David from Manhattan sends photographs of an original Whitney Darrow, Jr., New Yorker cartoon our way. He writes:
The attached pics came from a Fla. estate sale in August 2007 and sold on eBay, including matte and frame, for $270. It came from a collector you've mentioned before, in connection with a George Price cartoon, Leon F. Thorpe of Pittsburgh, Pa., and a Fla. retiree who died in 2006. Most importantly I suppose, he was a customer of the Nicholls Gallery. The Darrow was priced at $600 in October 1983. Pen & ink with wash on 13 3/4" x 10 3/8" paper and a caption in the artist's hand, this May 27, 1972 New Yorker cartoon was published a few years after Darrow stopped choosing cartoons for one of his clothbound collections, and ten years before he retired, but he hadn't lost his touch, with either a caption or his pictorial strengths. "Woolgathering" is a far wittier choice than "daydreaming" and an expression the monastic brothers didn't have to reach for when discussing Brother Francis, who wasn't at all perturbed to be spoken of within earshot. He seems content, which was probably a goal of his at some point in the past.
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| "Do you ever get the feeling Brother Francis isn't meditating at all—that he's just woolgathering?" Charles Saxon Original art The New Yorker, May 27, 1972, p. 33 |
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| Detail of monks |
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| The signature of Whitney Darrow, Jr. |
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| Detail of bird |
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| Photos courtesy of David from Manhattan |
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| "Do you ever get the feeling Brother Francis isn't meditating at all—that he's just woolgathering?" Charles Saxon Original art The New Yorker, May 27, 1972, p. 33 |
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| A spot drawing of the Central Park Zoo and a cartoon by Charles Saxon |
Note: My thanks to David from Manhattan for sharing this original art by Charles Saxon as well as his knowledge of the piece's history. This is David's fifty-sixth contribution to this blog, if I haven't lost count somewhere.
The George Price drawing listed on the Nicholls Gallery invoice from 1983 was posted here on Attempted Bloggery back in 2019. The 1957 Saxon cartoon, alas, is not on this blog but I'd very much like to hear from whoever has it now.
Collector Leon F. Thorpe's obituary may be found here.
I am unable to decipher the signature on the spot drawing of the Central Park Zoo. Is it something like Delores Miller? Please write if you can identify the artist.
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| Spot drawing of the Central Park Zoo Artist unidentified |
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