“This Day in History — Orpheus Invents the Recital, February, 10, 5287 B.C.”.
[New York]: 1929.
Price: $7,500.00
About the item
Watercolor illustration on board, signed “Rea Irvin” (lower left). 13 x 10 in. Framed and matted. Literature: “Musical America,” (February 10, 1929).
Item #237262
Irvin (1881-1972) was the first art editor of the New Yorker magazine and created its first cover — featuring the magazine's mascot Eustace Tilly — and many others. Most of his original art was donated to institutions and rarely comes on the market.
“The invaluable Irvin, artist, ex-actor, wit, and sophisticate about town and country, did more to develop the style and excellence of The New Yorker’s drawings and covers than anyone else, and was the main and shining reason that the magazine’s comic art in the first two years was far superior to its humorous prose” — James Thurber.
