Mystery Wiseman Art: Three Watercolors (Part 1)
These three pieces are somewhat of a mystery to me. I'm not sure why they were done or if they were ever published. They seem to be from the late 40's/early 50's. But why were they taped together to a bigger board?
At first I figured the tape might have been placed over the artwork before they were watercolored to act as a "mask". That way the color wouldn't bleed over and you'd be left with a nice clean border. But upon closer inspection, it turns out that the tape was added after the art was finished. Hmmm...
Looking on the back of each piece, I could see that they were stripped from thicker pieces of illustration board. This was usually done by the printer so the art would be flexible enough to curve around a drum scanner. I'm guessing that after they were individually scanned, the art was sent back from the printer to the publisher (or advertising agency) who taped them to a bigger board so they wouldn't get misplaced. Then Al's name was written on the board for easy identification:
But who was the publisher and/or advertising agency? On the back of the big board there is a stamp reading:
Then there's a previous stamp that's been marked out in black that reads:
Kennedy Associates
141 East 44th Street
New York 17, N.Y.
Do any of you big-brained historian-types out there know anything about these businesses? Any information would be much appreciated!
Guess I'll try to tear the tape off the artwork now. Wish me luck!
Coming Monday: Close-up scans of the artwork.
Mystery Wiseman Art:
Three Watercolors (Part 1) (Part 2)
Eagle Drawing
10 Comments:
Hi Bill -- Just discovering you blog this day. Hat tip to Fred Hembeck for letting me know. What a great site! Thanks for all this. I love Wiseman, and he deserves better recognition!
Cheers,
Mike Lynch
http://heykidscomics.com/
http://blog.myspace.com/mikelynchcartoons
http://www.berndttoastgang.com/
Hi Al -
Thanks for tipping me off to your blog. I love Wiseman's clean line style, and have most issues of the Dennis comic books that he did, but had no idea that there was so much other material out there. Guess it stands to reason, though - not like the guy could retire off the pittance he was making off DTM, right? I'll be interested to hear something about his personal life if and when you get around to it. I heard through the grapevine stories that indicate Al was not the easiest person to get along with, and that had a lot to do with his comings and goings in the cartooning world.
Again, neat blog!
Best, Allan Holtz
No way of knowing for sure, but these must be advertising samples. Maybe the agency put together a prmo brochure of it's artists and their style ranges. That would explain the wildly different styles.
Great blog, Bill! I have to plead ignorance on Wiseman's work, and must admit I thought you were pulling a Seth/Kalo on us. Thanks for the enlightenment!
-DJ Sloofus of the World Famous Comic Book Haters
Mike,
Good to hear from you again! I need to make it out to Long Island for a "Berndt Toast Gang" meeting sometime this Summer.
Allan,
Yes, from interviewing folks that knew him, it seems that Al had quite a strong personality that often rubbed people the wrong way. But I've talked to other people that loved the guy. Still need to get most of my interviews transcribed...
Bill- Great point! I'll quote you in my next post.
DJ Sloofus- Next time you go to one of your funnybook conventions, look for Wiseman 'Dennis' comics!
Hey Bill,
All I can say is WOW! Thanks to the link from the fine folks at Boing Boing that lead me here I now know more about one of my biggest influences in a few minutes than I've learned in the last ten years! Along with the also highly underated Bob Clarke ( Mad ) and the wonderful Elizabeth Brozowska Al Wiseman has had the strongest ( sometimes too strong ) impact on my work. I was steeped in his work through the Dennis digests as a kid but it wasn't until I rediscovered him a decade or so ago that I truely came to appreciate his talent.
Thanks so much for this effort. You have a new daily visitor. If there's any way can help with the project give me a shout!
Glen Mullaly
Yes, thanks to Boing Boing for the link. I think I actually had that Dennis Comic when I was a kid. Twisted me for sure. I knew that the comics were drawn by a different guy for sure than Ketcham, even at, what ten years old I could tell.
Nice stuff
doug rogers home.golden.net/~samu
Nice work. Looking forward the the scans, especially that Daniel Boone/frontiersman drawing.
Marble River
http://marbleriver.home.comcast.net/
Hi, Bill! Great blog!
I'm just guessing here, but sometimes, in order to save money on color separations, several peices of color art were "ganged up" (taped together) and shot as one big piece of color art. The color separations were then cut apart and used where needed.
Jim,
Hmmm... That makes sense. You could be right!
One thing though, would the board the artwork was taped to need to be flexible to scan?
This board was pretty inflexible...
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