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Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
MAGINEL WRIGHT ENRIGHT BARNEY (1877-1976) "Sunday by Charley Hanson Towne."
Two illustrations flanking the manuscript poem "Sunday" by poet Towne, circa 1920. Gouache on stiff paper. 254x360 mm; 10x14 1/4 inches. Signed "Maginel Wright Enright" along lower right edge of illustration at right. Author's signature and address penciled on verso. Accompanying the artwork is the original frame backing paper containing faint inscription and extensive notes by Towne's sister indicating that he gifted it to her.
Barney (1881-1966) was the sister of architect Frank Lloyd Wright and the illustrator of several children's books, including those of L. Frank Baum, as well as cover designs and illustrations for numerous magazines throughout the 1920s-40s. She was successful and creative from an early age; during the depression and subsequent years, she expanded her repertoire into landscapes, needlepoint tapestry, and even fashion shoe designing. "She was largely responsible for revolutionizing the quality of illustration in children's readers"--Walter Reed, "The Illustrator in America 1860-2000," page 165.
Towne was a prolific and successful writer and editor in his day, at the helm of such major publications as The Smart Set and Harper's Bazaar. In his later years, Towne taught at Columbia University and influenced a new generation of writers and poets including Catcher in the Rye author J. D. Salinger.
