?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
STEVE MASTERS (aka MIKE MIKSCHE 1925-1964)
"Now Hear This" * Rock Climbers. Together, two original illustrations for unidentified publications. Mixed media and collage on paper, with graphite, wash, gouache, and printed papers. Titled work measures 415x273 mm; 16 1/2x10 3/4 inches on paper, tipped to 20x14 1/4-inch board. Signed "Masters `62" in lower right image and titled in lower margin. Second drawing (rock climbers) measures 350x455 mm; 13 3/4x18 inches. Unsigned. A copy of the book The Art of Steve Masters is included with the artwork. (8vo, illustrated stapled mint green wrappers, Np, circa 1970; two institutional copies recorded)
Miksche served as an Air Force flight captain before becoming a fashion illustrator. Under the pseudonym Steve Masters, he created erotic, mostly S&M-centric art. He was commissioned by the Kinsey Institute to appear in films demonstrating sadomasochistic sex acts, mainly with the tattoo artist and writer Samuel M. Steward. After a long battle with depression, he committed suicide in 1965. The bulk of his work is held by both the Kinsey Institute and the Leather Archives and Museum.
