Ink on paper, framed. Featuring a comic sketch. Signed ERNIE BUSHMILLER and inscribed JAN-1- on the lower left corner. Inscribed 1930 in pencil on lower right corner, verso. Attributed to Ernest Paul Bushmiller Jr. (1905-1982, American). 12 x 16.5 cm (4.7 x 6.5 inches). Frame size: 29 x 33.5 cm (11.4 x 13.2 inches). PROVENANCE: Southern Ontario estate

Ernest Paul "Ernie" Bushmiller, Jr. (1905-1982) was an American cartoonist, best known for creating the daily comic strip Nancy. Born in the South Bronx, New York, Bushmiller was the son of immigrant parents, Ernest George Bushmiller and Elizabeth Hall. His father was an artist, vaudevillian and bartender. Bushmiller quit school at 14 to work as a copy boy at the New York World newspaper, while attending evening art classes at the National Academy of Design. He ran errands for the staff cartoonists and was given occasional illustration assignments, including a Sunday feature by Harry Houdini.

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American, 19th century : This work was executed by an unknown hand, and can only be identified by origin (i.e., region, period).