Duck Decoys: Goldeneyes, Canvasbacks, Broadbills, Redheads.
N.p: n.d. [ca. late 1940s].
Published in Duck Decoys by Eugene V. Connett 3rd (1953) at pp. 1, 7. Two large watercolor drawings on artist's board, each showing the design of 4 duck decoys, with top and side views, for a total of 8 figures per watercolor, or 16 figures in all. 2 vols. Each about 14-3/4 x 13 inches. Matted, framed and glazed Provenance: Eugene V. Connett, 3rd; his son, Eugene V. Connett IV. Item #242611
Edgar Burke, MD (1889-1950) successfully combined the vocation of medicine (he was a member of the American College of Physicians and Surgeons) and the avocation of sport. He was an enthusiastic wildfowler and upland gunner, an expert angler and fly tier (he designed the flies "Doctor Burke" and "Family Secret") and was interested in pigeon racing and cock fighting (it was he, in the Jersey City cock-fights of the 1930s, who sewed up the wounds of the injured birds). He was also a celebrated sporting artist, illustrating two Derrydale Press classics, Feathered Game (1929) and Upland Game Bird Shooting in America (1930), and producing front cover vignettes for seven more, including Grouse Feathers, and De Shootinest Gent'man. He was, notes Siegel, a childhood companion and lifetime friend of Derrydale proprietor Eugene Connett.
These paintings, undated, are emblematic of Burke's work at its finest. They were published as the black and white illustrations for Connett's Duck Decoys. How to Make Them, How to Paint Them, How to Rig Them (Van Nostrand, 1953).
Price: $2,750.00 Free International Delivery
