Friday 22 October 2021

John Held Jr- part 6

John Held, Jr. (1889-1958) was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, was a cartoonist whose work epitomised the “jazz age” of the 1920s in the United States. At the age of 16 he was drawing sports and political cartoons for the Salt Lake Tribune, and at 19 he sold his first cartoon to a national magazine. Shortly afterward he moved to New York City, where he worked in the art department of a newspaper.

After service in the U.S. Navy during World War I, Held returned to New York City, where he gained fame and wealth for his drawings in the popular humour magazines Life, Judge, and College Humour. These drawings conveyed a spirit of the era comparable to that in the writings of F. Scott Fitzgerald. In particular, Held created such immortal characters as the short-skirted, short-haired “flapper,” who rolled her stockings and used a long cigarette holder, and her escort, who wore a raccoon coat, had patent-leather hair parted in the middle, smoked a pipe, and carried a hip flask. Held’s ability to point up the foibles of the time without sentimentality or bitterness made his cartoons notable. Also during the 1920s, he drew two comic strips: “Merely Margie, an Awfully Sweet Girl” and “Rah, Rah, Rosalie,” both of which ended with the Depression.

During the 1930s Held wrote novels and short stories and did sculpture and woodcuts. His woodcuts, often evoking the “Gay Nineties,” appeared in The New Yorker magazine. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps and was stationed in Belmar, N.J., where he made his home after the war. Held’s Angels (1952), illustrated by Held, with text by Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr., was a word and picture evocation of the 1920s.

For more information on John Held Jr. see part 1, and for earlier works see parts 1 - 5 also. 

This is part 6 of a 6-part series on the works of John Held Jr:

Hot Rhythm
pen and ink and gouache on board 26 x 36.2 cm

"I believe in myself. I’ve just lost faith in the world around me.”
pen and ink on board 24.5 x 34 cm

"It's all right, Santa - you can come in. My parents still believe in you"

Jazz Scene

Life Guard

Life magazine "Clean Number"
 watercolour and ink on board 41.3 x 33.6 cm

Life magazine
"Silly Geese"

Life magazine
"The Fellow Who Thought He'd Try His First Dive When No One Was Looking"

Detail

Detail

McClures August issue
ink and gouache on board 41.9 x 32.4 cm

Merry Christmas Happy New Year
woodcut

Midnight?

Northward
The New Haven R.R.
poster

Outside by Frank Flyn
sheet music cover

Paradise

Poor Parlor

She Left Home under a Cloud

Ship Bonetta Salem Departing from Leghorn
colour linocut 34.9 x 50.8 cm

Soldering the Bustle  & The Open Placket
wood engravings

South Bound

Speaking of Vacations "Why is that -"

Terra Cotta pitcher
29.8 cm high

Thanks For the Buggy Ride!
ink on board 24.8 x 35.6 cm

Detail

The Clown With A Broken Heart
wood engraving

The Days Beyond Recall Piercing The Ears
wood engraving

The Fatal Card
lino-cut
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC

The Fate Of The Cigarette Fiend
wood  engraving


The Fox Hunt, a Sport for Gentlemen
woodcut
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC 

( The Girl Said No )

The Long And The Short Of It

The Miser's Death
lino-cut
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC

The New York I Know by Karl K. Kitchen
gouache on board 25.4 x 37.5 cm

The Tennis Player
book illustration
pen on board

The Wife-Beaters Grave
lino-cut
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC

They are the Aristocrats...
ink on illustration board 17.8 x 30.5 cm

"They Want To Fix Your Tie"

To Lee from John Held
pen and ink on paper 25.4 x 36.8 cm

Untitled (Boys smoking)
pencil, ink and gouache 20.9 x 24.2 cm

Untitled

Untitled (Two couples)
pencil, ink and gouache 24.2 x 35.6 cm

Untitled (Ford T Model Car)
pencil, ink and gouache 24.2 x 35.6 cm

Untitled (Couple on a Couch)
pencil, ink and gouache 24.2 x 35.6 cm

"Waiting for the Kick-off"

We Can Be Young Only Once
Cosmopolitan magazine

With Best Wishes for a Merry Christmas
woodcut

1986 Smithsonian magazine
September issue on John Held Jr

2001 First Day Postage Cover
"Life Cover 1926"


Wednesday 20 October 2021

John Held Jr. - part 5



John Held, Jr. (1889-1958) was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, was a cartoonist whose work epitomised the “jazz age” of the 1920s in the United States. At the age of 16 he was drawing sports and political cartoons for the Salt Lake Tribune, and at 19 he sold his first cartoon to a national magazine. Shortly afterward he moved to New York City, where he worked in the art department of a newspaper.

