. At this moment he ejects a spent shell and levers a fresh
appetite and was usually among the first to arrive at the mess cartridge into the rifle’s chamber. The painting’s drama is one
hall each morning, “bawlin’ for his grub like a spoiled calf.” of contrasts between light and dark, desert heat and cool shade,
His absence one morning, therefore, sparked the men of the active concentration and passive recovery.
Bar-20 to speculate—that is, until Hopalong spotted Buck
Why the Indians ambushed Johnny is another story. Suffice to
and Johnny slowly riding “double-on.” Johnny had been
say that the vagrant Sioux known as Bye-an’-Bye had suffered
ambushed and shot in the back.
humiliation and sought revenge.
Such a dastardly act would never go unpunished. Mounting up,
The settling of the West and the ensuing conflicts between the
the crew followed Buck to the spot where Johnny had been left
indigenous peoples and the new arrivals is at the heart of the
for dead, and picking up the trail, began tracking the assassins.
American myth. It is also the story of our species that began
After 50 miles, the men stopped for fresh cayuses (horses) and
with the spread of homo sapiens out of Africa and the eradication
continued the chase until Hopalong spotted their quarry: Indians.
of Neanderthals and other early humans. In the past, great
As the gap closed between pursuers and pursued —“Death fled
sapien migrations included the Hebrews’ exodus from Egypt
from Death”— the Natives dismounted and made a stand on a
and the Dorian Invasion of pre-historic Greece. The Europeans’
low rocky knoll. A furious battle ensued.
“discovery” of the New World and its riches prompted another
Frank Schoonover has painted a powerful chiaroscuro study in mass movement of peoples across once impassable seas. People,
which a light foreground abuts the dark shadow of a sheltering in sum, have moved about the planet from immemorial time to
rock beyond which is a bright, sunny landscape with mesas the present. Rarely are the newcomers welcomed unequivocally.
and towering cumulus clouds. Hoppy has been hit twice and Conflict and genocide are the more frequent responses. As
lies sprawled on the rocky ground. The bulging muscle in his climate change, population growth, and territorial wars continue
neck hints at his pain. Skinny having applied a tourniquet to unimpeded, we may expect that the next chapter in this saga is
Hoppy’s bleeding thigh, has resumed raining bullets down on currently being written.

86
39. FRANK E. SCHOONOVER (1877–1972)

Skinny dragged him over to a crack and settled down for another try [Yore shore all right, you old cuss]. 1905
Oil on Columbia canvas.
30 × 20
Published: Clarence E. Mulford. “Bar-20 Yarns.” The Outing Magazine, April 1906, facing p. 3.

87
Frank E. Schoonover
Buck Peters, foreman at the Bar-20 Ranch, was in a foul mood: a comrade, name of Pie, who knew the area like the back of his
The C-80 had just lost another herd to rustlers. If that wasn’t hand. Pie opined that Slippery’s likely hideout was the Colorado
bad enough, the accelerating depredations had become so headwaters, near Cunningham Lake. Next day, from a
numerous and frequent that the annual cattle drive itself was cottonwood vantage point, the two cowboys located the
in jeopardy. In response, the foremen and owners of the four rustlers. Hopalong headed back to muster the Association’s
main ranches met in Cowan’s saloon to discuss the situation. force, only to encounter Red. After the usual exchange of
Shortly thereafter, they appointed Buck chief ranger of the unpleasantries and insults, for such was their custom, the two
newly formed Pecos Valley Cattle-Thief Elimination Association. made their way back to Slippery’s camp. After a thorough
reconnoiter, they drew up a plan of attack, which they shared
In the weeks following, a motley array of gunslingers drifted
with the rest of the newly arrived posse.
into the camps as the Association geared up for an assault on
the rustlers. All that remained was to determine exactly where At 3 a.m. the next morning, Buck’s men moved into position.
the cattle had been taken and by whom. The scope of the The early morning quiet was broken first by a whip-poor-will’s
rustlers’ organization, their stealth, and cunning suggested that melancholic dirge, followed by a tremendous barrage of rifle
the mastermind was none other than Slippery Trendley. Among fire. Trendley, awakened from a sound slumber, rushed from
his countless nefarious deeds, Slippery had murdered the wife his cabin, only to be tripped, hog-tied, and taken prisoner.
of Frenchy McAllister, who’d come in from Montana.
As the battle raged, Red climbed a nearby walnut tree. When
Buck dispatched Hopalong Cassidy and Red Connors — both a rustler stepped into the sights of his trusty Winchester, Red
young and impetuous in addition to being expert marksmen fired, and after ejecting a shell hollered “One!” Others followed.
 — and the cool-headed Frenchy to search Stake Plain, an
Later, the battle won, all that remained was to round up 30,000
unrelenting expanse of dry sand, lonely cacti, and gila monsters.
head of cattle, hang a few rustlers, and leave Slippery to the
After a fruitless search, Hoppy figured that the rustlers must be
fatal attentions of Frenchy, who had waited 20 years to do
elsewhere: Cattle, after all, need water, lots of water.
what he needed to do.
Hopalong rode over to the Panhandle, where he met up with

88
40. FRANK E. SCHOONOVER (1877–1972)

He swung his rifle out over a forked limb and let it settle in the crotch. 1906
Oil on canvas.
36 × 24
Published: Clarence E. Mulford. “Bar-20 Range Yarns VIII-Roping a Rustler.” The Outing Magazine, May 1907, p. 175.
Clarence E. Mulford. Bar-20: Being a Record of Certain Happenings that Occurred in the Otherwise Peaceful Lives of One
Hopalong Cassidy and His Companions on the Range. New York, NY: A.L. Burt, 1907, p. 178.

89
N.C. Wyeth
Slim Travennes and his gang of vigilantes, otherwise known shortly after graduating in 1904.
as Travennes’ Terrors, controlled the town of Cactus Springs,
Wyeth’s painting captures Slim’s panic as he and his
where Hopalong Cassidy and his pal Red Connors had stopped
wild-eyed pinto race past the town’s saloon. Background
for the night after spending their hard-earned money gambling
details are freely brushed, blurred and blended as if seen in
and drinking in Santa Fe. Recalling an exchange of gunfire the
frenzied flight. This is no stop-action photo or crisp colored
previous year with Cassidy, Slim devised a nefarious scheme.
drawing where each object is lovingly and clearly rendered.
Under cover of darkness, he switched Hoppy’s and Red’s horses
Rather it is an emotional hurricane of fear, desperation, and
for two other, superior equine specimens, one of which bore
escapement. Life and death hang in the balance; everything
Slim’s brand. The following morning, when Red discovered
else is secondary. Wyeth had truly absorbed Pyle’s teachings
the ruse, he knew trouble lay ahead: The penalty for horse
that the artist must not simply render a scene, but must
rustling was death.
immerse oneself sincerely in the life of the painting and
The two punchers managed to disarm the vigilantes, internalize the subject’s feelings or mood. Thus Wyeth
recover their own horses, and arrive safely back home. selectively highlights certain details, such as the bit and bridle
Hearing what had transpired in Cactus Springs, the Bar-20 or Slim’s forehead above deep-set eyes and a bushy moustache,
crew grew indignant and voted unanimously to extract while simultaneously minimizing others, such as the horse’s
retribution. After riding all night, the force, 18 strong, arrived tail and hindquarters in order to create a sense of movement
early the following morning and immediately launched an on a stationary canvas. Much as the outcome hangs in the
aggressive assault, with roaring Colts, Winchesters, and the balance, the painting is neatly divided into two sections of
odd .60-caliber buffalo gun. The cacophony and smoke awoke light and dark by a diagonal.
late-sleeping Slim who, dressed only in red woolen underwear,
Wyeth’s technique accorded well with the more painterly
fled for his life with a Colt .41 a-blazing.
style of illustration made possible due to advances in printing
N.C. Wyeth had just recently turned 24 when this painting technology that included photo-mechanical reproduction,
appeared in Outing Magazine. Like his first published half-tone and finally color printing.
illustration, a Saturday Evening Post cover (February 21, 1903)
Later on, as they rode from the burning town, Red asked
completed while still a student at Howard Pyle’s school,
if Hoppy had seen Slim. Touching his Colt, Hoppy replied
this dealt with a Western subject. At the time, Wyeth was
that he had. Slim might have died in the saddle, but not
fascinated with the lore, characters, myths, and expansiveness
with his boots on.
of the American West, which he had experienced first-hand

90
41. N.C. WYETH (1882–1945)

Mr. Cassidy...saw a crimson rider sweep down upon him...heralded by a blazing .41. 1906
Oil on canvas.
38 × 25
Published: Clarence E. Mulford. “Bar-20 Range Yards, Part VII–Cassidy at Cactus.” The
Outing Magazine, December 1906, p. 337.
Clarence E. Mulford. Bar-20: Being a Record of Certain Happenings that Occurred in the
Otherwise Peaceful Lives of One Hopalong Cassidy and His Companions on the Range. New
York, NY: A.L. Burt, 1907, facing p. 256.

91
Dan Spiegle
After service in the Navy during WWII, Dan Spiegle matriculated offerings at times made Boyd’s seem old-fashioned. Besides,
at Chouinard Art Institute, Los Angeles, in 1946. Three years beginning in 1954 and 1955, the Davy Crockett craze swept
later, his G.I. Bill education benefits about to expire, he sought the country (Cat. 128).
a position as cartoonist with Capitol Records, only to learn
Spiegle had grown up with comics, to which his father, a druggist,
that they needed an artist to draw Bozo the Clown, which did
had ready access. In the 1972 interview, Spiegle singled out the
not interest Spiegle. Nonetheless, the interviewer reviewed his
realistic drawing styles of Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon, Lyman
portfolio, which contained numerous examples of horses and
Young’s Tim Tyler’s Luck, and Milton Caniff ’s Terry and the
Western subjects. The man then mentioned that the Hopalong
Pirates as important influences. Spiegle, however, worked with
Cassidy organization, located nearby, was looking for an artist
a number of restrictions unshared by the others: He had the
to draw a new strip based on the fictitious cowboy and suggested
advantage of a real-life model in William Boyd, which his
that he pay them a visit. A week later, after a successful interview
comic character needed to imitate, and the disadvantage that
with William Boyd, the movie actor who played Hopalong,
the strip was not his own creation.
Spiegle was hired. In a 1972 interview with Dan Gheno he
recalled that Boyd believed that horses were the key to a As part of a mass-marketing juggernaut, Hopalong Cassidy shied
successful Western strip.* away from offending anyone and sought to please all. Spiegle
observed in 1972, that ethnic and national stereotypes were
The strip began in 1949, distributed by the Mirror Enterprises
avoided after one story that had portrayed a Mexican negatively
Syndicate, an affiliate of the Los Angeles Times and in 1951
resulted in widespread reader disapproval. Likewise wherever
King Features Syndicate acquired the property. The impetus for
possible Spiegle drew pleasant and happy faces instead of grim
the strip was the launching of the Hopalong Cassidy television
and menacing ones.
show on NBC in June 1949. An immediate and overwhelming
success, the show spawned an avalanche of branded merchandise This Sunday strip, written by Royal King Cole who had
and related tie-ins including a comic strip and comic books. replaced Dan Grayson and Spiegle as author, departs radically
The fad faded, however, and in 1955 King discontinued the from the traditional Western landscape. After inquiring of
strip. As noted in this section’s introduction, Hopalong was Clay Sanderson’s whereabouts in a Mexican bar or cantina,
uniquely situated for the early days of television. Boyd owned Hoppy and his partner head for the Spanish Mine situated
the rights to the character and, most significantly, a large deep in a swamp with ominous silhouetted trees. The final,
inventory of movies dating back to the 1930s that could be double panel poses a mystery — a cliffhanger — to be resolved
edited for the emerging television market. This produced in a future installment.
an initial advantage, but with success came imitators whose

*http://www.dangheno.net/dsinterview.htm

92
42. DAN SPIEGLE (1920–2017)

Hopalong Cassidy. 1953

India ink, red pencil & white paint on heavyweight paper.
36 × 24
Published: King Features Syndicate, December 27, 1953.

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Comic Art
The Sordoni Collection contains numerous examples of Ian Gordon observed that Outcault’s prime contribution “was
comic art including daily and Sunday comic strips that that he crystallized a succession of comic kid types into a single
appeared primarily in newspapers, cartoons that were published character.”* Thereafter, continuous, re-occurring characters
in magazines and other print media, along with drawings and with individual personalities would define comic strips.
cels from animated films. A common, though inadequate, Equally important was readership affection for a comic
definition of a comic strip is “a sequence of drawings in boxes character. Outcault did not name his Mickey Dugan the
that tell an amusing story.” This definition, as we will see, does Yellow Kid; fans did. So important was the Kid’s fan base that
not adequately describe a strip by George Herriman, which for a time competing versions appeared in rival newspapers.
does not fit all the drawings into boxes or panels, or Milton
William Randolph Hearst, who had purchased the New York
Caniff ’s strip, which isn’t particularly funny (Cats. 112, 89).
Journal in 1895, needed to increase readership significantly if
Moreover, the definition fails to cite the importance of text,
his newspaper were to survive. Convinced that comics could
which can appear as spoken or thought balloons that contain
sell newspapers, Hearst ran a full-page ad (October 17, 1896)
dialogue, interjected asides, and other devices. The typical strip
announcing a new Sunday comic supplement consisting of
can be a continuous narrative that develops from day to day
“eight pages of iridescent polychromous effulgence that makes
and thereby encourages the reader to keep purchasing the
the rainbow look like a lead pipe!” He also persuaded Outcault
newspaper in order to stay abreast of the story. The more elaborate
to move to the Journal. Due to an oversight, Outcault had
Sunday pages, which appeared in color, could continue the
not copyrighted the Kid, so Pulitzer continued the strip with
weekly narrative or be an independent “one-off” usually featuring
George Luks (1867–1933) — who went on to fame as one of
familiar characters, or both, as in Frank King’s Gasoline Alley
The Eight or Ashcan School painters — drawing the strip. This
page from 1924 (Cat. 116). Cartoons, on the other hand, must
produced the unusual situation of dueling Yellow Kids, which
convey the essence of the humorous situation usually in a single
in turn led to new strategies for protecting intellectual property
panel (Cats. 93, 119). All cartoons have a gag and the job of
under copyright laws.
the cartoonist is to “hook” the reader to accept the premise or
gag. Finally, the animated film still or “cel,” an abbreviation of Although Hogan’s Alley is generally regarded as the first
“celluloid,” on which they were created, is but one of comic strip, it is not without antecedents. Depending on one’s
thousands of drawings that run together to form a movie viewpoint it can be argued that the sequential narrative finds its
(Cats. 99, 98, 117, 131). origin in Egyptian art, Greek friezes, or fresco cycles by Giotto
(c. 1270 –1337) — one thinks of the Scrovegni Chapel panels
According to some scholars, but disputed by others, the comic
depicting the Life of the Virgin (c. 1305). Like a modern comic
strip is a uniquely American invention created in 1895 by
artist, Giotto simplified his compositions to increase legibility,
Richard Felton Outcault (1863 –1928) when Hogan’s Alley first
focused on recurring characters, maintained a clear narrative
appeared in Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World. Dressed in an
direction, and even added text below the single grisaille panels.
ill-fitting, hand-me-down yellow nightshirt — hence the Yellow
William Hogarth’s (1697–1764) paintings of The Rake’s Progress
Kid nickname — Mickey Dugan lived in a fictive locale in a
(1732 – 33) were published the following year as engravings
big-city slum. Mickey’s shaven head was typical of street gamins
that combined sharp drawing, humorous text, and sequential
whose locks were shorn in the ongoing battle against head lice.

