John Pughe Railroad Beef Trust Insurance Graft Puck Magazine 1907 Weak Winkle Uncle Sam Respectable Crook Subsidized Press Stunning Art Institute Chicago Exhibited “The Return of Rip Van Winkle” Editorial Original Political Illustration Cartoon Newspaper Pen and Ink Drawing

Description:
John Pughe Railroad Beef Trust Insurance Graft Puck 1907 Weak Winkle Uncle Sam Respectable Crook Subsidized Press Stunning Art Institute Chicago Exhibited “The Return of Rip Van Winkle” Editorial Original Political Illustration Cartoon Newspaper Pen and Ink Drawing from the Prestigious Charles L. Howard Collection

John Pughe (1870-1909) was a cartoonist who did work for Puck and Judge Magazines. Titled “The Return of Rip Van Winkle” we believe this is one of the finest in the collection with a multi-tiered look at the, Jolly Grafter’s Inn. Men labeled “ Beef Trust, Railroad Merger, Oil Trust, Coal Trust, and Insurance Grafter” drink “Legal Aid” and “Graft Ale” and smoke while a weak looking depiction of Rip Van Winkle labeled “The Law” looks on. Rip Van Winkle is a story of a man who goes for a walk to escape his wife's nagging and falls asleep. He wakes up and returns 20 years later after The American Revolutionary War has occured. The man in this illustration shows some likeness to Uncle Sam. Signed lower right J.S. Pughe with with Charles L. Howard Label which has become unglued from the matt. Exhibition labels verso: Art Institute Chicago 1939.

Winning bidder will receive a Certificate of Authenticity with the drawing.

Approx. Dimensions or Size: 15.5x26 inches image site, 30x40 inches overall

Hess Fine Auctions Shipping: Due to the size, to have illustration shipped with mat board an out sourced shipper must be used.
To ship IN House, without mat board (matt label will be retained, if applicable):
USA $47.00E-mail for international shipping quote.

Estimated Weight of Package: 11 lbs.

Package size: 32 x 32 x 2

Cons./Inv. Code: The present lot is inventory number Clh 587 in the Charles L. Howard Collection, one of two hundred lots that will be continuously added to this online catalogue on a daily basis between today and the day of sale. The first 100 to 125 lots will be Important Original Illustration Art and the second 100 to 125 lots are comprised of Original Railroad Art. Please check our listings regularly during the coming days for many exciting discoveries.
Low & High Ests: 700 /900 Starting Bid: 150

The state of preservation of these original illustration drawings that are on average over 65 years old is quite exceptional. Very, very few have any creases, tears or losses to the paper and the ink has remained uniformly vivid thanks to the family’s dry flat storage. Given that these were working drawings from which prints were made the expected edge annotations, highlighting, inscriptions, pasted labels, tack holes, staples, glue residues and scattered corrections can be found variously on the examples as illustrated in the photographs. These all add to the authenticity and immediacy of the Wartime newsroom and pressroom atmosphere, serving to reinforce the iconic status of these rare surviving testimonies to the political illustrator’s art. In a few examples additional notations have been made in the description section of the catalogue text for significant damage, however the condition sensitive collector is encouraged to contact our sale expert for additional lot details in advance of the auction date.