Three Thurbers Up For Grabs At Swann
There are plenty of interesting drawings by New Yorker artists offered in the upcoming Swann Illustration auction (ending December 15, 2022). The artists include Charles Addams, Lee Lorenz, Mischa Richter, George Booth, Charles Barsotti, and more. What I always go to first are the Thurber drawings. This time ’round there are three.
The Lady Macbeth original being auctioned, shown above left (dated, according to Swann, “possibly 1937”) appears to be a version of the Lady Macbeth, on the right, included in the 1966 collection, Thurber & Company on page 123 (Thurber passed away in 1961).
That same alternate also appears in A Mile And A Half Of Lines: The Art Of James Thurber. The book’s editor, Michael Rosen identifies the drawing as having appeared in “The James Thurber Production of Macbeth,” Stage, November 1935.”
Left: how it looked in that issue of Stage.
Also in the sale: a Thurber New Yorker drawing, published in the issue of April 25, 1936:
Here’s how it appeared in the magazine. The catalog mentions the word change (“knee” to “hip”) from the original art to the published drawing:
And finally, there’s Romeo & Juliet (undated, with no publication history available in the Swann catalog):
See the entire Swann catalog here.
James Thurber’s entry on the Spill‘s A-Z:
James Thurber Born, Columbus, Ohio, December 8, 1894. Died 1961, New York City. New Yorker work: 1927 -1961, with several pieces run posthumously. According to the New Yorker’s legendary editor, William Shawn, “In the early days, a small company of writers, artists, and editors — E.B. White, James Thurber, Peter Arno, and Katharine White among them — did more to make the magazine what it is than can be measured.”
Key cartoon collection: The Seal in the Bedroom and Other Predicaments (Harper & Bros., 1932). Key anthology (writings & drawings): The Thurber Carnival (Harper & Row, 1945). There have been a number of Thurber biographies. Burton Bernstein’s Thurber (Dodd, Mead, 1975) and Harrison Kinney’s James Thurber: His Life and Times (Henry Holt & Co., 1995) are essential. Website