94
narrative panels. Early comics also reflected a strong German (1857–1937), a regular at Puck who created Happy
influence, particularly through such vehicles as Joseph Hooligan, a down-at-the-heels Irish tramp, and Rudolph
Keppler’s (1838 –1894) Puck, which specialized in cartoons Dirks (1877–1968), who introduced the ever-mischievous
and caricatures of political commentary. Puck, along with Katzenjammer Kids.
the earlier Thomas Nast (1840 –1902) cartoons in Harper’s
As comic strips became increasingly popular, more and more
Weekly, established the viability of caricature as social satire and
newspapers added the feature. In order to supply market
political critique. Other important precursors were Rodolphe
demand, several syndicates started up in the early decades
Töpffer (1799 –1846), and Wilhelm Busch (1832 –1908),
of the 20th century. Syndicates, which had long distributed
whose Max und Moritz established the naughty boy character
intellectual content, now added comics to their staples of
that was to become a staple in the world of comics from the
essays, fiction, and opinion pieces. The Newspaper Enterprise
Katzenjammer Kids to Dennis the Menace. But perhaps most
Association (1902) and Pulitzer’s Press Publishers Syndicate
important was another cartoonist from Puck, Franklin Morris
(1905) led the way, but perhaps the most influential was
Howarth (1864 –1908), whose cartoons expanded the genre
Hearst’s King Features Syndicate (1915). Under the
from partisan politics to broad social commentary.
dynamic leadership of Moses Koenigsberg (1879 –1945,
Most early comics were urban centered and, in the tradition “koenig” in German means “king”), the syndicate quickly
of genre paintings, poked fun at the poor and the stranger. The became a premier source and was an essential factor in the
Yellow Kid epitomized multitudes of Hell’s Kitchen or Lower creation of a national, homogeneous outlook: Rural and urban,
East Side urchins sympathetically for middle-class consumers. Northern and Southern, Eastern and Western readers were
Of course the poor could not afford newspapers. The early exposed to the same information and entertainment sources.
comics frequently lampooned the broken English of minorities
With wider distribution, the comics’ initial urban and
and immigrants along with playing up ethnic and racial
lower-class focus broadened. In 1920 Frank King’s
stereotypes. Representations of African Americans, for example,
(1883 –1969) Gasoline Alley, appeared and was set in a
often reflected vaudeville and especially minstrel-show types,
small town and featured a group of mostly middle-class
which typically featured white actors in blackface. This
men with a shared love of automobiles. When a year later
combined with quasi-simian features and exaggerated white
the artist left baby Skeezix, a foundling, on Walt’s doorstep,
lips was seen as late as the 1940s in strips such as Joe Palooka
the strip introduced the innovation of having characters age
(Cat. 100). Although these strips are offensive by today’s
normally (Cat. 116).
standards, in their time the majority of the readers would not
have objected to these demeaning depictions. Of course the In the following decades the number and types of comic strips
targets would have felt differently. expanded rapidly. New genres included adventure (Tarzan),
fantasy or science fiction (Flash Gordon), military (Terry and
Though very influential, Hogan’s Alley was short lived
the Pirates), detective (Dick Tracy), sports (Joe Palooka),
(1894 –1898). Outcault went on to create Buster Brown,
among others (Cats. 113, 89, 106, 100). Family foibles
a more durable character. Hearst meanwhile added additional
were a perennial source of material. Notable as well were
artists to his comic stable, including Fredrick Opper
the anthropomorphic characters such as Krazy Kat,

95
the Disney menagerie led by Mickey Mouse, and more recently strip’s original creator died. George Herriman’s Krazy Kat
Walt Kelly’s Pogo and Charles Schulz’s Snoopy (Cats. 112, 104, was a notable exception: William Randolph Hearst allowed
115, 126). the inimitable Kat to follow his maker to the grave and,
ironically, immortality.
Unlike “fine art,” Illustration and Comic Art are created
for publication. Consequently many more stakeholders are To meet the demand, artist creators often hired ghosts,
involved. Indeed these fields are closer to movie production whose tasks varied from inking to full responsibility for the
with actors, directors, producers, and support staff. The strip. Typically the strip’s creator continued to receive credit.
illustrator, for example, is tied to the advertising message or William Overgard (1926 –1990), Frank Frazetta (1928 – 2010),
story line. An art director or editor must approve the work and Al Capp (1909 –1979 all served apprenticeships as ghosts
prior to publication. In the case of comic art, several different (Cats. 122, 103, 90).
hands may be present. The writer, of course, provides the
Often the relationship between the creators and the ghosts was
narrative and the dialogue. The “penciler” sketches out the
cordial and mutually beneficial, but the opposite could also be
panels, which the “inker” subsequently redraws in black India
true. Perhaps the most famous feud involves Ham Fisher (Joe
ink, and the “letterer” fills the word balloons or captions. The
Palooka) and Al Capp (Li’l Abner). While Capp was ghosting
inker will often complete the background in addition to adding
for Fisher, “Big Leviticus,” an outsized hillbilly, made an initial
details to the initial pencil drawing. At times a figure or panel
appearance in the strip. Who came up with the concept is
needs to be redrawn. In this case the penciler, inker, or a third
debated, but Leviticus was certainly the prototype for Li’l
artist draws the revision on another piece of paper and simply
Abner, the protagonist in Capp’s own strip. The nasty and
glues it over the initial effort. Needless to say, archival adhesives
vitriolic feud went on for years, becoming intensified as Capp’s
were not used, since the artwork was used once and then
comic strip outpaced Fisher’s in popularity. In 1950 Capp pub-
frequently discarded. Conservation was not a consideration,
lished “I Remember Monster” in The Atlantic. Fisher respond-
which is why many examples of original comic art suffer
ed to this thinly veiled characterization by claiming that Capp’s
from staining and discoloration (for example Cat. 100).
strips contained hidden obscenities. Many looked, but came
Many others simply did not survive in their original form
away disappointed.When an anonymous group of obscene Li’l
due to neglect or deterioration.
Abner drawings came to light in 1954, Fisher was exposed as
The demand for popular strips was insatiable so assembly-line the source. Expelled from the National Cartoonists Society, of
production for comic art ideally suited the needs of newspapers. which he was a founder, Fisher became increasingly despondent
Some artists worked months in advance, others but only and on December 27, 1955, took his own life.
weeks ahead. Regardless, the comics demanded strict,
Comic artists have employed a wide variety of styles to tell
unrelenting deadlines. This continuous pressure for content
their stories. Caricature types appeared initially, but in time
greatly stressed many artists, especially those who wrote,
artists sought a greater verisimilitude in both their settings and
penciled, and inked their creations.
characters. The acme of this direction is found in the Harold
Moreover, once an audience had been created for a given strip, Foster or Milton Caniff strips. In contrast Charles Schulz, for
the syndicate and fans demanded its continuance, even if the whom the psychological situation is foremost, preferred simplified

96
contour drawings (Cat. 126). Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, and consumer demand, but also as a significant revenue source
the rest of the Peanuts cast are all flat with no suggestion of for all print media.
three-dimensionality. Instead, recurring tropes (a dog’s heroic
Like the collection as a whole, Sordoni’s comic art is
fantasies, trust and betrayal, group dynamics, personal
idiosyncratic. It contains both original art that appeared in
responsibility, friendship, insecurity, artistic endeavors, and
daily and Sunday newspapers, but no comic book art. Nor
mental breakdowns) carry the strip. Schulz seems to say that
does it have representative examples of popular genres such
adult neuroses have their origin in childhood traumas.
as science fiction simply because this did not appeal to the
Fortunately psychiatric help was available for 5 cents at
collector. As a broad survey the collection has numerous
Lucy’s outpatient stand. The variety of comic art drawing on
omissions, for example, no works by Winsor McCay. This is
display in this exhibition demonstrates how different artists
not to say that the collector considers McCay unimportant.
create a style that best conveys their vision.
In fact the collection once did contain a McCay, but it was
In the 1940s, changing demographics and market forces traded and another example never entered the collection.
drastically impacted the comics. Newspapers began to shrink This fluidity characterizes the difference between a focused
the size of their comic strips to fit more features onto a single collection with a list of must-haves and a less disciplined
page. Wartime paper shortages were a factor in these decisions, collection developed by opportunity, change, economics,
but not primary. Sunday comics, for example, that had once and many other factors, including pure fickleness or simply
occupied a full page, successively shrank to half-page and then falling out of love with a given work.
third-page formats. Prince Valiant, the last of the full-page
strips, joined the “halfs” in 1970. The reduced format did not *Ian Gordon. Comic Strips and Consumer Culture 1890 –1945.
encourage other artists to emulate the detailed drawing styles Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998, p. 25.
associated with Foster or Caniff.

It is difficult in this era of television, Internet, and movies

to recall the unifying impact that print media once had.
Newspapers and magazines, it may well be argued, created
a national rather than a local or regional intellectual and
consumer culture, in which, for example, national brands
increasingly supplanted local products and furthered a
concentration and consolidation of production and distribution
systems. Moreover, beginning with the Yellow Kid, and
followed more significantly by Outcault’s Buster Brown, comic
characters became pitchmen for everything from cereals to
shoes, soaps to sodas, and just about every other consumer
product imaginable. Advertising and public relations grew
in importance, not only in terms of defining and creating

97
Buck Brown
Buck Brown is best known for his lascivious Granny cartoons, prevent foreclosures during the Depression, surveyed over
which appeared regularly in Playboy magazine starting in 1966 two hundred cities and classified neighborhoods according to
and continued for decades. In these and others, Brown, an “residential security maps” for investments. The neighborhoods
African-American artist, challenged various stereotypes were outlined in various colors, with the least desirable and
including ageism and racism. Humor, not polemics, was his most dangerous in red. Not coincidently, these areas tended
weapon of choice. A half-century, however, has blunted to be older, inner city, and primarily Black. Redlining had the
somewhat the impact of Brown’s topical cartoons. effect of eliminating investment, contributing to further urban
deterioration, and exacerbating social problems. More affluent
When “It must be a trap” appeared in Playboy in 1967,
African Americans sought to escape these environs but were
readers would have understood the references without
blocked in many cases by covenants that prevented sales to
needing exegesis: “We Shall Overcome,” the anthem of the
minorities. Blockbusting preyed on white homeowners’ fears
Civil Rights movement; “We try harder,” the tagline from an
of an integrated neighborhood. Many owners were persuaded
Avis car-rental-advertising campaign begun in 1962; “We Can
to sell out, at below market value, before the neighborhood
Work It Out,” the Beatles song that hit #1 on the Billboard
changed. The agents then resold the houses to Black families
charts in 1966; “Freedom,” “Open Housing,” and “Equal
at an inflated price and, often at usurious mortgage rates, since
Opportunity,” all demands associated with the struggle for
even well-qualified Blacks were frequently turned away by
racial equality in the 1960s. Some readers might have detected
conventional lenders.
a subtle note of menace in the addition of “Baby” to “We shall
overcome.” “Burn, Baby, Burn” became associated not only Brown’s cartoon is not only an interesting example of social
with the August 1965 Watts Riots that raged for days, but also commentary and an encapsulation of the zeitgeist, but also
with the inchoate transition from the non-violent tactics of speaks to the metamorphosis of popular culture from broad
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to armed resistance advocated by to specialist understanding. In another fifty years, only scholars
the Black Panthers. will understand fully this cartoon.

Digging deeper, the cartoon’s gag depends on understanding Collector’s Note: Although acquainted with several artists (and
“redlining” and “blockbusting,” two pernicious real estate their families) included in the exhibition, Buck Brown was,
practices under challenge at the time. In 1935, the Home by far, the closest to the collector. In fact these two were
Owners’ Loan Corporation, a New Deal entity created to collaborators on numerous projects.

98
43. BUCK BROWN (1936–2007)

“It must be a trap.” 1967

Acrylic on illustration board.
23 × 171⁄2
Published: Playboy, October 1967, p. 111.

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John Caldwell and Walter Lantz Productions
The knock-knock joke is a staple of the humor business. At the John Caldwell’s cartoon displays a more subtle side of his
risk of making much ado about nothing, it should be noted imagination. Best known for his cartoons in Mad Magazine,
that the utterance is found in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, wherein Playboy, National Lampoon, and other fonts of wisdom,
the Porter famously says the immortal lines “Knock, Knock! Caldwell combined simple drawing with acerbic, occasionally
Who’s there?” and then proceeds to answer with a list of tasteless, and frequently mordant captions. In this cartoon,
miscreants including a “slick, two-faced con man” and a “tailor an elderly disciple of Thalia, Muse of Comedy, seeks entry
who liked to skimp on the fabric.” (Act 2, Scene 3). Some into a society of his peers. The cartoon would have a personal
scholars have argued that the knock-knock trope was widespread meaning for Andrew Sordoni, a long-time member of New
back then since even the hoi polloi, the great unwashed who York’s Friars Club, and a writer of gags himself. Fortunately,
packed into the Globe Theater, appreciated the humor. Other Sordoni is not fully retired from the humor trade.
scholars have cited the Medieval call-and-answer form. Be that
The gag begins the Andy Panda short animated cartoon Knock
as it may — and it seems unlikely that a definitive answer will
Knock, which introduced Woody Woodpecker. In the film
be discovered despite repeated assaults on the portals of
young Andy asks Papa Panda, who is diligently studying a
knowledge — the other essential ingredient in a well-formed
horse-race card, if a bird can be caught by sprinkling salt on its
knock-knock joke did not come into widespread vogue until
tail. Papa becomes increasingly perturbed first by the question,
the 1930s. I am referring of course to the punch-line pun.
and then by repeated knocking and finding nobody at the
Diligent language archaeologists have discovered a forgotten
door. The gags multiply: Woody is pecking a hole in the roof,
text referencing “a new mid-summer game” and cite
Papa Panda seeks to dispatch the noisome bird with a wooden
passages such as “’Lemke who?’ ‘Lemke call you sweetheart.’”
plank and then a gun, of which Woody manages to relieve him
(“Knock, Knock!” The Pittsburgh Press, August 9, 1936). The
as seen in the animated cel. This scene is followed by the usual
pun, it should be noted, has an additional layer of meaning,
pandemonium wherein Papa is sent reeling from the gun’s
referencing as it does a popular tune of the day recorded by,
recoil. In the end Andy manages to capture Woody by
among others, Bing Crosby. Even the staid “Proceedings” of the
emptying a saltshaker on his tail feathers. Incapacitated,
American Pomological Society covering the period 1933 – 1937
Woody falls into the clutches of a pair of insane-asylum
indulge: “Knock, Knock, Who’s there? Apple. Apple Who?
attendants, who are as troubled as their wards. Or, as another
Appalachian Brand.” Or as the Pittsburgh story concluded:
funny animal Porky Pig was wont to say: “That’s all folks.”
“The worse it is, you see, the better.”

100
44. JOHN CALDWELL (1946–2016)

Society of Retired Comedy Writers. undated

Ink on paper.
71⁄2 × 91⁄2

45. WALTER LANTZ PRODUCTIONS

Animated Film Still for Knock Knock [Woody Woodpecker]. 1940

Celluloid.
51⁄4 diam.
Walter Lantz Productions: Knock Knock, 1940.

101
Milton Caniff
In January 1945, Walter Winchell, the premier gossip columnist landing. The Dragon Lady ensures that their incarceration
of the era, spread the word that Milton Caniff had signed a is short lived.
contract with a rival syndicate and that he would cease drawing
Lionized in John Paul Adams’ 1946 book subtitled
Terry and the Pirates when his current contract expired in two
“Rembrandt of the Comic-Strips,” Caniff exerted a profound
years. This newspaper scoop caused widespread speculation and
influence on his fellow cartoonists. He combined realistic
anxiety. Readers worried about the fate of much loved characters
drawing, a complex narrative continuity, and believable
(and some despicable ones as well) who had become part
characters in an exotic adventure strip. His use of chiaroscuro
of millions’ daily lives since the strip began its run in 1934.
wherein black figures are silhouetted against a light ground, as
Would Caniff go out like T.S. Eliot’s Hollow Men “Not with
in the first panel, or light uniforms against a dark ground, as in
a bang but a whimper”?
the end panel, was particularly notable for its dramatic effect.
The answer was soon apparent. Caniff pulled out all the stops.
Caniff had a sensitive ear for dialogue and each character’s
With the end of World War II on the horizon, Caniff began to
speech reflected his or her own personality. A thespian at
reintroduce characters that had either left the stage during the
heart — he had acted while a student at The Ohio State
war or had assumed new roles. The Dragon Lady, for instance,
University — Caniff loved movies and his understanding of
had become a resistance fighter against Japanese imperialism,
cinematic effects is evident. The Sordoni strip, for example,
but then reverted to her pre-war piracy once the conflict ended.
employs a variety of viewpoints from panoramic in the first
In this Sunday strip the Dragon Lady’s pirating business has panel followed by an overhead shot, close-ups and mid shots.
resumed. She has arranged to smuggle contraband into China The variety helps to move the action along. Other dramatic
by truck where it was loaded onto an Air Cathay airplane techniques include split-screen or panel-within-a panel
piloted by Terry Lee, now an undercover Army agent, and renderings. These he further refined by having the round panel,
co-pilot Charles C. Charles, aka Hotshot, a wisecracking for example, echo the Dragon Lady’s earrings or the quadrant
aviator having difficulty readjusting to civilian life in Boston. curve mimicking that of the guard’s back.
Chopstick Joe, a racketeer, oversees the fleet, which Terry had
In his prime, Caniff combined strong storytelling and artistic
previously characterized as “a couple of war-weary U.S. Army
excellence in equal measure. Terry and the Pirates during his
surplus airplanes” (April 9, 1946). After the plane’s radio
tenure remains at the apex of the genre.
operator receives a warning that smugglers are aboard, the
criminals attempt to hijack the plane, but are thwarted by
Hotshot, subdued, and turned over to the authorities upon

102
46. MILTON CANIFF (1907–1988)

Terry and the Pirates. 1946

Pen & ink on illustration board, collage.
17 × 25
Published: News Syndicate, May 12, 1946.

