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George E. Hughes

1907-1990

"Screaming Child On Santa's Knee," 1958

Oil on canvas
Signed lower left: Hughes, titled on the "Saturday Evening Post" publication order document attached to the frame's backing board.
25" H x 23.25" W

  • Literature: "The Saturday Evening Post," December 6, 1958, cover illustration. Cohn, Jan, "Covers of the Saturday Evening Post: Seventy Years of Outstanding Illustration from America's Favorite Magazine," New York, 1995, p. 254, illustrated.
  • Notes: A "Saturday Evening Post" publication order document is housed in a plastic sleeve taped to the frame's backing foam board. This lot is sold together with a cover from one of the original December 6, 1958 issues of "The Saturday Evening Post" for which it was done. Born in New York City in 1907, George Hughes grew up in the epicenter of twentieth century art and advertising. He stayed in the city until adulthood, skipping college to attend the Art Students League. After his time at the League, Hughes entered the National Academy of Design, were he developed and expanded his skills as an artist. After finishing his education, Hughes worked on freelance illustrations for popular magazines such as Vanity Fair and House and Garden. In 1936 Hughes turned from fashion illustration in magazines to automobiles, moving  him away from New York and on to Detroit, the car capital of the US. Instead of painterly illustrations, Hughes worked on design industrial drafts and worked steadily as a mechanical designer, though he began to loath the work. Hughes returned to New York City soon after moving to Detroit. In 1942, Saturday Evening Post art director Ken Stuart discovered Hughes' work, and hired the artist to design illustrations for pieces of fiction in the magazine. Hughes was then commissioned by the Post to create a series of WWII portraits of American generals. The series was a hit and brought Hughes national fame. The Saturday Evening Post continued to commission Hughes for work, eventually including numerous covers. Hughes created 115 covers for The Saturday Evening Post, along with illustrations for McCall's, Woman's Day, American Magazine, Reader's Digest, Good Housekeeping. This lot is one of the original paintings for the cover of The Saturday Evening Post. Hughes' work has been referred to as "sitcom" covers: humorous or comical scenes that reveal their stories the longer viewers look at them. Hughes' masterful illustrations not only caught the audience's attention, but they stood out from the normal vignettes that graced the covers of the Post. Hughes' paintings were so popular that his work transcended the rise of photography in magazine illustration. As illustrations in magazines waned after WWII, Hughes continued to receive commissions into the 1970s, his last Post cover in 1971.  When commissions for illustrations dried out, Hughes, a household name across the United States, turned to portraiture until his death in 1990. Hughes' work can be compared to such luminary artists such as Norman Rockwell, James Montgomery Flagg, Mead Schaeffer, Anton Otto Fischer, NC Wyeth, Kurt Ard, Maxfield Parrish, Saul Tepper, Joseph Christian Leyendecker, and Coles Phillips. Hughes' works can be found in prominent collections in the U.S. and abroad including the National Museum of American Illustration, the British Museum, and the National Portrait Gallery.
  • Condition: Visual: Overall generally good condition. Some small, occasional, scattered areas of fine, stable craquelure throughout, with showing primarily in the upper right corner. Some light grime and varnish discoloration showing along the lower edge. An approximately 3" crescent crease in the canvas in the lower center, to the right of Santa's boots. A small line of pinhead-sized spots of pigment loss in the lower right quadrant in the red pigment of the little girl's stockings. Blacklight: No evidence of restoration. Frame: 31" H x 29.75" W x 2.5" D

    Condition reports are offered as a courtesy and are typically published in Moran's catalogue or can be made available upon request. The absence of a condition report does not imply that an item is free from defects or restoration, nor does a reference to particular defects imply the absence of others. Buyers are responsible for determining to their own satisfaction the true nature and condition of any lot prior to bidding. Though buyers are not legally required to inspect lots prior to purchase, failure to do so may constitute a waiver of complaint that an item was not delivered in a condition equal to the existent condition at the auction.

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Modern & Contemporary Fine Art
November 19, 2024 12:00 PM PST
Monrovia, CA, US

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