Mystery Wiseman Art: Three Watercolors (Part 2)
Welcome to the Al Wiseman Blog, week three!
When we last met, I was somewhat flummoxed by the three Wiseman mystery paintings I had posted. Their very existence confused and confounded me. "Why were they created? Why were they taped together? What was the hidden agenda behind it all? Somebody help me!"
To bail me out of this existential crisis, multitalented cartoonist /fine artist Bill Wray suggested:
"No way of knowing for sure, but these must be advertising samples. Maybe the agency put together a promo brochure of it's artists and their style ranges. That would explain the wildly different styles."
You know, I think Bill's right. I now feel somewhat unflummoxed. Thanks Bill!
Oh, and the masking tape mostly wouldn't come off the art. I guess after some fifty-odd years of being attached to a few swell Wiseman paintings, the tape just didn't want to leave. And why would it?
The other day I heard from Al Wiseman's son Jim, who was kind enough to email me while vacationing in the Netherlands with his wife Teresa. Jim wrote:
"The blog looks great!
"The watercolor drawing of the pioneer and his horse, appears to be a scene of The Lone Cypress Tree in Pebble Beach. The background mountains are Carmel.
"As usual, something more I have not seen before. Cool.
Thank you so much for all your effort and work.
Jim"
Thank you, Jim! And I agree with Jim about the edge-of-the-cliff tree in this painting probably being inspired by The Lone Cypress Tree.
First, the painting:
Then, The Lone Cypress Tree:
According to a friendly travel site:
"The Lone Cypress tree 'is revered as the eternal symbol of the Pebble Beach Company'. Be that as it may, this around 250-year-old cypress tree, perched on its own on a rock, with the Pacific Ocean as backdrop, is an inspiring sight and the true highlight of the drive. It is followed by some ghost-like cypresses – trees with trunks bleached white from sea spray."
Well, that's all fine and dandy. But a thousand years from now, the only thing people will care about is that the tree may have inspired an Al Wiseman painting. You don't believe me? Just wait a thousand years and see.
I can't think of much else to add about the two pieces of art above. Other than I like how the hair is painted on the smoking man. The cigar, though, almost seems like it was put in as an afterthought. The way it follows the lip-line and all...
One last thing- does anyone know how to remove ancient tape residue?
Mystery Wiseman Art:
Three Watercolors (Part 1) (Part 2)
Eagle Drawing
When we last met, I was somewhat flummoxed by the three Wiseman mystery paintings I had posted. Their very existence confused and confounded me. "Why were they created? Why were they taped together? What was the hidden agenda behind it all? Somebody help me!"
To bail me out of this existential crisis, multitalented cartoonist /fine artist Bill Wray suggested:
"No way of knowing for sure, but these must be advertising samples. Maybe the agency put together a promo brochure of it's artists and their style ranges. That would explain the wildly different styles."
You know, I think Bill's right. I now feel somewhat unflummoxed. Thanks Bill!
Oh, and the masking tape mostly wouldn't come off the art. I guess after some fifty-odd years of being attached to a few swell Wiseman paintings, the tape just didn't want to leave. And why would it?
The other day I heard from Al Wiseman's son Jim, who was kind enough to email me while vacationing in the Netherlands with his wife Teresa. Jim wrote:
"The blog looks great!
"The watercolor drawing of the pioneer and his horse, appears to be a scene of The Lone Cypress Tree in Pebble Beach. The background mountains are Carmel.
"As usual, something more I have not seen before. Cool.
Thank you so much for all your effort and work.
Jim"
Thank you, Jim! And I agree with Jim about the edge-of-the-cliff tree in this painting probably being inspired by The Lone Cypress Tree.
First, the painting:
Then, The Lone Cypress Tree:
According to a friendly travel site:
"The Lone Cypress tree 'is revered as the eternal symbol of the Pebble Beach Company'. Be that as it may, this around 250-year-old cypress tree, perched on its own on a rock, with the Pacific Ocean as backdrop, is an inspiring sight and the true highlight of the drive. It is followed by some ghost-like cypresses – trees with trunks bleached white from sea spray."
Well, that's all fine and dandy. But a thousand years from now, the only thing people will care about is that the tree may have inspired an Al Wiseman painting. You don't believe me? Just wait a thousand years and see.
I can't think of much else to add about the two pieces of art above. Other than I like how the hair is painted on the smoking man. The cigar, though, almost seems like it was put in as an afterthought. The way it follows the lip-line and all...
One last thing- does anyone know how to remove ancient tape residue?
Mystery Wiseman Art:
Three Watercolors (Part 1) (Part 2)
Eagle Drawing
2 Comments:
Hi Bill,
Thanks for the closer look at these great AW illos. Original art is double the fun - you get the enjoyment of the work itself and also a glimpse into the method of the illustrator.
I'm sure the next respondent will have great system and a professional restorer would know what to do but I've found from having cleaned and restored hundreds of LP covers from the 50's that this type of masking tape residue is very difficult to remove. The different solvents I've tried often spread the staining further on porous papers. If the tape has dried sufficiently enough and the paper fairly strong I sometimes get a good result from carefully and gradually scraping the hardened residue with the flat edge of an X-Acto knife ( no. 11 blade ). Make sure to scrape only the dried tape gunk and not the paper itself. This can remove the tape but not any discoloration that's in the paper of course.
Hope this helps - Good Luck!
Glen
Thanks for the suggestion, Glen!
I'll give the X-Acto knife a try when I've got plenty of time to carefully scrape away.
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