Edna Eicke (1919-1979)
Selling Real Estate by the Beach
signed 'Edna Eicke' (lower right)
gouache on board
21 x 14 5/8in (53.3 x 37.2cm)
Executed circa 1946-49.

Footnotes:

Provenance
The artist.
Acquired by the late owners from the above.

Literature
The New Yorker, April 2, 1949, front cover illustration.
J. Updike, The Complete Book of Covers from The New Yorker: 1925–1989, New York, 1989, p. 147, illustrated.

Edna Eicke was one of America's premier illustrators working in New York during the 20th century who produced illustrations for Vogue, Home and Garden, Mademoiselle, Women's Day and many other leading publications of the time. Eicke is best remembered for her noteworthy inside illustrations and distinctively charming covers, including the present work that she began producing for The New Yorker in 1945. Nearly all of her cover illustrations are inspired by her own childhood, family, and life in New York City. The present work depicting a real estate agent showing a home on the shore to prospective summer tenants on a stormy day was illustrated on the cover of the April 2, 1949 issue of The New Yorker. Eicke painted 51 covers for The New Yorker by 1961, when she left her assignment with the magazine to become a children's books illustrator.