103
Phil Davis
After vanquishing the evil Cobra, Mandrake decides to instead insists that he be bound with rope and chain. At this
remain for a time in Alexandria. On the docks of that ancient point, Hawk appears and shortly thereafter has the magician
Mediterranean city, he and his manservant Lothar, a giant conveyed dockside, where he is cast unceremoniously into
Nubian, are assailed by agents of the lovely Princess Narda and the blue waters. Although his rescuer Lothar nearly does,
thus begins the next adventure. Mandrake the Magician is no Mandrake does not perish. The adventure ends with Mandrake
mere illusionist, no slight-of-hand fraud, no sideshow curiosity. rescuing Narda and her brother the prince, who is absolved
Rather his powers are real and transcendent. He is a hypnotist when it is revealed that Hawk himself is the murderer.
extraordinaire. He can levitate objects large and small, whether Although the guilty are punished, the victims released, and
they be human or human built. He can transubstantiate from Mandrake is still susceptible to the Princesses’ charms, he
the corporeal to the ghostly. He can turn an enemy’s eyes into a wisely turns away from one who betrayed his trust.
projector from which the villain’s thoughts play out on a screen
Scripted by Lee Falk, Mandrake the Magician was first
for all to see. Moreover Mandrake is chivalrous, sophisticated,
syndicated in June 1934. Shortly thereafter Phil Davis
sartorially unchallenged, and above all desirous of helping those
became the illustrator and continued work on the strip until
in need: in this case Princess Narda, whom a hunchbacked
his death in 1964. Many comic historians consider
casino owner named Hawk is manipulating and extorting.
Mandrake the first superhero.
Hawk, it turns out, has framed Narda’s brother for a murder
he did not commit and demanded payments to keep quiet. The four-panel strip well illustrates several comic conventions.
Mandrake first wishing to learn the cause of his assault soon The first text panel recaps the immediate preceding strip, and
comes under the spell of the Princess. A striking couple, the final double-sized panel includes a tease: “Tomorrow — into
Mandrake and the lady are soon seen together everywhere in the sea.” The strip is drawn in pencil and then inked with
society, at the horse races and fashionable balls. India ink, applied with pen and brush. A blue wash
indicates halftones. The strip is dated (“12-26”), signed,
In this strip, they are enjoying a quiet dinner together. At
and has a pre-printed King Features Syndicate label pasted
Hawk’s insistence, Narda has agreed to poison Mandrake, but
onto the drawing. The panels vary in size depending upon
just before they toast each other, the magician detects the
the viewpoint (normal, close up, wide angle) and this
adulterated wine and foils the plot, only to succumb to a
variety animates the strip.
blackjack blow that renders him senseless. Although her butler
wishes to kill the prostrate magician, the Princess demurs and

104
47. PHIL DAVIS (1906–1964)

Mandrake the Magician. 1934

Pen & ink, blue wash.
41⁄2 × 201⁄2
Published: King Features Syndicate, December 26, 1934.

105
Roy Delgado and Robert Eckstein
Like the knock-knock joke, the thrown pie is an oft-repeated of brilliant campaigns in the late 1970s targeted politicians of
gag with its own word: “pieing.” “Pie in the face” is a slapstick various stripes. Kay chose both his targets and pies with care.
staple that appears as early as 1909 in Mr. Flip, a silent film Anita Bryant, who was on an anti-homosexual crusade, was
starring Ben Turpin. The shtick quickly evolved from being struck with a fruit pie. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s
a simple act in retaliation for improper advances toward a remarks on the African-American family merited a mocha
woman into an orgy of airborne projectiles raining down like cream pie. William Colby of the CIA, whom Kay envisioned
missiles. In Behind the Screen (1916), Charlie Chaplin flung as a latter-day acolyte of Hitler, received a Bavarian Cream
pies, but his efforts appear tepid in comparison to the 3000 pie. Kay generously notes that his inspiration came in a gestalt
launched in Laurel and Hardy’s The Battle of the Century moment in 1970 when Tom Forcade pitched a pie at a member
(1927). The award, to date, for pie Armageddon is held by The of the President’s Commission on Obscenity and Pornography,
Great Race (1967): When the gooey battle ended after five days, although it should also be said that as a youth Kay had
casualties included 4000 pies and an oversized cake. undergone years of exposure to Laurel and Hardy, Abbot
and Costello, and The Three Stooges. Now retired, Kay is
Tracing the course of pieing from approbation to comedy to
encouraged by new pie commentators Biotic Baking Brigade
absurdity, one can understand why the act has taken on political
(Ann Coulter and Bill Gates) and Johnnie Marbles (Rupert
connotations. Much as the thrown shoe in Arab countries is an
Murdock). It’s not quiet a renaissance, but it’s a start.
act of disrespect and humiliation, so too the flung pie, especially
commencing in the 1970s. But whereas a shoe is a shoe is a Finally it should be noted that pieing exists within strict
shoe, unless of course it’s a sandal, a pie is a subtler weapon parameters. Mack Sennet, who often employed pies in his
that can be tailored to the target. silent films, observed that “A mother never gets hit with a
custard pie ... Mothers-in-law, yes. But mothers? Never.”
Much credit for the introduction of this element into political
theater must go to Aron Kay (aka “Pieman”) who in a series

106
48. ROY DELGADO (b. 1935)

Dessert at the old comedians’ home. undated

Pen & ink.
81⁄2 × 11
Unpublished

49. ROBERT ECKSTEIN (b. 1963)

“It’s $20 more for a funny ending.” 2016

Ink.
81⁄2 × 11

107
Ham Fisher
The first panel caption notes that “Joe is on furlough” and that time, it was becoming increasingly clear that American
the strip was published on November 2nd, that is a little over isolationism was equivalent to an ostrich hiding its head in
a month before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on the sand. Shortly thereafter, America entered the war.
December 7, 1941. Responding to the escalating likelihood
Ham Fisher, Joe Palooka’s creator, was born in Wilkes-Barre
for war, Joe had enlisted in the Army late in 1940 — the first
and discovered the prototype for his hero in Pete Latzo, a boxer,
American cartoon character to do so — shortly after Congress
outside a local pool hall. The origin of “palooka” is perhaps the
created a peace-time draft. By that time, the war was raging
Polish surname “Paluka.” Albert Horace Cooper first used the
in Europe after the Nazis invaded Poland in September 1939.
term in his Character Glimpses: Australians on the Somme: Boys
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s policy of
of the Bull Dog Breed from France (1920). Thereafter it became
appeasement, as formalized in the 1938 Munich Agreement,
synonymous with an inferior or mediocre prizefighter.
had failed to prevent German aggression.
Palooka’s appearance underwent a number of changes reflecting
This Sunday strip can be seen as a parable. A large, violent and
the then current heavyweight champion. After Joe Louis, the
aggressive “brute,” is beating a smaller, weaker victim for no
great African-American boxer, won the title, Fisher did not
apparent reason. The bull-necked bully conforms to numerous
continue with this practice and instead settled on a blond
anti-German stereotypes: he is coarse, cruel, and judging from
Caucasian. As can be seen in the strip’s title, Fisher was not
his girth, sausage loving. He is the exemplar of the Hun. His
adverse to employing unflattering racial stereotypes in his
apologist in a sharp plaid suit argues first for non-intervention
depiction of Smokey, Palooka’s aide and sparring partner.
and then claims that it is the fate of the weak to be vanquished
The title also includes manager Knobby Walsh. Not shown is
by the strong. However, like all bullies, our brute is suspicious,
Little Max, who in time became a very popular character in
untrusting, and demanding of loyalty. Facts don’t matter. He
his own right. The character was inspired by another
will accuse and attack because “what I say is all that counts!!”
Wilkes-Barre native, Max Bartikowsky who grew up to
Joe Palooka, the heavyweight boxer, intervenes and delivers
become a prominent merchant and jeweler in town and
a series of debilitating blows to the villain, accompanied by a
whose former store property is now owned by Wilkes
medley of onomatopoeia fight sounds. After dispatching his
University and houses the Sordoni Art Gallery.
adversary, Palooka rejects thanks from the former ally, and
states that he was only fighting for the “little fellas.” At the

108
50. HAM FISHER (1900–1955)

Joe Palooka. 1941

Ink and blue pencil.
22 × 161⁄2
Published: McNaught Syndicate, November 2, 1941.

109
Harold R. Foster
Identity and sacrifice are the themes of this Sunday sequence. format, and generous royalties.
King Arthur, having summoned Prince Valiant to Camelot,
Foster had great latitude in writing and drawing the weekly
asked him to travel to Cornwell and determine why three kings
Sunday page. The large format was ideally suited to an artist
there had closed the border to the Knights of the Round Table.
who had both the inclination and the talent to create works
Val began his adventure by accepting an invitation to visit
with an abundance of carefully rendered details. The crone’s
Vernon Castle from his traveling companion, young William
facial topography in the third panel, for example, has all the
Vernon, who is accompanied by his devoted steward Alfred.
specificity of the “warts and all’’ school of Republican Roman
They arrive at the castle to learn that the old Lord has died and
portraiture. Note as well the wood grain in the first panel or
that William is now Lord Vernon — that is, if his first-born
plain-cut board in the bedside table.
half-brother remains missing. Alfred’s mother summons her
son and Prince Val to her hovel, where she dramatically reveals Foster eschewed the word balloon, a standard comic strip
that she was the Lord’s first wife, Alfred’s true identity, and the convention, in favor of captions that moved the story along but
document to prove it. A greatly conflicted Alfred and Val return did not interfere with the art. In this and other works he used
to the castle only to find that a raging storm is endangering the cross-hatching sparingly, preferring parallel lines for shading.
ship carrying Lord Berkeley and his daughter Gwendolyn to His pulsating light rays coming from the window in five of the
the funeral. The ship’s sole salvation is a pair of beacons leading panels suggests an awareness of theories that light is a particle
to a safe harbor among the jagged reefs, but no dry tinder to with wave like behavior.
light the lights is available. Alfred puts flame to his parchment,
Foster was a master of mood. The crone’s imperial gesture
ignites the beacons, and thereby sacrifices his heritage.
in panel four, which recalls Michelangelo’s in the Sistine
Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant, which debuted in 1937, set a high Ceiling Creation of Adam, contrasts with and underscores
artistic standard for adventure comics. Foster had previously Alfred’s humility and dismay. In the next panel, Prince Val’s
demonstrated his realistic drawing skills in Tarzan, a strip based grief and Alfred’s tender ministration are handled with quiet
on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novels, but the artist never fully dignity. By the time he created this panel in 1956, Foster had
identified with a character cavorting in the jungle in what Jim developed a more subtle understanding of nobility than that
Steranko called a “mosquito opera.”* Foster left the strip when which characterized the earlier strips in which Wagnerian
William Randolph Hearst and King Features made an offer battles with monsters and demons abounded. Nobility might
he could not refuse: ownership of his strip, a full-page Sunday simply be a quiet deed of self-sacrifice.

*Jim Steranko. The Steranko History of Comics, vol. 1. Reading PA: Supergraphics, 1970, p. 11.

110
51. HAROLD R. FOSTER (1892–1982)

Prince Valiant. 1956

Pen & ink.
331⁄2 × 223⁄4
Published: King Features Syndicate, December 2, 1956.

111
Chester Gould
The story line is as current today, almost 75 years later, as it was United States had entered World War II as a combatant.
in 1943. A respectable young woman, Lois, has fallen victim to Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo had supplanted local talent in
addicting drugs provided by disreputable criminals using stolen the bad-guy pantheon.
prescription forms. Desperate for her fix and running short on
Unlike Ham Fisher’s Joe Palooka, who joined the Army, or
cash, she has traded her jewelry for drugs. When confronted by
Milton Caniff ’s Terry Lee, who enlisted in the Army Air
Detective Dick Tracy, she at first struggles with him, and then
Forces, Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy stayed home during
flees onto an adjacent rooftop, intending to jump to her death.
WWII to battle big-city criminals. Typically these outlandish
Using reverse psychology (go ahead, jump, nobody cares),
characters had a defining characteristic by which they were
Tracy manages to distract her and in that moment, as she
known. Laffy’s distinctive and ever-present laughter is his
balances precariously on the edge, grab her. In our panel, he
eponymous feature. Laffy is eventually captured and dies of
carries Lois back into her room where her mother and assorted
starvation due to a bad case of lockjaw in police custody. The
police officers have gathered. In the final panel, the villain Laffy
final scenes, however, do recognize the global hostilities when
counts out the money he received from selling the jewels.
Laffy’s brother Kirk, a war hero, appears. The contrast between
Laffy is one of Chester Gould’s finer creations. Like the rest of the brothers could not be greater: One led a life of crime, and
Gould’s monster roster of evildoers, Laffy is an independent. the other fought “for his county and humanity.”
Indeed, with the exception of Alphonse “Big Boy” Caprice,
Although at times criticized for his excessive and graphic
who was modeled on Al Capone, Mr. Crime, and a very
violence, Chester Gould was a masterful storyteller.
few others, most of the memorable villains were not
Not satisfied with mere gunplay, his imagination devised
organized-crime bosses. Rather they tend to be small-time op-
diabolical death scenes including in this sequence a rear-brake
erators. Laffy, for example, is an erstwhile janitor who began his
drum crushing a villain’s throat while he’s changing a tire.
career in crime by stealing prescription forms from the doctor
Gould would also disregard the conventional rules of
tenants in his building. In part this can be said to reflect the
perspective if they got in the way of his story. For example
times. The glamourous gangsters of the 1920s and 1930s were
instead of receding diagonally, the headboard in the second
mostly either incarcerated or dead by the forties. In May 1932,
panel has been swung nearly parallel to the picture plane to
for example, Capone went to jail where he served 8 of his 11
allow a clearer view of the recumbent Lois.
year sentence. Prohibition, which had fueled much organized
crime, was repealed in 1933. And of course by 1943, the

112
52. CHESTER GOULD (1900–1985)

Dick Tracy [Laffy]. 1943

Pen & ink.
6 × 19
Published: Chicago Tribune Syndicate, November 16, 1943.

113
Fred Harman
Born in Missouri but raised on a Colorado ranch near the Mounted when artist Allen Dean dropped the strip. Although
New Mexico border, Fred Harman began his professional career unsuccessful in snaring the assignment, Harman’s Peeler strips
at 18 with a cartooning job on the Kansas City Star, and, the caught the eye of comic syndicate entrepreneur Stephen
following year, moved to a small advertising firm specializing Slesinger, who suggested a more mature version — with the
in animation — a key influence in his energetic style. catchy name “Red Ryder.” They sealed the deal and negotiated
a ten-year contract with NEA. The Sunday page bowed on
Harman’s penchant for drawing rapidly with a pencil, capturing
November 6, 1938, followed by the daily on March 27,
the essentials, aborting unnecessary details, and rendering in
1939 — and almost immediately hit a bull’s-eye.
ink — plus his real-life roustabout experience — inspired him to
throw his Stetson in the newspaper-comics ring. On October 7, One of the prime aspects of the serie’s success was its muscular
1934, Bronc Peeler made its newsprint debut, featuring a lanky, quality, expressed by two basic elements: the position of the
carrot-topped cowpuncher with a slow temper and a fast draw. figures and the line that defined them — both manifestations of
the artist’s manly persona. The figures were often off balance,
With a few exceptions, newspaper strips offered a minimal
suggesting movement and action. The effect was often subtle,
view of Western life, particularly with the raw authenticity of a
but effective. Harman’s macho brushline in Red Ryder delineated
wrangler who actually rode the rangeland — a quality Harman
everything on the page, even facial features, which other artists
introduced to the newsprint format. Bronc Peeler was a tour
generally rendered with a pen. Like the character, the line
de force, a one-man operation in which Harman scripted,
defining him became bolder, rougher, more aggressive, and
penciled, inked, and lettered the daily and Sunday strips.
often enhanced by accidents. The artist promoted that quality
In Bronc Peeler Harman tested a variety of graphic approaches by minimally penciling the images — and essentially drawing
from cartoony humor to straight pulp melodrama. The with a brush. The strip evidenced few white-out corrections.
drawing style was standard Cartoon Realism, but with
The great Western author and illustrator Will James heavily
greater dimensionality: A clean holding line (to trap color),
influenced young Harman. Indeed, James’ explosive, bucking
near-human proportional figures (heads slightly larger), and
horses became a kind of trademark of the Red Ryder strip.
minimal feathering (tiers of lines that define surfaces). Harman
Moreover, photographs leave no doubt that Harman, in an
experimented with all three, eventually finding the look that
unspoken tribute, modeled the cowboy hero on James.
best suited him and the strip. Equipment such as bridles and
saddles were grounded in reality; difficult-to-render cowboy Red Ryder became a mass-market phenomenon and the most
hats were well drawn — all aspects that separate the men from popular Western character in the history of the period, appearing
the boys. At his wife’s recommendation, the protagonist’s saddle in 750 newspapers with 40 million readers, plus 28 films, a
pard, desert rat Coyote Pete, was swapped out for a younger radio series, numerous novels, games, juvenile clothing, and
sidekick — a spirited Indian boy, Little Beaver. a Niagara of products, including the Daisy BB-gun. The
exhibition showcases a classic page from his 1943 adventures.
Although Western fiction and films were riding high on the
popularity trail, the strip hailed a final adios in 1938. Harman – Jim Steranko
next headed to New York, hoping to bag King of the Royal Comic Artist and Historian

114
53. FRED HARMAN (1902–1982)

Red Ryder (with Little Beaver bottom strip). 1943

Pen & ink.
271⁄4 × 201⁄2
Published: Newspaper Enterprise Association, May 14. 1943.

