BETTINA STEINKE (et al) (1913 1999) Group of Autographed Pos

Sale 2574 - Lot 144

Price Realized: $ 5,200

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 5,000 - $ 7,500

BETTINA STEINKE (et al) (1913-1999)
Group of Autographed Posters for the Circus, Saints, and Sinners Club. Together, group of 28 posters for the charitable organization featuring a central portrait signed by the subject, surrounded by the signatures of attendees who included notable artists, illustrators, cartoonists, actors, celebrities, athletes, and politicians of the day. Charcoal on board. 760x560 mm; 30x22 inches. Signed mainly by "Bettina Steinke" with a few sheets illustrated by other unidentified artists. "Circus Saints & Sinners Club of America - Hotel Waldorf Astoria - Nov. 25, 1942" written along lower edge. Portraits of honored attendees include James Montgomery Flagg, Rube Goldberg, Robert Ripley, athlete Glenn Cunningham, Winthrop Rockefeller, Mayor Jimmy Walker, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, Herbert Bayard Swope, Jesse Jones, Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson, Christopher Morley, Jean Hersholt, and many others.

A wonderful group of illustrated posters from the early meetings of the charitable association founded in 1926 and still active today. The group's name serves as a metaphor, with the members, due to their human imperfections, representing "sinners," who strive to be "saints" of mercy by helping those in need. The club's origins date back to 1926 when a small group of circus enthusiasts in New York City founded the Circus Fans Association of America, providing aid to retired circus performers in need of financial assistance. In 1929, several members resigned and formed the Circus Saints and Sinners Club of America. Over the decades, they have evolved into a modern, nonprofit philanthropic organization.

Steinke was an accomplished American painter, portraitist, illustrator, graphic designer and muralist. Early in her career, she worked for the National Broadcasting Company where she painted portraits of the NBC Orchestra including Arturo Toscanini and Ignace Paderewski, now both in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.. During World War II, she worked for the U.S. War Department, painting the portraits of major American figures such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Generals Henry "Hap" Arnold and Douglas MacArthur. She was given the John Singer Sargent Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Society of Portrait Artists and honored by the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum for her work featuring American Indians and the West to which she devoted the later decades of her life.

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