After service in the U.S. Navy during World War I, Held returned to New York City, where he gained fame and wealth for his drawings in the popular humour magazines Life, Judge, and College Humour. These drawings conveyed a spirit of the era comparable to that in the writings of F. Scott Fitzgerald. In particular, Held created such immortal characters as the short-skirted, short-haired “flapper,” who rolled her stockings and used a long cigarette holder, and her escort, who wore a raccoon coat, had patent-leather hair parted in the middle, smoked a pipe, and carried a hip flask. Held’s ability to point up the foibles of the time without sentimentality or bitterness made his cartoons notable. Also during the 1920s, he drew two comic strips: “Merely Margie, an Awfully Sweet Girl” and “Rah, Rah, Rosalie,” both of which ended with the Depression.

During the 1930s Held wrote novels and short stories and did sculpture and woodcuts. His woodcuts, often evoking the “Gay Nineties,” appeared in The New Yorker magazine. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps and was stationed in Belmar, N.J., where he made his home after the war. Held’s Angels (1952), illustrated by Held, with text by Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr., was a word and picture evocation of the 1920s.

For more information on John Held Jr. see part 1, and for earlier works see parts 1 - 4 also. 

This is part 5 of a 6-part series on the works of John Held Jr:

1931 Ginning the Bar
ink on paper 20.3 x 17.1 cm

1931 Gosh She's Got a Hotline

1931 Dumb Bunny

1931 Five Minutes More

1931 Flying High Liberty

1931 How Many Carbons Sir?

1931 In the Air for Hours

1932 New York New Haven and Hartford railway
"Speaking of Food"

1931 The Works of John Held Jr
published by Ives Washburn

1931 The Shaving of the Neck
 The New Yorker
wood engraving

1931 The Flesh is Weak
pen and ink

1931 Meet Me at the Corner

1931 Liberty magazine December 12
Civilization's Progress 

1931 Lac St Jean
watercolour


1932-36 Manhatten Skyline watercolours:

1930s Manhattan Skyline
watercolour

1934 Manhattan Skyline
watercolour

1934 Manhattan Skyline
watercolour

1934 Manhatten Skyline
watercolour

1934 Midtown Manhattan, Winter Morning
watercolour on board 33 x 49.5 cm

c1934 Manhattan Skyline
watercolour 35.4 x 50.6 cm
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA


1936 Manhattan Skyline
watercolour

1936 Midtown Morning
watercolour

1936 Manhattan Skyline
watercolour

1936 Manhattan Skyline
watercolour

1936 Manhattan Skyline
watercolour

R.C.A. Building in Silhouette
gouache on paper 58.4 x 25.4 cm

c1932 High Ball Glass
"Down the Hatch"
16.5 cm high

c1932 High Ball Glasses
"Sweet Music, High-di-High!, Ally-Oop!"
16.5 cm high

1933 Life Savers advertisement

1933 Life Savers advetisement

1933 The Zenith of Refined Elegance
The Moustache Cup
wood engraving

1933 When Fashion was Fraught with Romance
The Horrible Skirt
wood engraving

c1934 The Enchanted Isle
The New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Co.
poster

1935 Ye Old Mixer-Upper
Olde Wood-cur Recipes by John Held Jr
published by Hillcrest Distilling Company, Inc.

1936 Boy Meets Girl
Theatre Poster

1938 Schoolhouse on the Lot
Theatre poster

1938 Schoolhouse on the Lot
Theatre poster

1938 The Sunset

1938 Room Service
Theatre Poster

1940 Magnolia

1940 Old Schuyler Farm

1941 Day Lilies

1944 Life magazine
August 23

1947 Life magazine March 3 issue
The Petting Green

Note: Dates were not found for the remainder of this series on the works of John Held Jr.

A few remarks on the staging of a Revue

A Receipt for Love
ink and watercolour on board 224.8 x 24.2 cm

A Scene from the Sentimental Past
wood engraving

Actors on a Movie Set
McClure's magazine illustration
ink on paper 25.4 x 36.8 cm

Along the Line
ink on paper 23.5 x 30.5 cm

An Outline of Love

Beauty Contest

Best wishes for a Merry Christmas
woodcut or linocut

Branding Iron
ink and watercolour over graphite on off-white Bristol board 25.4 x 27.9 cm

Buy H.O.
advertisement
ink on paper 21.6 x 30.5 cm

Christmas Greetings
woodcut or linocut

Conversation between a seated man and woman
ink on board 20.3 x 34.3 cm

Cop
watercolour and ink on board 20.3 x 15.2 cm

Drummer

Dude Ranch
ink, graphite and red and black watercolour 32.1 x 26.9 cm

Dumb Animals

Dutton's Au Revoir Boxes advertisement artwork
ink on board 17.8 x 27.9 cm

Flappers
pen, ink and watercolour on board 25.4 x 33.1 cm

"JE" Cowboy
ink on heavy card stock 31.7 x 33.6 cm

Ginning the Bar
ink on paper 20.3 x 17.1 cm

Hold 'em