115
George Herriman
At first Krazy Kat seems like the leader of a parade of “funny the underground comics master, called Herriman the
animals” that marched through reams of newsprint during the “Leonardo da Vinci of comics.” A short list of other fans
20 century. The adventures and gags of these anthropomorphic
th
includes Art Spiegelman, Jack Kerouac, Willem de Kooning,
mice, cats, dogs, birds, coyotes, ducks, bears and all the rest and Pablo Picasso. Clearly there’s something special here.
amused generations of daily readers. But George Herriman’s
This Sunday strip from 1919 contains the two primary
Krazy was always in a class of her own, if one may employ a
characters, Krazy and Ignatz mouse, acting out their love/hate
gender specific pronoun for an androgynous creature. Kat was
quadrille in a surreal landscape evocative of Monument Valley
different. Like Charlie Chaplin, Krazy was and is a popular
along the Arizona-Utah border. The strip has many of the
culture figure embraced and adopted by the intelligentsia. In
features associated with Herriman’s art: Upright walking animals
1924, Gilbert Seldes called Herriman’s comic strip “the most
with belly buttons, a barren Coconino landscape, a Navaho
amusing and fantastic and satisfactory work of art produced
chevron on a morel-mushroom-like tree, a page layout that
in America today.”* In 1946, the poet e. e. cummings saw the
subverts the canonical sequence of clearly defined panels, and
eternal triangle of Krazy, Ignatz the brick throwing mouse, and
the inventive patois that simultaneously evokes Shakespeare
Offissa Pupp, the protector of Krazy and guardian of order
and slang. Krazy is always below the horizon line; Ignatz, with
as an elaborate allegory of democracy in conflict with
one exception, has his feet firmly planted on the line. And the
repressive religious or political ideologies.** More recently the
brick, an ambiguous symbol of love or hate, that Ignatz hurls at
novelist and professor of semiotics Umberto Eco found in the
the back of Krazy’s head. The frames move in a repetitive ab/ab
strip “a purely allusive world, a pleasure of a ‘musical’ nature,
poetic rhythm: Brick airborne, brick at rest until the penultimate
an interplay of feelings that were not banal.”*** Jay Cantor
frame when contact occurs. Herriman scrambles time itself
begins Krazy Kat: A Novel in Five Panels by calling the strip
arbitrarily by shifting the sky from light to dark. One need only
“a long lyric delirium of love.”****
look at the variety of Ignatz’s tails to see how much a masterful
In his New York Times review of Michael Tisserand’s new and restrained line can contribute to the story.
biography George Herriman: A Life in Black and White,
Ultimately we recognize in Krazy our own longings for love
Nelson George quotes a number of cartoonists: Charles Schulz
and willingness to distort reality when necessary to achieve
noted that the strip “did much to inspire me to create a feature
that goal or a satisfactory simulacrum of same. We all want
that went beyond the mere actions of ordinary children.”*****
to believe that the object of our love is truly a “l’il ainjil.”
Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) noted “the beautifully insane
sanities of George Herriman’s Krazy Kat.” Robert Crumb,

*Gilbert Seldes. “The Seven Lively Arts: The Krazy Kat that Walks by Himself.” p. 231. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/seldes/ch15.html
**e. e. cummings. “A Foreword to Krazy.” The Sewanee Review, Spring 1946.
***Umberto Eco. “On ‘Krazy Kat’ and ‘Peanuts.’ The New York Review of Books, June 13, 1985.
****Jay Cantor. Krazy Kat: A Novel in Five Panels. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987, p. i.
*****Nelson George. “Invisibly Black: A Life of George Herriman, Creator of ‘Krazy Kat’.” The New York Times Book Review, January 12, 2017.

116
54. GEORGE HERRIMAN (1880–1944)

Krazy Kat. 1919

Pen & ink, collage last panel.
185⁄8 × 167⁄8
Published: King Features Syndicate, June 15, 1919.

117
Frank O. King
Frank King’s Gasoline Alley, now under the pen of Jim Scancarelli, convincing love story ever to appear on the daily comics page.
is the second longest running American comic strip. Many (Allowing, of course, for the ruling circadian triumvirate of
factors contribute to its longevity, but perhaps the most Krazy, Ignatz, and Officer [sic] Pupp.)”*
significant is its unordinary ordinariness. The daily strip
Ware’s invocation of George Herriman’s Krazy Kat ideally leads
began in August 1919, with the Sunday page following in
to the Sordoni Collection Sunday page, partially hand-colored
October 1920, and featured a small group of single guys who
by King. Although Gasoline Alley is centered in a Midwestern
enjoyed each other’s company and tinkering with cars. While
suburban town, Walt and Skeezix, like ordinary folks, go on
the storyline appealed to men fascinated with the increasingly
vacation from time to time. Here they are in the far West,
popular and ubiquitous automobile in the post-WWI years,
Monument Valley, the Coconino County landscape beloved by
it failed to attract female readers.
Herriman that forms the backdrop to so many Krazy comics.
The solution proposed by Joseph Patterson, editor of the Skeezix, an inquisitive three-year old, strikes out on his own
Chicago Tribune which syndicated the strip, was to add a baby. and encounters a herd of goats that he chases and scatters until
King pointed out the obvious problems with this notion: The an aggressive Billy goat turns the tables and charges. Uncle
main protagonist Walt Wallett was unmarried, and in any case Walt manages to rescue the tyke just in the knick of time in a
adding a baby would require not only finding a suitable mate panel that combines motion (speed) lines of the raging goat,
for the confirmed bachelor, but also many months for the Walt’s airborne hat, and Skeezix swinging out of harm’s way.
pregnancy to develop. The matter was resolved on Valentine’s The drama plays out under the impassive scrutiny of an Indian
Day, 1921, when Walt was awakened by insistent pounding on boy riding a pinto seen from various viewpoints. The Sunday
his door and discovered on his doorstep a foundling whom he strip conforms to the “done-in-one” format, but is also part of a
nicknamed Skeezix, which purports to be derived from cowboy multi-episodic narrative that begins prior to and continues after
slang signifying a motherless calf. To this conceit King added a this particular strip.
revolutionary innovation: His characters began to grow older
Frank King’s drawing is as unpretentious as his narrative. His
and age in real time. King also abandoned the prevalent
facial expressions, however, manage to convey genuine feelings,
slapstick humor in strips like Rudolph Dirks’ Katzenjammer
as do such expressions as: “The only thing the matter with
Kids in favor of more genuine and quotidian concerns. The
civilization is it’s too civilized”
contemporary graphic novelist Chris Ware (b. 1967) calls the
relationship between Skeezix and his Uncle Walt “the first

*Harry Katz. Cartoon America: Comic Art in the Library of Congress. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, 2006, p. 166.

118
55. FRANK O. KING (1883–1969)

Gasoline Alley. 1924

Pen & ink, partially hand colored by artist.
26 1⁄2 × 19 1⁄8
Published: Chicago Tribune Syndicate, June 15, 1924.

119
George McManus
If ever the expression “the luck of the Irish” applied to anyone, changing fashion scene, Jiggs remains an anachronistic
it applied to George McManus. When his English teacher exemplar of 1900s wealth with his top hat, white tie, tails,
sent the schoolboy home with a note complaining about his and spats. In this Sunday strip, Jiggs confronts two of the
doodling in class, his father took the drawings to the St. Louis major challenges in his life: how to sneak out of the house
Republic and got him a job in the newspaper’s art department. for an evening on the town and how to sneak back in without
According to McManus, he was able to leave St. Louis for alerting his ever-vigilant wife.
New York when a tipster convinced him to bet $100 on a
McManus was much admired for his drawing style. He could
30-to-1 horse and he won. Working for the New York World,
create exquisite panels such as the fifth, where Maggie stands
McManus created a number of strips before hitting the jackpot
silhouetted in an open doorway with her backlit chorus-girl
in 1913 with Bringing Up Father.
figure shown to great advantage through a transparent nightgown.
Bringing Up Father is a domestic comedy that appeared at a The next panel, however, brings the viewer back to the reality that
time when comic strips were beginning to embrace a broader Maggie, despite her fine figure, has an unattractive face.
range of subject matter. Jiggs and his wife, Maggie, are rich, but
By the 1940s McManus often employed a running gag of
the source of their wealth is uncertain. Some claim that Jiggs
pictures within the panels that have a life of their own and of
won the Irish Sweepstakes. Others insist that he started out as
which the main characters are oblivious. Here a couple sits
a laborer who gradually transitioned from carrying bricks to
side-by-side with their feet dangling outside the frame. The
selling and eventually manufacturing them. Regardless, he is
next frame shows the marriage ceremony, followed by the
nouveau-riche and the strip explores the challenges of upward
stork’s arrival. The last shows the father pushing a baby carriage
mobility, assimilation, class, and ethnicity.
behind his daughters. Existing in another dimension, these
Maggie is ambitious and desires above all to be accepted by and vignettes add a surreal quality to the strip.
join the societal elite. The strip’s title derives from her perennial
In the 1920s and 1930s, popular cartoonists were given a full
challenge to bring her husband up to “better-people” standards.
page in the Sunday comic section and artists would create
Jiggs, on the other hand, much prefers the company of his
toppers, such as Rosie’s Beau, which enabled the newspapers to
former pals, corned beef and cabbage at Dinty Moore’s, and
inflate the number of comics that they featured. If desired, the
a nip of whiskey. He remains “Shanty Irish” at heart; she,
topper could be dropped for an advertisement or even another
“lace-curtain.” Whereas Maggie keeps up to date with the
strip.

120
56. GEORGE MCMANUS (1884–1954)

Bringing Up Father with Rosie’s Beau (topper). 1942

Pen & ink.
203⁄8 × 163⁄8
Published: King Features Syndicate, September 6, 1942.

121
Willard Mullin
In December 1949 The National Football League (NFL) and where he did lettering for ads. Throughout his subsequent
the All-American Football Conference (AAFC) announced the career he was known for his lettering. As an aside this Sordoni
formation of a single league beginning with the 1950 season. cartoon includes a collaged correction to the word “convertible.”
This agreement ended a bitter rivalry between the older NFL, Mullin typically employed caricature when drawing sports
which traced its origins to 1920, and the upstart AAFC, figures. The bodies are exaggerated in scale and the heads
founded in 1944 by Arch Ward, a Chicago Tribune sports often shrunk. However, Mullin did so with sympathy for all
writer, and a group of wealthy investors, some of whom had and malice toward none.
become frustrated by the NFL’s refusal to expand. Being better
A legendary sports cartoonist for the New York World-Telegram,
capitalized than the older league, the AAFC owners were often
Mullin was known for, among other things, creating the
able to out-bid their rivals for talent.
“Brooklyn Bum,” the symbol of the hapless Dodgers who
Willard Mullin juxtaposes the consequences of the merger played in Ebbets Field prior to moving to Los Angeles.
from the players’ point of view with before-and-after sequences. On five different occasions his peers voted him the best
In the former the smiling recruit listens as league agents make sports cartoonist, and in 1971 the National Cartoonist Society
their pitches. The figures are arranged in a stable triangle that honored him as “the Sports Cartoonist of the Century.”
has money at the base and talent front and center. The scale
With the exception of Ray Gotto’s Ozark Ike’s Whodunits,
of the participants is relatively equal. The formation of a
which is also in this exhibition, the Sordoni Collection
monolithic league, however, totally altered the power balance.
contains few works relating to organized sports (Cat. 105).
The crop of 1950 players is represented as a tiny figure in
However, Mullin’s cartoon is of import to those concerned
relation to a huge, grim-faced defender.
with popular culture and illustration. With the formation of
As one of the panels notes, times had changed. The merger a single football league, the NFL expanded to the West Coast
brought three AAFC teams into the NFL — initially and briefly and became national. (Previously it had been confined to the
known as the National-American Football League — and East and Middle West.) Secondly, television became a factor
players from the remaining four AAFC teams were distributed when the Los Angeles Rams began broadcasting all their games.
among the expanded league. For many young college stars This marked a shift from stadium attendance to advertising
eager to turn professional, this labor surplus combined with a based revenues, a path not dissimilar from the switch from
non-competitive environment resulted in the elimination subscribers to ads as a source of revenue in popular media.
of lucrative signing bonuses. Thirdly, the growing dominance of television programming
hastened the demise of magazines that had depended on and
The cartoon is representative of Mullin’s style. Unlike many
promoted American illustration.
cartoonists, Mullin did not attend art school. Instead he went
to work directly out of high school for a department store

122
57. WILLARD MULLIN (1902–1978)

One League. 1950

Ink & Conté crayon over graphite on Bristol board.
14 × 151⁄2
Published: United Features Syndicate, August 12, 1950.

123
Alex Raymond
By most accounts, in 1933 Dashiell Hammett was America’s owner, was flung thirty feet. Raymond died instantly when
most famous and admired mystery writer. He had written the sports car hit a tree.
several well-received novels including The Maltese Falcon and
During his Secret Agent X–9 years, which only lasted until
was just about to sign a deal to publish The Thin Man. But
1935 when Raymond abandoned the strip, he was greatly
as usual Hammett was impecunious, if not downright broke,
influenced by pulp artist Matt Clark, who had been a candidate
a consequence of high living, fast women, and slow ponies.
to draw the strip. Clark was known for his elegant, attractive,
Meanwhile William Randolph Hearst faced a dilemma.
and elongated figures, a device that Raymond appropriated at
Two years previously, the Chicago Tribune, a competitor, had
this time. Contemporary illustrators also influenced Raymond
begun a new strip by Chester Gould featuring a no-nonsense,
and his more realistically drawn characters offer an alternative
square-jawed detective named Dick Tracy, who unflinchingly
to the prevalent unreal cartoonish styles. Here and elsewhere
and doggedly pursued criminals, mobsters and other
in the Secret Agent strips, Raymond abandoned the four-panel
underworld denizens. Tracy’s success quickly produced
format in order to render a more dramatic narrative with
imitators including Dan Dunn and Red Barry. Hearst needed
echoing flung figures. The panels have a cinematic quality
a similar crime-stopper for his King Features Syndicate,
with the first, a bird’s eye view, followed by zooming in on
Hammett needed cash, and both needed Alex Raymond, a
the officer and agent. The two compositions with strong,
young artist who was already making a name for himself with
parallel diagonals set up a rhythm leading to the large planar
Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim. The new strip, Secret Agent X-9,
composition with a panoramic sense of space. Although
debuted in 1934 with Hammett writing and Raymond
Raymond used dialogue balloons in the first two panels, he
drawing. By the end of 1934, however, Hammett was fired
switches to a caption in the final panel so as to minimize the
and Raymond took over the writing chores temporarily.
text’s intrusion on the composition.
In this panel from the “Mystery of the Silent Guns,” Secret
Finally, his drybrush technique employing ink over watercolor
Agent X-9 chases a carload of murderous cowboys from
is apparent in these panels.
Skull Ranch, who booby trap the roadway causing one
motorcycle rider to skid to a stop and another to crash through Raymond’s youthful promise was to be fulfilled subsequently
a wooden barrier and plunge to his death. In a weird way, as will be seen in his Rip Kirby strip (Cat. 124). The Secret
the image foreshadows Raymond’s own death while driving a Agent strip took on new life in 1967 when Al Williamson
friend’s Corvette on a slippery Connecticut rural road in the took over (Cat. 132).
fall of 1956. Stan Drake, a fellow cartoonist and the car’s

124
58. ALEX RAYMOND (1909–1956)

Secret Agent X–9. 1934

Ink & watercolor over graphite on Bristol board.
51⁄2 × 243⁄4
Published: King Features Syndicate, October 30, 1934.

