CE -- A lifetime of collecting comic related material :: Aldridge, Alan

The Grasshopper from Alan Aldridge's Book, The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast

Artist: Alan Aldridge (All)

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The Grasshopper from Alan Aldridge's Book, The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast Comic Art

Additional Images:

Original Published Book Cover

Cover of The Butterfly The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast

Artwork Details

Title:	The Grasshopper from Alan Aldridge's Book, The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast
Artist:	Alan Aldridge (All)
Media Type:	Paint - Acrylic
Art Type:	Illustration
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	725
Likes on CAF:	0 1
Comments:	0
Added to Site:	4/3/2019
Comic Art Archive:

Description

I was a bit hesitant to post this non-comic original on this site, but then I realized that this famous English illustrator did, in fact, have a strong connection to comic art -- Alan Aldridge wrote one of the the first books on comic books, The Penguin Book of Comics. I still have my first edition copy which I bought new in c. 1967.

My history with Alan Aldridge's original art is rather unusual. I had admired his airbrush work since he did the cover for Elton John's 1974 Captain Fantastic album, but I had never seen one of Aldridge's actual paintings until 1987, when a friend of mine bought the original art for that album cover. It turned out that Aldridge had left London and had moved to the San Fernando Valley in California, brining his original paintings with him. My friend set up a meeting, and I spent a few hours one evening with Aldridge and his wife, going through his artwork that was available for purchase. We got along very well, in part due to our mutual interest in English watercolors. Aldridge was a good salesman; I was drawn in with his tales about his selling particular pieces to Roger Daltry of The Who and to the actress, Mia Farrow. There was some sense of urgency to purchase one of the remaining works that he was selling because, due to his deteriorated vision, he was no longer able to create more paintings. I really did like one particular painting, and, even though I had a planned vacation to England scheduled to begin the following day and knew that I shouldn't be blowing needed funds at that moment, I gave the artist a $2,500 cash deposit on that painting, Tree Spirits (1977).

When I returned from Europe that summer, I was really strapped for money, and I didn't rush over to pay Aldridge the balance due on the painting. When I was ready to see him, another friend of mine told me that he had moved and that he didn't know how to reach him. The next thing I heard was that he had had a fire at his home and that most of his originals had gone up in flames, including the one on which I had left the deposit! And that was the last I ever heard of Alan Aldridge....until a couple of years ago.

It turned out that the London watercolor dealer who I had known since 1986, who I had discussed Aldridge with when I got to England in the summer of 1987, and who I now knew very well, had purchased an Aldridge original at a Heritage auction and still had it available for purchase. At the time my dealer friend and I were having a disagreement over what I should have paid for a different work of art, and I told him that I would be satisfied if he just gave me the Aldridge painting to resolve the issue...and HE DID! This painting was certainly worth more than my long lost down payment on the destroyed painting. And the artwork itself was more important -- a title character from one of Aldridge's most important books, and a larger painting as well. The fact that it depicts a grasshopper with whom I share a profession made it a near-perfect substitute for the painting I had originally expected to be the representation of Aldridge's great work in my collection.

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	C E
Joined:	April 2006
Last Login:	August 2025
Country:	UNITED STATES
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