Original Ink Drawings, One-Panel Cartoon Puns on Dutch Street Names
Paperback
mid-20th century · Amsterdam
by [original drawings]
Amsterdam, mid-20th century. Paperback. Near Fine. Wraps, "AMSTERDAM" painted in gold on front cover; oblong, 345x258mm; contains 10 drawings pencil and ink drawings on white paper (avg. size 215x150mm), tipped onto the recto only of black cardstock leaves, with a pun handwritten in gold ink in the bottom margin; the final drawing ("Mengelberg," showing a trio of black jazz musicians, see below) hand-painted in gouache. Covers a little wrinkled and torn along yapp edges, otherwise fine.
An odd one -- this volume of adept drawings shows, for example, a male and female cow dressed in high style, walking (on two legs) past a row of shops, captioned "Kalverstraat" (Calf Street); tiny people walking between two rows of drug mortars, "Vÿzelstraat" (Vessel Street); ocean waves hitting a dike, "Zeedyk" (Dike Street); a male back-side, "Heerengracht" (Gentleman's Ditch); a male back-side with a crown tattooed on the lower back, "Keizersgracht" (Emperor's Ditch); and others. The final image, richly painted in red and black, et al, refers to Willem Mengelberg, the conductor of the Amsterdam Concertebow Orchestra from 1895-1945. He lost his job in 1945 due to his collaboration with the Germans during WWII. (Inventory #: LD12916)
An odd one -- this volume of adept drawings shows, for example, a male and female cow dressed in high style, walking (on two legs) past a row of shops, captioned "Kalverstraat" (Calf Street); tiny people walking between two rows of drug mortars, "Vÿzelstraat" (Vessel Street); ocean waves hitting a dike, "Zeedyk" (Dike Street); a male back-side, "Heerengracht" (Gentleman's Ditch); a male back-side with a crown tattooed on the lower back, "Keizersgracht" (Emperor's Ditch); and others. The final image, richly painted in red and black, et al, refers to Willem Mengelberg, the conductor of the Amsterdam Concertebow Orchestra from 1895-1945. He lost his job in 1945 due to his collaboration with the Germans during WWII. (Inventory #: LD12916)