125
Charles Rodrigues
When a cartoonist draws a cartoon he is creating a unique In 1970 National Lampoon began publishing. The magazine
world in which anything is possible. However any deviation offered a totally unfettered forum for cartoonists and writers,
from that world would render the situation portrayed in the which meant there were no limits, restrictions or taboos. If it
drawing unreal. Thus you can have a world in which there are was funny it got into the magazine and its coming on the scene
talking animals or people surviving on tiny desert islands, but was a natural for Rodrigues. Rodrigues was funny. Among the
they must inhabit a place where this is logical. scabrous and salacious subjects he touched upon were: blind
people, flashers, homosexuals and lesbians, vomit, leprosy,
Charles Rodrigues was one of the most logical of cartoonists
bedwetting, suicides, rape, murder, alcoholism, whores,
and his draftsmanship was so distinctive that he didn’t have to
morons, sex change, Mafia, executions, race, hunchbacks,
sign the drawing in order for a person to know it was his. He
mental illness, voyeurism, urine, iron lungs and polio,
was also well read and knowledgeable in many areas, one of
mastectomy, enemas, v.d., sex therapy, condoms, castration,
them being music. In one gag he drew a man sitting in a chair
various sexual perversions, menstruation, genitalia,
in his living room while a cat is walking on the keyboard of
masturbation, necrophilia, A.D.S., funeral homes and
a piano. His wife who is in the other room is saying to him,
morgues, dwarfs and midgets, the handicapped, deafness,
“Playing Schönberg again?”
freaks, dismemberment, pedophilia, blood, sadism, bestiality,
In the late fifties and early sixties Rodrigues sold to many adultery, colostomy, feces, sexual aids, Jews, cannibalism,
publications including Stag, Rogue, and Male. These magazines transvestites, prosthetic devices, obscene phone calls, public
had fewer restrictions and so there was ample room for him to toilets, orgasms, and bicycle seats.
sharpen his skills in drawing and writing.
The only subject he treated with tenderness was the Catholic
As he improved he began selling to some of the major Church. He was a regular contributor to The Critic, a
publications, among them the Saturday Evening Post and publication put out by The Thomas More Association and
Playboy where eventually he was offered a contract. He also although the drawings and ideas were cleaned up considerably,
had a regular feature in Cracked magazine called “Shut UP!” they were still very funny.
and shortly thereafter he was to sell four cartoons to The New
Rodrigues also had two syndicated features, both with the
Yorker, but then for some reason he stopped submitting.
Tribune Media Syndicate. One was the short-lived “Casey”
During all this time he maintained an on-going relationship which was about a cop, and the other one was “Charlie” in
with Stereo Review (since 1958) and Progressive Grocer, two which he portrayed himself as a poor put-upon soul, which
trade magazines to which he provided cartoons relating to their in real life he definitely was not.
businesses. He worked well within parameters when he had to.
Charles Rodrigues died in 2004 and was buried with his pens.

– Sam Gross
Cartoonist and Former National Lampoon Cartoon Editor

126
59. CHARLES RODRIGUES (1926–2004)

“It’s the old story, ‘those who can’t—teach’.”

Pen & ink.
11 × 81⁄2

127
Charles M. Schulz
It may be said that Charles Schulz was to the manor born if by 50-year life of the strip. Schulz recognized that the exact
that one means the great house of comics. Christened Charles, date of the composer’s birth was open to question but settled
Schulz was known almost from birth as “Sparky,” after the on December 16, 1770, which meant that most of the
racehorse Spark Plug in Billy De Beck’s Barney Google. Early birthdays would have fallen on days with daily strips. Indeed,
on Schulz expressed an interest in cartooning and while still in between the early 1950s and 1980, only four birthdays fell
high school completed a correspondence course through what on a Sunday, which would have provided Schulz with a larger
is now the Art Instruction Schools in Minneapolis. Later, after format as in the example from the Sordoni Collection. If
serving in WWII, he was an instructor at the school along with December 16 fell on a Monday, Schulz might use the Sunday
Charlie Brown, Linus Maurer, and Frieda Rich, whose names format to do a tomorrow-is-Beethoven’s-birthday strip.
he subsequently employed in Peanuts.
In this Sunday strip from 1962, Schulz includes five of the
Peanuts, which by the year 2000 appeared in over 2,600 central characters in the Peanuts saga: Linus van Pelt; Lucy, his
newspapers in 75 countries and boasted a daily readership older sister; Charlie Brown; Snoopy the beagle; and Schroeder,
exceeding 350 million, began modestly in a handful of papers who is hosting the celebration. In the fifth panel Linus
in 1950. In his strip, Schulz introduced a large number of mentions that he particularly likes the finale of the Ninth
child characters, each with a distinct personality. The characters, Symphony (in D Minor, Ode to Joy, Opus 125, 1826), and in
moreover, did not talk like children nor were their concerns the next panel Schroeder and Snoopy belt out the lines that
and anxieties childish: Unrequited love, jealousy, trust, betrayal, Beethoven wrote introducing the baritone’s vocal solo in the
inadequacy, and self-image are all constant themes in the strip. fourth movement, which begins, “Oh, Freunde, Nicht diese
Schulz also highlighted seasonal events such as Linus’ vigil Töne” (“Oh, friends, do not hear these sounds”). One wonders
for the Great Pumpkin at Halloween, kite flying in March, if Schulz is referencing the children’s singing as well. The
the baseball season, or Beethoven’s birthday. Sunday strip ends with a final gag panel when Lucy asks her
host and perennial love interest: Who exactly was Beethoven?
In May 1951, Schulz introduced Schroeder, who undoubtedly
became the foremost Beethoven fan in the history of comics. Schulz was responsible for all aspects of the strip, including
Like his idol, Schroeder is a musical prodigy who bangs out pencils, inking, lettering, and writing. As was the case with
works by the master on a toy piano. For Schroeder, Beethoven’s George Herriman’s Krazy Kat, which Schulz venerated, the
birthday is the equivalent of a national holiday, and Schulz strip died with the artist.
drew comic strips celebrating the event 27 times over the

128
60. CHARLES M. SCHULZ (1922–2000)

Peanuts
Pen & ink.
151⁄4 × 223⁄4
Published: United Feature Syndicate, December 16, 1962.
PEANUTS © 1962 Peanuts Worldwide LLC. Dist. By ANDREWS MCMEEL
SYNDICATION. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

129
Al Williamson
Big Joe Falcon, a gangster living on the Riviera after being big-city detective. X–9 had had a short, but brilliant run,
deported from the States, is about to meet his maker and has but after Hammett departed as writer and Raymond shortly
decided, for the sake of his daughter Cheryl, to co-operate with thereafter, the strip declined. The intent in 1967 was to revive
the FBI. When the Bureau learns that Big Joe wishes to tell all and modernize Secret Agent X–9 for a new audience.
he knows about the crime syndicate, Agent Phil Corrigan is
Al Williamson was a devotee of Raymond’s traditional
dispatched to meet with him. Unfortunately the G-Man only
draftsmanship and therefore a logical choice to take over the
arrives in time for the funeral. Among the mourners is a pair
X–9 franchise, renamed Secret Agent Corrigan. Williamson
of mobsters seeking whatever information on the syndicate Joe
updated the strip and gave it a contemporary look. Cheryl, for
possessed. After rescuing a damsel in distress, in this case Miss
example, has a classic sixties bangs and flip hairdo. Corrigan’s
Cheryl Falcon, Corrigan learns that just prior to dying, Joe
tie is fashionably thin. In the early strips, such as this one,
had mailed his daughter the key to a Swiss safe-deposit box.
Williamson follows closely Raymond’s physiognomy for
Thus begins a mad dash to recover the key before it falls into
Corrigan, who now has a real name instead of the cypher X–9
the hands of the syndicate’s henchmen. While en route by train
or Dexter. Corrigan shares the receding hairline, wavy hair, and
through the Alps, Cheryl and Corrigan return from the dining
unruly, dangling forelock with his predecessor. Subsequently
car to their compartment and are surprised by Nick Southside,
it should be noted, Corrigan came to look less and less like
one of the syndicate’s top hatchet men. Fearing that the roar
Raymond’s protagonist and more like Williamson himself.
of the gunshot will attract unwelcome attention, Nick waits
to finish off Corrigan until the train with its whistle blowing Although lionizing Raymond, Williamson’s style differs
enters a tunnel. Corrigan, however, distracts the thug with a considerably. Among his contributions, Williamson brought
blinding blast of light from a silver cigarette case, and lunges. a compelling sense of movement derived in large part from
In our panel the outcome of the fight is uncertain. the cinema in panels such as this one. Moreover, his use of
chiaroscuro for dramatic and emotional expression is
In 1967 artist Al Williamson and writer Archie Goodwin took
outstanding, as his is crosshatching seen to such good
over the strip, which had originated in 1934 with Dashiell
advantage here. During a period when comic-strip readership
Hammett writing and Alex Raymond drawing. Originally
declined, Williamson infused the adventure strip with vitality,
called Secret Agent X–9, the strip was a hard-boiled response to
innovation, and relevance.
Dick Tracy, the Chicago Tribune Syndicate’s highly successful,

130
61. AL WILLIAMSON (1931–2010)

Secret Agent Corrigan. 1967

Pen & ink.
41⁄2 × 161⁄4
Published: King Features Syndicate, August 12, 1967.

131
Catalogue of the Exhibition: Illustration
1. ROLF ARMSTRONG (1889 –1960)
Thinking of you. 1930
Pastel.
Size: 231⁄4 × 20
Published: College Humor, March 1930, Cover.
Literature: Ben Stevens. Rolf Armstrong: Dream Girls
(Vignettes). Portland, OR: Collectors Press, 1996, p. 63.
Provenance: American Illustrators Gallery

Also see Plate 1

2. PAUL BACON (1923 – 2015)

Lady Oracle. 1976
Mixed media.
Size: 91⁄2 × 73⁄4
Published: Margaret Atwood. Lady Oracle.
New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1976, Cover.
Provenance: Gift of the Artist

Also see Plate 2

3. WALTER M. BAUMHOFER (1904 –1987)

Gwynne. 1943
Oil on canvas.
Size: 23 × 22
Published: Sinclair Lewis. “Nobody to Write About.”
Cosmopolitan, July 1943, p. 25.
Provenance: Charles Martignette

Also see Plate 3

132
4. RUDOLPH BELARSKI (1900 –1983)
A private nurse learns the naked truth about men!
(Soft Shoulders). 1953
Oil on canvas.
Size: 231⁄2 × 171⁄2
Published: Norman Bligh. Wayward Nurse.
New York, NY: Venus Books, 1953, Cover.

5. FREDERICK BLAKESLEE (1898 –1973)

O.B. Myers. 1931
Oil on canvas.
Size: 30 × 20
Published: Battle Aces, November 1931, Cover.
O.B. Myers. The Black Sheep of Belogue: The Best of O.B. Myers.
Orchard Park, NY: Age of Aces Books, 2009, Cover.
Provenance: Illustration House

6. ENOCH BOLLES (1883 –1976)

Dancer. 1935
Oil on masonite.
Size: 261⁄4 × 211⁄2
Published: Breezy Stories, August 1935, Cover.

Also see Plate 4

133
7. ARTHUR WILLIAM BROWN (1881–1966)
“At least let me send you home in my car. Anywhere you’d like to go?”
She said a strange thing then, but very calmly: “I haven’t anywhere to go.” 1927
Charcoal.
Size: 151⁄2 × 201⁄2
Published: Elizabeth Alexander. “Second Choice.” Saturday
Evening Post, March 24, 1928, p. 26.
Illustration © SEPS. Licensed by Curtis Licensing, Indianapolis, IN.

8. PRUETT CARTER (1891–1955)

Nicky hated her orders but he would obey. 1939
Oil on canvas.
Size: 28 × 50
Published: Borden Chase. “You Can’t Have a Heart.”
The American Magazine, August 1939, pp. 20 – 21.
Provenance: Illustration House

Also see Plate 6

9. HOWARD CHANDLER CHRISTY (1873 –1952)

Unidentified Illustration. 1926
Ink wash and gouache on paper with trace of charcoal.
Size: 29½ × 39
Provenance: Chas E. Tebbs, Donald J. Flanagan

134
10. DEAN CORNWELL (1892 –1960)
“Gad,” said Heseltine to Peril, “if the Doctor can only keep me going long enough.” 1923
Oil on canvas.
Size: 36 × 30
Published: Cynthia Stockley. “The Garden of Peril.” Cosmopolitan, April 1923, p. 23.
Cynthia Stockley. The Garden of Peril: A Story of the African Veld. New York, NY:
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1924, p. 19.
Literature: Patricia Janis Broder. Dean Cornwell: The Dean of Illustrators.
New York, NY: Balance House/Watson-Guptill, 1978, p. 48.
Provenance: American Illustrators Gallery

Also see Plate 7

11. DEAN CORNWELL (1892 –1960)

“When I was your age,” said Aunt Hattie, “I’d have seen all and sundry
in hell before I’d have given up the man I loved.” 1938
Oil on illustration board.
Size: 303⁄8 × 261⁄4
Published: Tom Gill. “Firebrand.” The American
Magazine, January 1939, pp. 36 – 37.
Provenance: Charles Martignette

12. BRADSHAW CRANDELL (1896 –1966)

Glamour Girl. 1934
Oil on masonite.
Size: 30 × 24
Published: The American Magazine, February 1934, Cover.

Also see Plate 5

135
13. DOUGLASS CROCKWELL (1904 –1968)
Advertisement for Schlitz Beer. c. 1944
Watercolor.
Size: 63⁄4 × 75⁄8
Provenance: Illustration House

14. PAUL DAVIS (b. 1938)

Summit Reunion/Yellow Dog Blues. 1996
Casein on board.
Size: 10 × 101⁄2
Published: Chiaroscuro Records, CR(D) 339, 1996, Cover.

15. JOSEPH DE MERS (1910 –1984)

“Why don’t you go back to her?” she cried. And hated herself as much as she hated
that other woman. Only another man could understand Tom when he said:
“But I didn’t love her…” Only another woman could understand his wife
when she said: “I could forgive you anything but that…” 1954
Gouache and Conté pencil.
Size: 16 × 19
Published: Frances Ensign Greene. “It Didn’t Mean a Thing.”
McCall’s, March 1954, pp. 38 – 39.
Provenance: Family of the Artist; Illustration House

Also see Plate 8

136
16. RAFAEL M. DESOTO (1904 –1987)
Masked Rider. 1934
Oil on canvas.
Size: 301⁄8 × 21
Published: Masked Rider Western Magazine, February 1935, Cover.
Literature: Frank M. Robinson and Lawrence Davidson. Pulp Culture:
The Art of Fiction Magazines. Portland, OR: Collectors Press, 1998, p. 78.
Provenance: Charles Martignette

17. MAYNARD DIXON (1875 –1946)

The fugitive’s horse plunged into the deep water. 1911
Gouache, charcoal, and watercolor on paper.
Size: 293⁄4 × 215⁄8
Published: Clarence E. Mulford. Bar-20 Days. New York, NY:
A.L. Burt Co., 1911, facing p. 270.
Provenance: Thomas de Doncker, Los Angeles

Also see Plate 37

18. HARVEY DUNN (1884 –1952)

Water! Water! Water! 1910
Oil on canvas.
Size: 35 × 21
Published: George Pattullo. “Off the Trail.” McClure’s, March 1912, p. 519.
Literature: Judy Goffman Cutler and Laurence S. Cutler. Howard Pyle,
His Students & The Golden Age of American Illustration. Newport, RI:
The American Civilization Foundation, 2017, p. 71.
Exhibition: Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA. “Howard Pyle, His Students &
The Golden Age of American Illustration,” April 8 –June 18, 2017.

Also see Plate 9

137
19. ANTON OTTO FISCHER (1882–1962)
With the cliffs of the coast in view the castaways came to a breach of water. 1915
Oil on canvas.
Size: 16 × 30
Published: Norman Duncan. “Battle Royal.” Saturday
Evening Post, July 3, 1915, p. 5.
Provenance: Schoonover Studios LTD

Also see Plate 10

20. ANTON OTTO FISCHER (1882–1962)

Bearing down on him, white water swirling from blunt bows,
plowed a wide-beamed tug. 1930
Oil on canvas.
Size: 221⁄4 × 30
Published: Frederic Nelson Litten. “At Ten O’clock To-Morrow.”
The American Boy —Youth’s Companion, March 1931, p 17.

21. HARRISON FISHER (1875–1934)

“I knew it was you long before I saw you”. 1906
Watercolor.
Size: 23 × 171⁄2
Published: George Barr McCutcheon. Jane Cable.
New York, NY: Dodd, Meade & Co., 1906, facing p. 6.

