Five original drawings.

Steig, William

Steig, William (illus.)

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(1957-1959). Pen and ink on paper of varying sizes and finishes. All are signed by the artist, William Steig. These drawings were produced for an advertising campaign for the Butcher Polish Company of Marlborough, Massachusetts, which saw itself leading its market during this period. Steig's drawings feature various faces wearing a panorama of expressions, from despair to hope. One shows a man wearing a polka-dotted bow tie and a halo, with his hand raised in benediction, and another depicts a kerchiefed woman smiling and looking into her open purse. Steig, best known for his illustrated children's books and New Yorker cartoons, began working in advertising after the success of his book, The Lonely People, in 1942. The drawings bear labels on the reverse from N. W. Ayer and Son in Philadelphia, the first advertising agency in the United States. All but one of the drawings are mounted on board. One of the drawings is marked in the margins with measurements and notes in pencil from the layout process, and another is marked on the mat. All are fine. (Item ID: 21150)