Jul 16, 2020 - Sale 2541

Sale 2541 - Lot 213

Price Realized: $ 2,125
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
GEORGE BOOTH.
Bite the Bullet. Final cover of The New Yorker, published April 19, 1993, made up of layered pieces of a cut-out drawing, painted background, and two acetate transparencies. Accompanied by five extraneous working variants. Ten components total. New Yorker copyright label on verso of final submission. Mixed media, including watercolor, pen and ink on paper cut-out affixed to acetate sheet with header overlay in tempera. Final sheet measures 356x280 mm;14x11 inches. taped to larger mount. Collage pieces and variant backgrounds vary in measurement.

Much like the characteristic detail-packed interiors of his cartoons, this multifaceted, layered New Yorker cover offers a rare and unusual look into Booth's creative process. A series of trial colors, overlays, and transparencies allowed him to play with perspective and color combinations until the final elements were chosen.