138
22. JAMES MONTGOMERY FLAGG (1877–1960)
Her Steady. 1914
Watercolor.
Size: 247⁄8 × 181⁄4
Published: Judge, August 8, 1914, Cover.
Literature: Arpi Ermoyan. Famous American Illustrators.
New York, NY: The Society of Illustrators, 1997, p. 102.
Susan E. Meyer. James Montgomery Flagg. New York, NY: Watson-Guptill, 1974, p. 166.
Provenance: Charles Martignette

Also see Plate 11

23. THOMAS J. FLUHARTY (b. 1962)

The Mystery of Michael Bloomberg. 2007
Oil on archival linen.
Size: 24 × 18
Published: The Weekly Standard, May 14, 2007, Cover.

Also see Plate 12

24. JOHN GANNAM (1907–1965)

She studied herself in the mirror of her dressing table. It was characteristic
of Faith to look for the answer in her mirror, for it had never failed her. 1945
Gouache on illustration board.
Size: 18 × 13
Published: Dale Eunson. “Sleeping Beauty.” Cosmopolitan, January 1946, p. 42.
Literature: Walt Reed. Great American Illustrators. New York, NY: Abbeville
Press, 1979, p. 74.
Provenance: Illustration House

Also see Plate 13

139
25. JOHN GANNAM (1907–1965)
Gone Girl [Advertisement for Balanced Pacific Sheets]. 1948
Watercolor
Size: 191⁄4 × 141⁄2
Literature: Walt and Roger Reed. Illustrator in America: 1880–1980
A Century of Illustration. New York, NY: Madison Square Press, 1984, p. 223.
Fred Taraba. Masters of American Illustration: 41 Illustrators and How They
Worked. St. Louis, MO: The Illustrated Press, 2011, p. 236.
Exhibition: Commonwealth Telephone Enterprises, Inc., Wilkes-Barre, PA.
“A Celebration of American Illustration 1900–1960,” 1960, #19.
Provenance: Illustration House

Also see Cover

26. WILLIAM JAMES GLACKENS (1870–1938)

I watched Anne with dispassionate certainty as she opened it. 1904
Charcoal and wash.
Size: 93⁄4 × 113⁄8
Published: Emery Pottle. “The Wedding Guests.”
Saturday Evening Post, March 5, 1904, p. 14.

Also see Plate 14

27. WALTER GRANVILLE-SMITH (1870–1938)

He stopped to bend the branches down. 1899
Watercolor on paper.
Size: 201⁄4 × 131⁄2
Published: Minna Irving. “A White Wooing.” Truth, December 1899, p. 321.
Provenance: Illustration House

140
28. GEORGE GROSS (1909–2003)
Illustration for Clarence E. Mulford story. 1934
Oil on canvas.
Size: 301⁄4 × 211⁄8
Published: Real Western Magazine, January 1935, Cover.

Also see Plate 38

29. BOB HAGGART (1914–1998)

Big Noise from Winnetka. 1987
Oil on canvas.
Size: 24 × 24
Published: International Society of Bassists, Spring 1987, Cover.
Provenance: Acquired from the artist

30. JOHN HELD, JR. (1889–1958)

Unidentified Illustration. 1927
Pen and ink.
Size: 91⁄4 × 131⁄8
Exhibition: Bowers Museum, Santa Anna, Calif. and other
venues. “The Cartoon Show,” 1976.
Provenance: Jerry Muller/Museum Graphics

141
31. AL HIRSCHFELD (1903–2003)
Duke Ellington. 1996
Pen & ink on paper.
Size: 17 × 12
Published: Duke Ellington Greatest Hits. RCA, cat. no. 68488, Album Cover.
Literature: Clare Bell. Hirschfeld’s New York. New York, NY:
Harry N. Abrams, 2001.
Exhibition: The Museum of the City of New York. “Hirschfeld’s New York,”
October 13, 2001–January 27, 2002.
Provenance: Margo Feiden Galleries, NYC

32. WALTER BEACH HUMPHREY (1892–1966)

Information. 1924
Oil on canvas.
Size: 261⁄2 × 211⁄2
Published: Liberty, August 16, 1924, Cover.

33. ELBERT MCGRAN JACKSON (1896–1962)

Winter and Spring. 1923
Oil on canvas.
Size: 263⁄4 × 191⁄2
Published: Collier’s, March 24, 1923, Cover.

142
34. ANITA KUNZ (b. 1956)
Eloise. 2002.
Watercolor.
Size: 11 × 14
Published: Stacey D’Erasmo. “Little Grown-Ups Live Here.”
The New York Times Magazine, October 6, 2002, p. 101.
Provenance: Taraba Illustration Art, Casper WY

35. JOHN LAGATTA (1894–1977)

Advertisement Study for Lucky Strike Cigarettes. c. 1923
Charcoal.
Size: 22 × 24
Provenance: Illustration House

36. ROBERT LAVIN (1919–1997)

Unidentified stock certificate, Amercian Bank Note Co. 1980
Oil on hardboard en grisaille.
Size: 24 × 30
Provenance: Illustration House

143
37. WILLIAM R. LEIGH (1866–1955)
A Family Reunion. 1895
Gouache and watercolor.
Size: 257⁄8 × 161⁄2
Published: “Some Thanksgiving-Time Fancies by Pyle, Clinedinst, McCarter,
Gleeson and Leigh.” Scribner’s Magazine, November 1895, p. 566.
Literature: June DuBois. W.R. Leigh: The Definitive Illustrated Biography.
Kansas City, MO: Lowell Press, 1977, p. 39.
Provenance: Charles Martignette, Heritage

38. J.C. LEYENDECKER (1874–1951)

Evening Dress. The one time when a man’s appearance must conform to
accepted standards is on social occasions. For evening dress, informal dress
and day dress there can be no question about the correctness and good taste
of Kuppenheimer Evening Clothes, Dinner Coat or Cutaway. 1917
Oil on canvas.
Size: 28 3⁄8 × 181⁄2
Published: The House of Kuppenheimer Catalog, 1917.
Provenance: Chasky Collection

144
39. J.C. LEYENDECKER (1874–1951)
1919. 1918
Oil on canvas.
Size: 27 × 19
Published: Saturday Evening Post, December 28, 1918, Cover.
Literature: Alice A Carter, Judy Francis Zankel, and Terry Brown. Americans
Abroad: J.C. Leyendecker and the European Academic Influence on American
Illustration. New York, NY: Museum of American Illustration at The Society
of Illustrators, 2008, #83.
“J.C. Leyendecker illustration sets new auction record.” Paper Collectors’
Marketplace, January 2000, p. 4.
“Butterscotch Auction Gallery sets record for Leyendecker cover.” Antiques
and the Arts Weekly, November 26, 1999.
Exhibition: Norman Rockwell Museum. “J.C. Leyendecker and the
Saturday Evening Post,” March 21–June 14, 2015.
Museum of American Illustration at The Society of Illustrators. “Americans
Abroad: J.C. Leyendecker and the European Academic Influence on
American Illustration,” May 21–July 12, 2008, #83.
Provenance: Butterscotch Auction, Charles Martignette

Also see Plate 16

40. J.C. LEYENDECKER (1874–1951)

Yule. 1931
Oil on canvas.
Size: 30 × 221⁄4
Published: Saturday Evening Post, December 26, 1931, Cover.
Literature: Alice A Carter, Judy Francis Zankel, and Terry Brown. Americans Abroad:
J.C. Leyendecker and the European Academic Influence on American Illustration.
New York, NY: Museum of American Illustration at The Society of Illustrators, 2008, #87.
Exhibition: Norman Rockwell Museum. “J.C. Leyendecker and the
Saturday Evening Post,” March 21–June 14, 2015.
Museum of American Illustration at The Society of Illustrators.
“Americans Abroad: J.C. Leyendecker and the European Academic Influence on
American Illustration,” May 21–July 12, 2008, #87.
Norman Rockwell Museum. “J.C. Leyendecker: A Retrospective,” November 8, 1997–
May 25, 1998.
Illustration © SEPS. Licensed by Curtis Licensing, Indianapolis, IN.
145
41. RICHARD LILLIS (1899–1995)
Murder by the book. 1944
Oil on canvas.
Size: 22 × 17
Published: Hollywood Detective, December 1944, Cover.

42. ANDREW LOOMIS (1892–1959)

Unidentified illustration. c. 1930s
Oil on canvas.
Size: 271⁄4 × 36
Provenance: Illustration House

43. TOM LOVELL (1909–1997)

Carol watched the scowl deepen on Mr. Botlivala’s face as
the little black mare increased her lead. 1939
Oil on canvas.
Size: 23 × 37
Published: Louis Bromfield. “Bombay Nights.”
Hearst’s International combined with Cosmopolitan,
November 1939, pp. 48 – 49.
Literature: Daniel Zimmer. Tom Lovell Illustrator. St. Louis, MO:
The Illustrated Press, 2016, p. 26.

Also see Plate 17

146
44. TOM LOVELL (1909–1997)
“That figure,” Bill said, “is what has always got you into trouble, Carol.” 1939
Oil on panel.
Size: 28 × 36
Published: Louis Bromfield. “Bombay Nights.” Hearst’s International
combined with Cosmopolitan, December 1939, pp. 50 –51.
Literature: Daniel Zimmer. Tom Lovell Illustrator. St. Louis, MO:
The Illustrated Press, 2016, p. 31.

Also see Plate 18

45. TOM LOVELL (1909–1997)

The picture was a mirror of her unalterable past. It had a life of its own
that could consume the life she now wanted...She was terrified and angry...
for this was herself, her youth. 1949
Oil on board.
Size: 193⁄8 × 183⁄4
Published: Christopher La Farge. “The Intolerable Portrait.”
Woman’s Home Companion, March 1949, pp. 20–21.
Literature: Daniel Zimmer. Tom Lovell Illustrator. St. Louis, MO:
The Illustrated Press, 2016, p. 105.

46. ORSON B. LOWELL (1871–1956)

Under the Greenback Tree. 1911
Pen & ink.
Size: 211⁄2 × 163⁄4
Published: Life, February 23, 1911, p. 383. [“Rich Man issue”]
Literature: Illustration House. The Art of Orson Lowell. The
Illustration Collector #39, 1999, p. 15.

147
47. MARA MCAFEE (1929–1984)
Hercule Poirot and young woman. 1956
Acrylic on board.
Size: 19 × 153⁄4
Published: Agatha Christie. Hickory Dickory Death.
New York, NY: Pocket Books, 1956, Cover.
Provenance: Illustration House

48. LEO MEIERSDORFF (1934–1994)

“Back on the street” Earl Hines, Jonah Jones, Buddy Tate, Cozy Cole. 1972
Watercolor.
Size: 131⁄2 × 131⁄2
Published: Chiaroscuro Records, CR(D) 118, 1972, Cover.

49. RICHARD MERKIN (1938–2009)

Gene Bertoncini. 1999
Pastel on watercolor paper.
Size: 24 × 241⁄4
Published: Gene Bertoncini with Bill Charlap and Sean Smith.
Chiaroscuro Records, CR(D) 354, 1999.

148
50. FRED MIZEN (1888–1964)
Advertisement for Coca-Cola. 1926
Oil on canvas.
Size: 311⁄8 × 201⁄8
Literature: Arpi Ermoyan. Famous American Illustrators.
New York, NY: The Society of Illustrators, 1997, p. 196.
[Note: Mistakenly identified as by McClelland Barclay.]

51. ROSE O’NEILL (1874–1944)

The Kewpies. 1928
Pen & ink, collage.
Size: 22 × 171⁄2
Published: Delineator, May 1928, p. 29.

Also see Plate 19

149
52. MAXFIELD PARRISH (1870–1966)
They introduced among them rum, gin, and brandy, and the other comforts of life. 1899
Pen & ink, gouache on paper.
Size: 121⁄2 × 91⁄2
Published: Washington Irving (Diedrich Knickerbocker, psued.) A History of New York
from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, Book 5.
New York, NY: R. H. Russell, 1900, facing p. 24.
Literature: Walt Reed. Great American Illustrators. New York, NY: Abbeville Press,
1979, p.110.
Judy Goffman Cutler and Laurence S. Cutler. Howard Pyle, His Students & The Golden
Age of American Illustration. Newport, RI: The American Civilization Foundation,
2017, p. 130.
Exhibition: Brandywine River Museum. “Maxfield Parrish: Master of Make Believe,”
May 31–September 2, 1974.
Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA. “Howard Pyle, His Students & The Golden Age
of American Illustration,” April 8–June 18, 2017.
Provenance: Margaret Barnard English

53. MAXFIELD PARRISH (1870–1966)

A Man of Letters [The Mudball]. 1921
Oil on paper board.
Size: 145⁄8 × 115⁄8
Published: Life, January 5, 1922, Cover.
Literature: Maxfield Parrish: Master of Make Believe, exh. cat.,
Chadds Ford, PA: Brandywine River Museum, 1974, p. 32 – 33.
The Great American Illustrators, exh. cat. New York, NY:
American Illustrators Gallery, 1993, p. 58.
Susan E. Meyer. America’s Great Illustrators. New York, NY:
Harry N. Abrams, 1978, p. 128.
Exhibition: Brandywine River Museum. “Maxfield Parrish:
Master of Make Believe,” May 31–September 2, 1974.

Also see Plate 20

150
54. MAXFIELD PARRISH (1870–1966)
A Dark Futurist. 1923
Oil on wood panel.
Size: 141⁄2 × 111⁄8
Published: Life, March 1, 1923, Cover.
Literature: Maxfield Parrish: Master of Make Believe, exh. cat.,
Chadds Ford, PA: Brandywine River Museum, 1974, p. 23.
The Great American Illustrators, exh. cat. New York, NY:
American Illustrators Gallery, 1993, p. 59.
Exhibition: Brandywine River Museum. “Maxfield Parrish:
Master of Make Believe,” May 31– September 2, 1974.
Provenance: American Illustrators Gallery

Also see Plate 21

55. C.F. PAYNE (b. 1954)

Donuthead, 2003
Mixed media on illustration board.
Size: 151⁄4 × 101⁄4
Published: Sue Stauffacher. Donuthead.
New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003, Cover.
Provenance: Acquired from the artist.

Also see Plate 22

151
56. C.F. PAYNE (b. 1954)
Alexander Hamilton. 2004
Mixed media on illustration board.
Size: 171⁄8 × 12 5⁄8
Published: The New York Times Book Review, April 25, 2004, Cover.

57. GEORGE PETTY (1894–1975)

“They’re very glamorous, Colonel, but where are the trousers?” 1937
Gouache and watercolor.
Size: 171⁄2 × 10 3⁄4
Published: Esquire, February 1937, p. 44.
Provenance: Illustration House

Also see Plate 23

58. GEORGE PETTY (1894–1975)

I don’t mind inviting guys
To play the ancient game
Because no matter how it starts
They always blame the dame. 1956
Watercolor and gouache.
Size: 111⁄2 × 131⁄4
Published: Calendar: Esquire. February 1956.
Provenance: Greg Mohr / Anything on Earth, San Francisco

Also see Plate 24

152
59. COLES PHILLIPS (1880–1927)
Orders/Skirts will be shorter this fall. 1924
Watercolor and gouache.
Size: 201⁄2 × 161⁄4
Published: Life, August 28, 1924, Cover.
Provenance: Illustration House

Also see Plate 25

60. HOWARD PYLE (1853–1911)

Sir Kay breaketh his sword, at ye tournament. 1902
Pen and ink.
Size: 91⁄4 × 61⁄4
Published: Howard Pyle. The Story of King Arthur and His Knights.
New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1903, p. 8.
Literature: Judy Goffman Cutler and Laurence S. Cutler. Howard Pyle,
His Students & The Golden Age of American Illustration. Newport, RI:
The American Civilization Foundation, 2017, p. 35.
Exhibition: Drexel University, Philadelphia. “Howard Pyle, His
Students & The Golden Age of American Illustration,” April 8 –June 18, 2017.
Provenance: Illustration House

Also see Plate 26

61. HENRY PATRICK RALEIGH (1880–1944)

Unidentified Story Illustration [A Dream Comes True]. c. 1925
Ink and wash on board.
Size: 133⁄4 × 27
Literature: Arpi Ermoyan. Famous American Illustrators.
New York, NY: The Society of Illustrators, 1997, p. 114.
Provenance: Charles Martignette, Heritage

153
62. NORMAN ROCKWELL (1894–1978)
The Fiddler. 1921
Oil on canvas.
Size: 27 × 231⁄2
Published: The Country Gentleman, October 22, 1921, Cover.
Literature: Laurie Norton Moffatt: Norman Rockwell: A Definitive Catalogue. 2 vols.
Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England, 1986, #C67.
Exhibition: Mississippi Museum of Art. “Norman Rockwell: The Great American
Story Teller,” March 2 – May 15, 1988. The exhibit traveled to museums in Orlando, FL;
Hattiesburg, MS; Chattanooga, TN; Vero Beach, FL; and Peoria, IL.
Provenance: American Illustrators Gallery

