Jan 23, 2014 - Sale 2337

Sale 2337 - Lot 85

Price Realized: $ 10,000
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 10,000 - $ 15,000
MAX GINSBURG.
"A Separate Peace." Oil on canvas. 1016x610mm; 40x24 inches. Signed lower left. Original cover art for the 1982 Bantam Books edition of John Knowles's A Separate Peace. New York, 1981-82.
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the original artwork for the bestselling edition of knowles's iconic coming-of-age novel read by millions of American high school students. The story of the strained friendship and tragic event between two private school boys just as the country descends into World War II poignantly captured the emotions and maturity of young adults. No edition of the book is more etched in most people's memories as that bearing Ginsburg's haunting image of main character, Gene, standing within an arch near a bare tree by the river's edge that holds ghostly figures of his and Phineas's earlier, innocent selves climbing and jumping into the water, while their boarding school, Devon, glows in autumnal glory in the background.
Time Entertainment listed A Separate Peace in their top 10 classic texts that dominated high school reading lists for decades. Ginsburg used his son's friend as a model for both boys, then also a boarding school student and the same age as the characters.