Swann: Charles Addams Original Cartoon Up for Auction

The original art for this Charles Addams cartoon, which first appeared in The New Yorker in 1973, is up for auction at Swann. It's estimated to go for $12,000 - $18,000. The piece, like most of Addams' originals, is rather large, at 20 x 13 1/2 inches

Sheila Gibson Stoodley, author of The Hot Bid, talks with Swann Illustration Art Director, Christine von der Linn in this excerpt from their blog page:

How did this Addams Poe cartoon come about? I understand the joke was not Charles Addams’s idea—someone else came up with it, and he was asked to illustrate it?

Nevermore was, in fact, the first idea that cartoonist Jack Ziegler sold to The New Yorker. At that time, The New Yorker had mostly phased out the editorial practice of having staff cartoonists illustrate caption and concept submissions by other contributors, but it still occurred sometimes. Cartoon editor James Geraghty brilliantly tasked Addams with this one. It was only later that year, when Lee Lorenz joined The New Yorker and invited Ziegler to contribute his own work, that he became a regular cartoonist.

The Swann illustration art auction closes on December 10. 

A big thanks for D.D. Degg for the heads up!