Also see Plate 27

63. ARTHUR SARNOFF (1912–2000)

Pin-up. undated
Oil on canvas board.
Size: 24 × 20
Published: “The Honey Bop,” Decca Records, Cover.
Literature: Charles G. Martignette and Louis K. Meisel. The Great American
Pin-Up. Cologne, Lisbon, New York, Paris, Tokyo: Taschen, 1996, p. 368.
Provenance: Charles Martignette

64. NORMAN SAUNDERS (1907–1989)

The Seven Skulls of Kali. 1936
Oil on canvas.
Size: 35 × 24
Published: Blackbook Detective, October 1936, Cover.
Literature: Frank M. Robinson and Lawrence Davidson. Pulp Culture:
The Art of Fiction Magazines. Portland, OR: Collectors Press, 2001, p. 56.
David Saunders. Norman Saunders. St. Louis, MO: The Illustrated Press, 2008, p. 361.
Provenance: Charles Martignette

Also see Plate 28

154
65. MEAD SCHAEFFER (1898–1980)
Stede Bonnet faced his last fight. 1920
Oil on canvas.
Size: 32 × 26
Published: Stephen Meader. The Black Buccaneer.
New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1920, facing p. 160.
Provenance: Sacks Fine Art

Also see Plate 29

66. MEAD SCHAEFFER (1898–1980)

Captain Blood pressed a pistol into the mate’s back.
“So you were going to betray me?” he snarled. 1936
Oil on canvas.
Size: 321⁄8 × 231⁄8
Published: Rafael Sabatini. “Blood Money.” The American Magazine, July 1936, p. 60.
Literature: Walt and Roger Reed. Illustrator in America: 1880–1980
A Century of Illustration. New York, NY: Madison Square Press, 1984, p. 199.
Walt Reed. Harvey Dunn: Illustrator and Painter of the Pioneer West.
Santa Cruz, CA: Flesk Publications, 2010, p. 225 [Note: image appears reversed.]
Provenance: Phillips Gallery

155
67. FRANK E. SCHOONOVER (1877–1972)
Skinny dragged him over to a crack and settled down for another try
[Yore shore all right, you old cuss]. 1905
Oil on Columbia canvas.
Size: 30 × 20
Published: Clarence E. Mulford. “Bar-20 Yarns.” The Outing Magazine, April 1906,
facing p. 3.
Literature: Judy Goffman Cutler and Laurence S. Cutler. Howard Pyle, His Students &
The Golden Age of American Illustration. Newport, RI: The American Civilization
Foundation, 2017, p. 144.
John Schoonover and Louise Schoonover Smith with LeeAnn Dean.
Frank E. Schoonover Catalogue Raisonné, 2 vols. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press,
2009, #259.
Exhibition: Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA. “Howard Pyle, His Students &
The Golden Age of American Illustration,” April 8 – June 18, 2017.
Provenance: Reese L. and Virginia Miller Collection, Sotheby’s

Also see Plate 39

156
68. FRANK E. SCHOONOVER (1877–1972)
He swung his rifle out over a forked limb and let it settle in the crotch. 1906
Oil on Columbia canvas.
Size: 36 × 24
Published: Clarence E. Mulford. “Bar-20 Range Yarns VIII-Roping a Rustler.”
The Outing Magazine, May 1907, p. 175.
Clarence E. Mulford. Bar-20: Being a Record of Certain Happenings that Occurred in
the Otherwise Peaceful Lives of One Hopalong Cassidy and His Companions on the Range.
New York, NY: A.L. Burt, 1907, p. 178.
Literature: Frank E. Schoonover Illustrator, exh. cat. Chadds Ford, PA: Brandywine
River Museum, 1979, p. 28. [Exhibited as “Holding the Claim”]
Judy Goffman Cutler and Laurence S. Cutler. Howard Pyle, His Students &
The Golden Age of American Illustration. Newport, RI: The American Civilization
Foundation, 2017, p. 142.
John Schoonover and Louise Schoonover Smith with LeeAnn Dean. Frank E.
Schoonover Catalogue Raisonné, 2 vols. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2009, #287.
Exhibitions: Brandywine River Museum. “Frank E. Schoonover Illustrator,”
September 8 –November 18, 1979.
Museum of American Illustration at the Society of Illustrators. “Frank Schoonover,”
July 11– August 11, 2001. [Exhibited as “Hopalong”]
Provenance: Sotheby’s Parke-Bernet

Also see Plate 40

157
69. FRANK E. SCHOONOVER (1877–1972)
Stephen’s one desire was that the dense fog might turn to rain
so that he could wet his aching throat [Cast Adrift]. 1923
Oil on Columbia canvas.
Size: 30 × 36
Published: Ralph D. Paine. “Privateers of ’76.” The American Boy, October 1923, p. 18.
Literature: Frank E. Schoonover Illustrator, exh. cat. Chadds Ford, PA: Brandywine
River Museum, 1979, pp. 53, 55.
John Schoonover and Louise Schoonover Smith with LeeAnn Dean. Frank E.
Schoonover Catalogue Raisonné, 2 vols. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2009, #1231.
Exhibitions: Brandywine River Museum. “Frank E.
Schoonover Illustrator,” September 8–November 18, 1979.
Provenance: Joe Parente/Little Nemo Shop, NYC

Also see Plate 30

70. EVERETT SHINN (1876–1953)

Old Saint Nick. 1942
Brush & ink, wash.
Size: 81⁄2 × 9
Published: Clement Clarke Moore. The Everett Shinn Illustrated Edition of the Night
Before Christmas. Philadelphia, PA: The John C. Winston Co., 1942, copyright page.
Provenance: Estate of the Artist, James Graham & Sons, NYC

Also see Plate 31

71. JOHN SLOAN (1871–1951)

“The butt o’ the loafers.” 1912
Charcoal.
Size: 17 × 121⁄4
Published: T.A. Daly. Madrigali. Philadelphia, PA: David McKay, 1912, facing p. 88.
Literature: Elizabeth H. Hawkes. John Sloan’s Illustrations in Magazines and Books.
Delaware Art Museum Occasional Paper #4. Wilmington, DE: Delaware Art Museum,
1993, p. 231.

Also see Plate 15

158
72. SAUL TEPPER (1899–1987)
Unidentified illustration. c. 1928
Oil on canvas.
Size: 35 × 24
Provenance: Illustration House

73. ALBERTO VARGAS (1896–1982)

Seated Nude. 1920
Airbrush on paper.
Size: 27 × 14
Published: Last of the Whorehouse Piano Players: Ralph Sutton and Jay McShann.
Chiaroscuro Records CR(D) 306, 1988, CD Cover.
Provenance: Glen Etchyson, Laguna Beach, CA

Also see Plate 32

74. HAROLD VON SCHMIDT (1893–1982)

“I have had the liberty of speaking through the hole of the door to my wife
and servants,” his editorial read. 1934
Oil on canvas.
Size: 30 × 40
Published: Charles Spencer Hart. “Not Guilty! His Majesty the King Versus
John Peter Zenger.” The Elks Magazine, December 1934, pp. 12–13.
Charles Spencer Hart. “Not Guilty!,” General Washington’s Son of Israel and
Other Forgotten Heroes of History. Philadelphia, London: J. B. Lippincott,
1937, facing p. 98. [Caption: Zenger edits the Evening Journal from his cell
with the assistance of his devoted wife who came to see him daily.]
Provenance: Illustration House

Also see Plate 33

159
75. EDMUND F. WARD (1892–1990)
She had something to ponder over. That conversation of the scout
and the officer had flashed grave conjectures into her mind. 1923
Oil on canvas.
Size: 24 × 30
Published: Zane Grey. “The Thundering Herd.”
Ladies’ Home Journal, March 1924, p. 24.
Provenance: Charles Martignette, Heritage

76. EDMUND F. WARD (1892–1990)

He tightened his grip and his voice broke.
“Nothing matters except that you’re here.” 1923
Oil on canvas.
Size: 20 × 30
Published: Margaret Cameron. “Johndover.”
Woman’s Home Companion, February 1924, p. 7.
Provenance: Taraba Illustration Art, Casper WY

77. JON WHITCOMB (1906–1988)

You never love a woman you merely want, as much as
the one you can do things for. [Julie]. 1947
Gouache on board.
Size: 131⁄2 × 14
Published: Ruth Babcock. “Julie.” Ladies’ Home Journal,
August 1947, pp. 34 –35.
Literature: Stephanie Haboush Plunkett and Magdalen Livesey.
Drawing Lessons from the Famous Artists School: Classic Techniques
and Expert Tips from the Golden Age of Illustration. Beverly, MA:
Rockport Publishers, 2017, p. 155.
Provenance: Heritage

Also see Plate 34

160
78. WALTER WHITEHEAD (1874–1956)
Poor Old Robinson Crusoe. [Advertisement for Cream of Wheat]. 1907
Oil on canvas with paper paste-over.
Size: 36 × 26
Provenance: Illustration House

79. COBY WHITMORE (1913–1988)

There is a place on earth where a man may make but one mistake — only one
mistake and never any more. 1946.
Oil on canvas mounted on Masonite.
Size: 113⁄4 × 17
Published: Grace Amundson. “Do You Ever See the Stars?”
Good Housekeeping, February 1946, pp. 34–35.
Provenance: Illustration House

Also see Plate 35

80. COBY WHITMORE (1913–1988)

The day had started just like any other day. No one could have guessed it would end like this.
She used Sam’s heart for a mirror until the night she saw another woman’s face there. 1947
Oil on canvas.
Size: 133⁄4 × 103⁄4
Published: Jane McDill Anderson. “A Score for Love.”
Ladies’ Home Journal, June 1947, p. 38.
Exhibition: Norman Rockwell Museum, “Ephemeral Beauty: Al Parker and
the American Woman’s Magazine 1940 – 1960,” June 9 – October 28, 2007.

161
81. N.C. WYETH (1882–1945)
“I am Sir Launcelot du Lake, King Ban’s son of Benwick, and knight of the Round Table.” 1917
Oil on canvas.
Size: 391⁄4 × 311⁄4
Published: Sidney Lanier, ed. The Boy’s King Arthur: Sir Thomas Malory’s History of King Arthur
and His Knights of the Round Table. New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1917, facing page 38.
Literature: Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr. N.C. Wyeth: The Collected Paintings,
Illustrations and Murals. New York, NY: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972, p. 209.
Judy Goffman Cutler and Laurence S. Cutler. Howard Pyle: His Students &
The Golden Age of American Illustration. Newport, RI: The American Civilization
Foundation, 2017, p. 207.
John Edward Dell, ed. Visions of Adventure: N.C. Wyeth and the Brandywine Artists.
New York, NY: Watson-Guptill, 2000, p. 28.
Christine Bauer Podmaniczky. N.C. Wyeth: Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, 2 vols.
London: Scala Publishers Ltd., 2008, p. 345.
Visions of Courageous Achievement: Arthurian Illustration in America, exh. cat. Rochester,
NY: Rossell Hope Robbins Library, University of Rochester, 2014, cover and p. 9.
Exhibition: Brandywine River Museum of Art, Chadds Ford, PA. “Enchanted Castles
and Noble Knights,” November 28, 2014 –January 4, 2015.
Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE. “N. C. Wyeth,” October 20 –
November 11, 1995.
Knoedler Galleries, NYC. “Exhibition of Paintings by N.C. Wyeth,” October 29–
November 23, 1957.
Provenance: Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE; American Illustrators Gallery

Also see Plate 36

162
82. N.C. WYETH (1882–1945)
Mr. Cassidy...saw a crimson rider sweep down upon him...heralded by a blazing .41. 1906
Oil on canvas.
Size: 38 × 25
Published: Clarence E. Mulford. “Bar-20 Range Yards, Part VII–Cassidy at Cactus.”
The Outing Magazine, December 1906, p. 337.
Clarence E. Mulford. Bar-20: Being a Record of Certain Happenings that Occurred in
the Otherwise Peaceful Lives of One Hopalong Cassidy and His Companions on the Range.
New York, NY: A.L. Burt, 1907, facing p. 256.
Literature: Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr. N.C. Wyeth: The Collected Paintings,
Illustrations and Murals. New York, NY: Crown Publishers Inc., 1972, p. 268.
Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum. Spur, July–August, 1991, cover.
Judy Goffman Cutler and Laurence S. Cutler. Howard Pyle, His Students &
The Golden Age of American Illustration. Newport, RI: The American Civilization
Foundation, 2017, p. 202.
Christine Bauer Podmaniczky. N.C. Wyeth: Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, 2 vols.
London: Scala Publishers Ltd., 2008, p. 148.
The Great American Illustrators, exh. cat. New York, NY: American Illustrators Gallery,
1993, p. 32.
Provenance: Sotheby’s

Also see Plate 41

163
Catalogue of the Exhibition: Comic Art
83. CHARLES ADDAMS (1912–1988)
Variant of cartoon published The New Yorker, April 22, 1944, p. 24.
Pen, wash on paper.
Size: 71⁄2 × 83⁄4

84. ALFRED ANDRIOLA (1912–1983)

Dan Dunn. 1943
Pen & ink.
Size: 5 × 19
Publishers’ Syndicate, February 8, 1943.
Provenance: Russ Cochran

85. BUCK BROWN (1936–2007)

“I thought you went to market!” 1962
Brush & ink.
Size: 71⁄2 × 81⁄2
Published: Playboy, March 1962, p. 123.
Exhibition: Friars Club, NYC. “The Art and Humor of Buck Brown,”
October 16 – 26, 1995.
Provenance: Acquired from the artist

164
86. BUCK BROWN (1936 –2007)
“It must be a trap.” 1967
Acrylic on illustration board.
Size: 23 × 171⁄2
Published: Playboy, October 1967, p. 111.
Playboy, October 2007, p. 22.
Literature: Playboy’s Buck Brown. Chicago, IL: Playboy Press, 1981, p. 85.
Exhibition: Friars Club, NYC. “The Art and Humor of Buck Brown,”
October 16 – 26, 1995.
Provenance: Acquired from the artist

Also see Plate 43

87. JOHN CALDWELL (1946–2016)

Drama on Page 48. 1989.
Ink.
Size: 18 × 15
Published: Mad Magazine, March 1989, p. 48.
Provenance: Lewis Wayne Gallery

88. JOHN CALDWELL (1946–2016)

Society of Retired Comedy Writers. undated
Ink.
Size: 71⁄2 × 91⁄2
Provenance: Acquired from the artist

Also see Plate 44

165
89. MILTON CANIFF (1907–1988)
Terry and the Pirates. 1946
Pen & ink on illustration board, collage.
Size: 17 × 25
News Syndicate, May 12, 1946.
Exhibition: Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes College. “Comic Strip
Art from Private Collections,” December 4 – 26, 1976.

Also see Plate 46

90. AL CAPP [ALFRED GERALD CAPLIN]

(1909–1979)
Li’l Abner. 1948
Pen & ink.
Size: 61⁄4 × 221⁄4
United Feature Syndicate, February 17, 1948.
Provenance: Bruce Hamilton Collection, Russ
Cochran

91. JACK COLE (1914–1958)

“Like they say in the travel folders, Miss Duncan – Getting there is half the fun.’” 1956
Watercolor on illustration board.
Size: 17 × 14
Exhibition: Bowers Museum, Santa Anna, Calif. and other venues.
“The Cartoon Show,” 1976.
Provenance: Virgil Partch, Jerry Muller/Museum Graphics

166
92. PHIL DAVIS (1906–1964)
Mandrake the Magician. 1934
Pen & ink, blue wash.
Size: 41⁄2 × 201⁄2
King Features Syndicate, December 26, 1934.

Also see Plate 47

93. CHON DAY [CHAUNCEY ADDISON DAY] (1907–2000)

“Tell me honestly, Richard, did you ever hanker for floozies?” undated
Ink on heavy watercolor paper.
Size: 12 × 9

94. WILLIAM MORGAN “BILLY”

DE BECK (1890–1942)
Barney Google. 1931
Pen & ink with blue pencil.
Size: 43⁄4 × 17 7⁄8
King Features Syndicate, June 22, 1931.
Exhibition: Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes College. “Comic Strip
Art from Private Collections,” December 4 – 26, 1976.

167
95. ROY DELGADO (b. 1935)
Dessert at the old comedians’ home. undated
Pen & ink.
Size: 81⁄2 × 11
Unpublished
Provenance: Acquired from the Artist

Also see Plate 48

96. WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS

Study for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. 1937
Graphite on animation paper.
Size: 91⁄2 × 13 3⁄4
Exhibition: Bowers Museum, Santa Anna, Calif. and other venues.
“The Cartoon Show,” 1976.
Provenance: Jerry Muller/Museum Graphics

97. WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS

The Art of Skiing [Goofy]. 1941
Celluloid.
Size: 91⁄2 × 83⁄4
Walt Disney Productions. The Art of Skiing, 1941.
Provenance: Couvoissier, Russ Cochran

168
98. ROBERT ECKSTEIN (b. 1963)
“It’s $20 more for a funny ending.” 2016
Ink.
Size: 81⁄2 × 11
Published: National Lampoon website (May, 2016).Weekly Humorist website
Provenance: Acquired from the Artist

Also see Plate 49

99. HEINZ EDELMANN (1934–2009)

Yellow Submarine [John Lennon]. 1968
Celluloid.
Size: 111⁄4 × 121⁄8
TV Cartoons, London (TVC). Yellow Submarine, 1968.

