Edouard Manet's masterpiece Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe, or The Luncheon on the Grass, features prominently in a 1957 cartoon by Whitney Darrow, Jr., published in The New Yorker. Darrow's drawing is not about the painting, exactly, although he renders it quite beautifully; rather, it's about us and our discomfort with challenging subject matter. Darrow's splendid original came up for sale this month in Costa Mesa with a reasonable $1,200 to $1,500 estimate. Inexplicably, it took three separate weekend auctions for the cartoon to meet its reserve of, presumably, $800.
On June 4, the bidding for lot 648 reached $650. The piece was bought in.
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| "Well, it was sort of like a cook-out." Whitney Darrow, Jr. Original art The New Yorker, May 4, 1957, page 31. Darrow, Whitney, Jr. "Stop, Miss!" New York: Random House, 1957. The New Yorker Album of Art & Artists. Greenwich: New York Graphic Society Ltd., 1970. The New Yorker Album of Drawings 1925-1975. New York: Viking Press, 1975. |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| "Well, it was sort of like a cook-out." Whitney Darrow, Jr. Original art The New Yorker, May 4, 1957, page 31. Darrow, Whitney, Jr. "Stop, Miss!" New York: Random House, 1957. The New Yorker Album of Art & Artists. Greenwich: New York Graphic Society Ltd., 1970. The New Yorker Album of Drawings 1925-1975. New York: Viking Press, 1975. |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| Detail |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| The signature of Whitney Darrow, Jr. |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| Caption |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| Verso |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| Whitney Darrow, Jr. Michael's Gallery auction of June 17, 2023 |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| Whitney Darrow, Jr. Michael's Gallery item description |
On June 11, bidding again reached $650 but again the reserve was not met.
Finally, on June 17, the drawing sold for $800, plus $120 for the buyer's premium.
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. |
| "Well, it was sort of like a cook-out." Whitney Darrow, Jr. Original art The New Yorker, May 4, 1957, page 31. Darrow, Whitney, Jr. "Stop, Miss!" New York: Random House, 1957. The New Yorker Album of Art & Artists. Greenwich: New York Graphic Society Ltd., 1970. The New Yorker Album of Drawings 1925-1975. New York: Viking Press, 1975. |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| "Well, it was sort of like a cook-out." Whitney Darrow, Jr. The New Yorker, May 4, 1957, page 31. |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| A cartoon by Whitney Darrow, Jr. |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| Darrow, Whitney, Jr. "Stop, Miss!" New York: Random House, 1957 Back cover dust jacket |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. .jpg) |
| The New Yorker Album of Art & Artists. Greenwich: New York Graphic Society Ltd., 1970. |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. .jpg) |
| The New Yorker Album of Drawings 1925-1975. New York: Viking Press, 1975. |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_D%C3%A9jeuner_sur_l%27herbe |
Note: Take this as a friendly reminder that Attempted Bloggery's proprietor is always eager to post original art by Whitney Darrow, Jr. Or by Edouard Manet, for that matter, if that's what you've got on your walls.
04356