Watercolored Krazy Kat Sunday Page May 18, 1919
Artist: George Herriman (All)
21 Comments - 3,644 Views - 2 Likes
Additional Images:
Larger Image
Published Version of Strip -- KK's were printed in B&W during this period
The Party of the Mice a few weeks later
Artwork Details
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DescriptionWhen Herriman watercolored this Krazy Kat original, he covered up some text that was written on the top tier, below the circles with Ignatz, to wit: ""IGNATZ MOUSE" BIBBLES A BIT - AND THEN ------" I wondered why he would use black ink instead of a transparent color, which would have allowed these words to still be seen. But then I looked at a reprint of the black and white original and saw that the circles were surrounded by grey in the printed version. The grey was printed through the use of half-tone, which Herriman used infrequently. When he did wish to indicate to the printers that he wanted half-tones, Herriman, like many other artists, would roughly scribble with blue, non-reproductive pencil, over the area that he wanted to be gray. This can be seen in my June 1919 Sunday, where Herriman wanted the backgrounds to be gray so that they would stand apart from the table, which he brilliantly used for the panel breaks. In any event, when he later decided to watercolor this original so that it could be given to a fellow cartoonist, he had to cover up this blue scribbling, which I assume could only be accomplished with black ink and the loss of some non-essential text.Although it may have been a bit hard to read in the rather small image I posted on this site several years ago (I am now adding a larger one), this strip was inscribed by Herriman to the wife of fellow-artist, Walter C. Hoban, to whom he gave the watercolored piece in 1919: "To Marie, with great love and affection, Geo. Herriman." This piece remained in the Hoban family until November 2004, when I purchased it at auction. I wanted to count the number of cats in the main panel, but I just couldn't keep track of which I had already counted. I finally drew a sketchy diagram of the panel so that I could actually write numbers on the drawing as I counted each figure. In a few cases it is a bit difficult to tell if pieces/limbs of cats belong to one or more kitties, but, as best as I could tell, there were 53 cats in that one panel. Krazy is the cat in the bottom right corner, wearing a red ribbon and playing a violin. This Sunday was described at some length in Gilbert Seldes' well-known, 1924 article about Herriman's art. "There exists a Sunday Krazy of this very scene-it is 1919, I think, and shows hundreds of Krazy Kats in a wild abandoned revel in the Katnip field-a rout, a bacchanale, a satyr-dance, an erotic festival, with our own Krazy playing the viola in the corner, and Ignatz, who has been drinking, going to sign the pledge." It seems that someone who had nothing better to do than to think up reasons to disparage important pieces of art owned by others once spread the word that this Krazy Kat was not watercolored by Herriman himself since (1) it is allegedly a Saturday page, one of the rare few, some or all of which MAY have been colored for publication by someone at King Features Syndicate and (2) it is supposedly not inscribed, while it seems to be universally true that all pages watercolored by Herriman himself were so inscribed. It's easy enough to verify that (1) this page appeared on Sunday, May 18, 1919, not on a Saturday, that (2) It is, in fact, inscribed in Herriman's own hand, as stated in the catalogue for the November 20, 2004 Illustration House sale at which it was sold for the first time since its creation and as can readily be seen in the illustrations in that catalogue, and (3) it came from another comic artist's estate, which is consistent with most such colored pages by Herriman, who typically gave them to friends and fellow-artists. One of the most unusual telephone conversations I have ever been a party to occurred immediately after I received the brochure from Illustration House (N.Y. auction house) that contained the first image I had ever seen of this colored Krazy Kat. At the time, Jack Gilbert in New York was probably the most prominent collector of Kats, so I called to see if he had seen this one in person yet. He said that he had, and I told him that I intended to buy it. I should have known better, given Jack's personality and his fondness for Herriman's work. Jack began to give me every reason that he apparently could think of why I shouldn't buy it -- that it had condition problems [not true], that Illustration House would have to be paid immediately [not true, thank goodness!], that it was going to be very expensive [true]. etc. I told him that I didn't care, that I was going to buy it no matter what it cost. Jack's only response, as he was hanging up the phone, was, "I don't want to talk anymore, click." I had already figured out from his negativity that Jack wanted to buy it himself, but I didn't expect him to simply stop dealing with the subject altogether when I wasn't showing any sign of discouragement. We both apparently knew each other well enough to understand the situation without further discussion. Social/Sharing |
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Comments on this Artwork
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Rob Pistella 
Member Since 2005
Forum Moderator
Posted on 5/25/2006
Incredible piece...congrats on a well thought out and outstanding collection!
Suat Tong Ng
Member Since 2009
Posted on 4/2/2009
One of the most beautiful Krazy Kat Sundays I've seen. A museum piece.
Francisco Lopez
Member Since 2009
Posted on 5/3/2009
One of the most desirables Kats I have seen ever. You are very lucky.
Mark Tomlinson
Member Since 2004
Posted on 9/23/2013
A stunning piece of art! It's great to see something as special and as rare as a Herriman watercolored Sunday. Thanks for sharing.
Joseph Vaughn
Member Since 2012
Posted on 11/14/2013
We can all use a roll in the catnip field from time to time! Very cool piece and a great backstory!
Chris K.
Member Since 2008
Posted on 3/25/2018
Almost ashamed I have not commented on such a beautiful piece of art! Just stunning...
Xavier .
Member Since 2010
Posted on 8/7/2019
Gorgeous! One of the best Krazy Kat pieces if not the best!
GAB R
Member Since 2007
Posted on 2/16/2021
Revisiting galleries. I missed this one. This is, trully, an incredible piece of art. The highlight of any comicart museum!. I,m awestruck. Would be great a better scan.
C E
Member Since 2006
Posted on 6/16/2021
Peter Sullivan wrote:
Please, please put up bigger images.
Try clicking on the additional image that is labeled "Larger Image."
Peter Sullivan
Member Since 2006
Posted on 6/16/2021
C E wrote:
Try clicking on the additional image that is labeled "Larger Image."
I did. Sadly, its tiny.
C E
Member Since 2006
Posted on 6/17/2021
Peter Sullivan wrote:
I did. Sadly, its tiny.
I don't understand why it isn't working for you. When I click on it, I get a very large image which almost fills my computer screen. I'm sorry, I just don't know enough about computers to offer any answers as to what you might be able to do to make the larger image work .
ilia georgiev
Member Since 2006
Posted on 6/25/2023
Breathless and captivating. Modem artists and colorists have a lot to learn from these classic Sunday artists. Brilliant and historical.
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