100. HAM FISHER (1900–1955)

Joe Palooka. 1941
Ink and blue pencil.
Size: 22 × 161⁄2
McNaught Syndicate, November 2, 1941.

Also see Plate 50

169
101. HAL FORREST (1895–1959)
Tailspin Tommy. 1941
Pen & ink.
Size: 135⁄8 × 21
United Feature Syndicate, September 21, 1941.

102. HAROLD R. FOSTER (1892–1982)

Prince Valiant. 1956
Pen & ink.
Size: 331⁄2 × 223⁄4
King Features Syndicate, December 2, 1956.

Also see Plate 51

103. FRANK FRAZETTA (1928–2010)

Johnny Comet. 1952
Pen & ink.
Size: 41⁄2 × 161⁄2
McNaught Syndicate, June 26, 1952.
Exhibition: Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes College. “Comic Strip
Art from Private Collections,” December 4 – 26, 1976.

170
104. FLOYD GOTTFREDSON
(1905–1986) [WALT DISNEY STUDIO]
Mickey Mouse—The Idle Rich. 1937
Pen & ink.
Size: 53⁄4 × 25
King Features Syndicate, August 28, 1937.
Exhibition: Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes College. “Comic Strip
Art from Private Collections,” December 4 – 26, 1976.

105. RUFUS “RAY” GOTTO (1916–2003)

Ozark Ike’s Whodunits. 1947
Ink.
Size: 135⁄8 × 211⁄4
King Features Syndicate, September 28, 1947.

106. CHESTER GOULD (1900–1985)

Dick Tracy [Laffy]. 1943
Pen & ink.
Size: 6 × 19
Chicago Tribune Syndicate, November 16, 1943.

Also see Plate 52

171
107. CHESTER GOULD (1900–1985)
Dick Tracy [Hypo]. 1947
Pen & ink.
Size: 8 × 24
Chicago Tribune Syndicate, April 26, 1947.

108. HAROLD GRAY (1894–1968)

Orphan Annie. 1967
Pen & ink.
Size: 6 × 191⁄2
News Syndicate Co., June 2, 1967.

109. VINCENT HAMLIN (1900–1993)

Alley Oop. 1938
Pen & ink.
Size: 4 3⁄4 × 211⁄2
Newspaper Enterprise Association, December 29, 1938.
Provenance: Gemstone Publishing/Russ Cochran
1938 Alley Oop @ UFS, Inc. Used By Permission of ANDREWS MCMEEL
SYNDICATION for UFS. All rights reserved.

110. FRED HARMAN (1902–1982)

Red Ryder. 1942
Pen & ink.
Size: 61⁄2 × 241⁄2
Newspaper Enterprise Association, July 25, 1942.
Exhibition: Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes College. “Comic
Strip Art from Private Collections,” December 4 – 26, 1976.

172
111. FRED HARMAN (1902–1982)
Red Ryder with Little Beaver bottom strip. 1943
Pen & ink.
Size: 271⁄4 × 201⁄2
Newspaper Enterprise Association, May 14. 1943.

Also see Plate 53

112. GEORGE HERRIMAN (1880–1944)

Krazy Kat. 1919
Pen & ink, collage.
Size: 18 5⁄8 × 167⁄8
King Features Syndicate, June 15, 1919.
Exhibition: Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes College. “Comic Strip Art
from Private Collections,” December 4 – 26, 1976.
Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, January, 1974.
Indianapolis Museum of Art, November 13 – December 16, 1973.
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX, May 17 – July 1, 1973.
Middlebury College, April 26 – May 12, 1973.
James Graham & Sons Gallery, NYC, February 6 – 24, 1973.
Provenance: James Graham & Sons Gallery, NYC

Also see Plate 54

173
113. BURNE HOGARTH (1911–1996)
Tarzan. 1948
Pen & ink.
Size: 26 × 191⁄2
United Feature Syndicate, April 18, 1948.
Exhibition: Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes College. “Comic Strip Art from
Private Collections,” December 4 – 26, 1976.

114. JOHN JONIK (b. 1942)

Artist, c. 1980
Pen & ink.
Size: 73⁄4 × 101⁄4
Published: Lee Binswanger. National Lampoon Presents Hitler’s Favorite Cartoons.
New York, NY: 1982, unpaginated.
Provenance: Acquired from Artist

115. WALT KELLY (1913–1973)

Pogo. 1972
Pen & ink with traces of blue pencil.
Size: 51⁄4 × 173⁄8
Publishers Hall Syndicate, February 1, 1972.
Exhibition: Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes College.
“Comic Strip Art from Private Collections,”
December 4 – 26, 1976.

174
116. FRANK O. KING (1883–1969)
Gasoline Alley. 1924
Pen & ink, partially hand colored by artist.
Size: 261⁄2 × 19 1⁄8
Chicago Tribune Syndicate, June 15, 1924.
Provenance: Ed April/Russ Cochran

Also see Plate 55

117. WALTER LANTZ PRODUCTIONS

Knock Knock [Woody Woodpecker]. 1940
Celluloid.
Size: 51⁄4 diam.
Walter Lantz Productions: Knock Knock, 1940.

Also see Plate 45

118. GEORGE LICHTY (1905–1983)

Grin and Bear It. “Let my opponent have the nation’s youth,
gentlemen. I’ll take parents and irate taxpayers!” 1968
Pen & ink.
Size: 9 × 12
Publishers Hall Syndicate, May 16, 1968.

175
119. MIKE LYNCH (b. 1962)
Caller I.Q. 52? Oh no, not that idiot again! 2005
Pen & ink.
Size: 81⁄2 × 11
Published: Reader’s Digest, October 2005, p. 14.
Provenance: Acquired from the Artist

120. GEORGE MCMANUS (1884–1954)

Bringing Up Father with Rosie’s Beau topper. 1942
Pen & ink.
Size: 203⁄8 × 16 3⁄8
King Features Syndicate, September 6, 1942.
Exhibition: Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes College. “Comic Strip Art
from Private Collections,” December 4 – 26, 1976.
Provenance: Howard Lowery, Burbank, CA

Also see Plate 56

121. WILLARD MULLIN (1902–1978)

One League. 1950
Ink & Conté crayon over graphite on Bristol board.
Size: 14 × 151⁄2
United Features Syndicate, August 12, 1950.
Provenance: Heritage

Also see Plate 57

176
122. WILLIAM OVERGARD (1926–1990)
Unidentified daily comic strip. c. 1950s
Ink.
Size: 61⁄2 × 211⁄2
Provenance: Jim Ivey

123. ALEX RAYMOND (1909–1956)

Secret Agent X–9. 1934
Ink & watercolor
Size: 51⁄2 × 243⁄4
King Features Syndicate, October 30, 1934.

Also see Plate 58

124. ALEX RAYMOND (1909–1956)

Rip Kirby. 1953
Pen & ink.
Size: 51⁄4 × 193⁄4
King Features Syndicate, December 28, 1953.
Exhibition: Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes College. “Comic Strip
Art from Private Collections,” December 4 – 26, 1976.
Provenance: Heritage

177
125. CHARLES RODRIGUES (1926–2004)
“It’s the old story, ‘those who can’t—teach’.”
Pen & ink.
Size: 11 × 81⁄2
Provenance: Lorraine Rodrigues

Also see Plate 59

126. CHARLES M. SCHULZ (1922–2000)

Peanuts. 1962
Pen & ink.
Size: 151⁄4 × 223⁄4
United Feature Syndicate, December 16, 1962.
Exhibition: Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes College. “Comic Strip Art
from Private Collections,” December 4 – 26, 1976.

Also see Plate 60

PEANUTS © 1962 Peanuts Worldwide LLC. Dist. By ANDREWS MCMEEL
SYNDICATION. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

127. E.C. SEGAR (1894–1938)

Thimble Theater/Popeye. 1931
Pen & ink with blue pencil.
Size: 43⁄4 × 197⁄8
King Features Syndicate, January 16, 1932.
Exhibition: Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes College. “Comic Strip
Art from Private Collections,” December 4 – 26, 1976.

178
128. MARGARET BARNARD SORDONI (1915 –1989)
Ghosts. 1955
Ink and charcoal.
Size: 73⁄4 × 51⁄2
Unpublished.
Note: Between December 1954 and February 1955, the Disneyland
television show ran a three-installment mini-series on Davy Crockett
starring Fess Parker. The series inspired a tsunami of Crockett merchandise,
the most iconic of which was the coonskin hat. No self-respecting
boy wished to be seen in public without one. In 1955 coonskin hat
sales were estimated at one hundred million dollars (approximately
$923,310,000.00 in 2018 dollars if adjusted for inflation).

129. JACK SPARLING (1916–1997)

Hap Hopper. 1942
Ink.
Size: 53⁄8 × 22
United Feature Syndicate, March 17, 1942.

130. DAN SPIEGLE (1920–2017)

Hopalong Cassidy. 1953
India ink, red pencil & white paint on heavyweight paper.
Size: 17 × 24
King Features Syndicate, December 27, 1953.
Provenance: Howard Lowery, Burbank, CA

Also see Plate 42

179
131. UNITED PRODUCTIONS OF AMERICA (UPA)
Mr. Magoo. undated
Celluloid.
Size: 31⁄2 × 41⁄4
United Productions of America (UPA).

132. AL WILLIAMSON (1931–2010)

Secret Agent Corrigan. 1967
Pen & ink.
Size: 41⁄2 × 161⁄4
King Features Syndicate, August 12, 1967.

Also see Plate 61

133. GAHAN WILSON (b. 1930)

“Well, it’s certainly high time you got around to fixing that lock, Straus!” 1974
Pen & ink and watercolor.
Size: 101⁄2 × 67⁄8
Playboy, August 1974, p. 177.
Provenance: Puck Gallery

Titles: If a work has a printed caption, the caption has been italicized and used as the title. Otherwise the title is not italicized.
Dimensions: Dimensions are in inches, height precedes width. Measurements are of the frame window.
Dates: The date of publication is used except for works published in January, which are dated the prior year. If the artist dated the work,
that date is used regardless of publication date.

180
Bibliography
This bibliography provides readers with suggestions for further research. The list is not intended to be comprehensive.
Additional references on specific artists are found in the catalogue section and the extensive bibliographies in the works cited below.

Illustration Comic Art

Judy Goffman Cutler and Laurence S. Cutler. Howard Pyle, John Carlin et al. Masters of American Comics. New Haven, CT:
His Students & The Golden Age of American Illustration. Yale University Press, 2005.
Newport, RI: The American Civilization Foundation, 2017.
Harry Katz. Cartoon America: Comic Art in the Library of
Susan Doyle, Jaleen Grove, Whitney Sherman, editors. Congress. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, 2006.
History of Illustration. New York, NY: Fairchild Books, 2018.
Richard Marschall. America’s Great Comic-Strip Artists: From
Arpi Ermoyan. Famous American Illustrators. New York, NY: the Yellow Kid to Peanuts. New York, NY: Stewart Tabori &
The Society of Illustrators, 1997. Chang, 1997.

Robert Lesser. Pulp Art: Original Cover Paintings for the Judith O’Sullivan. The Great American Comic Strip: One
Great American Pulp Magazines. New York, NY: Gramercy Hundred Years of Art. Boston, MA: Bulfinch Press Book, 1990.
Books, 1997.
Jim Steranko. The Steranko History of Comics, vol 1.
Charles G. Martignette and Louis K. Meisel. The Great Reading, PA: Supergraphics, 1970.
American Pin-Up. Koln, Lisboa, New York, Paris,
Brian Walker. The Comics: The Complete Collection. New York, NY:
Tokyo:Taschen, 1996.
Harry N. Abrams, 2008.
Susan E. Meyer. America’s Great Illustrators. New York, NY:
Harry N. Abrams, 1978.

Walt Reed. Great American Illustrators. New York, NY:

Abbeville Press, 1979.

Walt Reed. The Illustrator in America: 1860 –2000, 3rd ed.

New York, NY: Society of Illustrators, 2001.

Frank M. Robinson and Lawrence Davidson. Pulp Culture: The

Art of Fiction Magazines. Portland, OR: Collectors Press, 2001.

Fred Taraba. Masters of American Illustration: 41 Illustrators and

How They Worked. St. Louis, MO: The Illustrated Press, 2011.

181
Notes on Contributors
David Apatoff 1930s for Illustration magazine. He is the author of monographs
David Apatoff is the art critic for the Saturday Evening Post and on Walter Baumhofer, his father Norman Saunders, and H.J.
author of the popular blog, illustration art.blogspot.com. He has Ward. His website — www.pulpartists.com — provides biographical
written several books and articles on illustration art and lectured information on many classic American illustrators.
extensively on the subject. The New York Times describes him as
Heather Sincavage
an “illustration scholar.” He curated the centennial exhibition
Heather Sincavage has served as Director of the Sordoni Art
on illustration for the Delaware Art Museum in 2013.
Gallery since 2016. She was Director of the Reed Fine Art
Stanley I Grand Gallery and University Collections, University of Maine at
A retired professor of art history, former museum director and Presque Isle. Professor Sincavage earned her BFA from the
curator, Dr. Grand has written over 40 exhibition catalogues. Tyler School of Art, Temple University, and her MFA from
Between 1993 –2000 he was Director of the Sordoni Art the University of Washington. She has exhibited widely,
Gallery, Wilkes University. Since 2016 he has been a consultant both in the United States and internationally.
to Wilkes University, while also serving as Curator of the
Jim Steranko
Sordoni Collection of American Illustration & Comic Art.
Jim Steranko rocked the comicbook world as the artist-writer
Sam Gross of Captain America, S.H.I.E.L.D., and X-Men, and generated
Sam Gross is a cartoonist whose work has appeared in more than 150 original storytelling innovations that changed
The New Yorker, Esquire, Cosmopolitan and other national the direction of the medium. He was the editor-publisher of
circulation magazines. He was the National Lampoon cartoon the international newsstand entertainment magazine Prevue,
editor. His cartoons span the benign to the controversial. and his two volumes of The History of Comics have sold more
Numerous anthologies of his cartoons have been published than 100,000 copies each. As a filmmaker, he collaborated with
including I Am Blind and My Dog Is Dead (1977), Your Mother Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Francis Ford Coppola on
Is a Remarkable Woman (1992), and We Have Ways of Making some of their most popular films. He has shown his work at
You Laugh: 120 Funny Swastika Cartoons (2008). more than 350 exhibitions worldwide, including the Louvre.

Laurie Norton Moffatt Fred Taraba

Laurie Norton Moffatt is Director/CEO of the Norman Currently based in Casper, Wyoming, Fred Taraba is a dealer,
Rockwell Museum. She is a leading Rockwell scholar and writer, appraiser, and consultant specializing in original vintage
authored the catalogue raisonné, Norman Rockwell: A Definitive American Illustration artwork. He is the author of Masters of
Catalogue. She has served as a trustee of the Association of Art American Illustration: 41 Illustrators and How They Worked.
Museum Directors, the American Association of Museums, He has been actively involved with illustration art since first
and currently at her alma mater Connecticut College. She has coming to New York in 1983 where he spent seven years at
participated in cultural exchange programs organized by the the Society of Illustrators and sixteen years with Illustration
Department of State in Europe and Africa. House. For the past decade he has “been his own boss” at
Taraba Illustration Art. He maintains an active website,
David Saunders
works with clients around the globe, and usually answers
David Saunders (born 1954 in NYC) is an artist, writer, and art
the telephone. When time allows, he continues to write.
historian. He has written biographical essays on artists of the

182
Sordoni Art Gallery
Heather Sincavage, M.F.A., Director
Karly Stasko, Research Assistant

Gallery Attendants
Olivia Caraballo
Jesse Elliot
Paige Gallagher
Sarah Materella
Jessica Morandi
Julie Nong
Nash Wenner

Sordoni Art Gallery Advisory Commission

Virginia C. Davis, Chair
Stanley I Grand, Ph.D.
Patricia M. Lacy
Patrick F. Leahy, Ed.D.
Kenneth Marquis
Allison Maslow
Bill Miller
Paul Riggs, Ph.D.
Eric Ruggiero, M.F.A.
Heather Sincavage, M.F.A.
Anne Skleder, Ph.D.
Jamie Smith
Andrew J. Sordoni, III
Joel Zitofsky

183
Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes University, 141 S. Main Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701