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Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750
CLARE A. BRIGGS (1875-1930) "The most ludicrous looking figure in the world." * "One of the saddest sights in the world." Together, two cartoons published in The New York Tribune, September 1, 1928 and January 8, 1916, respectively. The first is pen and ink over graphite on thick paper. 285x355 mm; 11 1/4x14 inches, on14x18-inch sheet. Signed "Briggs" and dated "Lido [19]28" in lower right image with N.Y. Tribune, Inc. copyright indication near lower right; titled at upper center. Framed. The second is pen and ink on thick paper mounted to board. 305x355 mm; 12x14 inches, mounted to 14 1/2x17-inch board. Signed "Briggs" in final panel at lower right, titled below, on board. See condition report. Matted and framed.
Provenance: From the collection of Dick McDonough.
"One of the saddest sights in the world" was subsequently reproduced with added color in Golf: The Book of a Thousand Chuckles, the Famous Golf Cartoons by Briggs (Chicago: P. F. Volland & Co., copyright 1916).
Briggs' 1916 book of golf cartoons generally focuses on the humorous blunders and embarrassments of the 'duffer,' but also gives a fascinating glimpse into daily life on the course in the early days of the nascent sport. Though he dedicated the book 'to the Scoffers, the Duffers, and the Golfer,' he speaks of his fondness for the 'duffer' in his introduction: 'I prefer the thoughts of a duffer, because I believe in my cartoons of him I can reach the majority who make up the golf world. I do not have to exaggerate, I do not have to imagine. One need only to observe and draw only the real happenings, repeat the actual sayings, and depict true expressions.'
Though he claimed to be a 'duffer,' Briggs was an avid golfer and often played at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, the first public course in the United States. He was also a founding member of the Wykagyl Country Club in Westchester County, New York.
