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Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
HARRY BUSH (1925-1994)
Original pencil sketch of two male faces.
Sketch and notations on a single sheet of sketchbook paper. 14x11 inches (35.5x28 cm.), sheet, bound into pad. Undated, but likely circa 1980s.[San Francisco]: Green Candy Press, 2007
Bush retired from a military career, after which he became a popular illustrator of beefcake, having been discovered and promoted by publisher Bob Mizer. Always fearing being outed to family and losing his pension, the manic-depressive Bush destroyed much of his own original work, making this sketch a rare find. He was famously never satisfied with the quality of reproduction of his work and the goal of this posthumous anthology was to faithfully reproduce his pencil work. These drawings are relevant to this concern as Bush was testing out a new sketch paper. He commented in the margins: "And for `rubbers' and `smudgers' - I don't rub or smudge a drawing." "Scribble!! Too Black!!" and "This paper is frightful! This is 'HB' pencil and it's black as shit. The paper is also made for virtuoso artists who don't erase." with--a first trade edition of Hard Boys, edited by Robert Mainardi. Illustrated with reproductions of Bush's sketchbook and published drawings. 4to, boards; dust jacket. [San Francisco]: Green Candy Press, 2007.
