Dec 14, 2017 - Sale 2465

Sale 2465 - Lot 244

Price Realized: $ 5,250
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 5,000
ELMER SIMMS CAMPBELL.
"New York World's Fair 1939." Illustrated map humorously displaying the attractions of the `39 World's Fair. Watercolor and ink on board. 483x635 mm; 19 1/2x25 inches. Signed in lower right corner. Some visible dampstaining to lower sides and bottom 3 inches of image.
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Additional Details

A fabulous detailed comic map of the 1939 New York World's Fair by the famed African-American illustrator. The satirical takes on modern art and technology, the international displays, entertainments, and spectacles are accompanied by humorous captions and quotes from the characters depicted. The style is similar to his map of Harlem which appeared as the centerfold of Volume 1, Number 1 of the 1932 Manhattan Magazine and which sold in the showroom of Swann Galleries on May 31, 2016 for a record $100,000.

Campbell (1906-1971) started drawing regularly for Esquire in 1933, and was the magazine's resident illustrator until the end of the 1950s, becoming famous for drawings that often featured pin-up women--his "Harem Girls"--and that had a satirical take on upper-crust culture. He was the creator of Esquire's mustached, bug-eyed mascot Esky, and of the Cuties comic strip series, which went into national distribution. Crossing color lines, Campbell became the first African-American illustrator to be syndicated and whose work was featured regularly in national periodicals. He was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 2002.