Collections record Beta

Crayon Drawing - "The Complacent (Clowns!)"

1973-10-0

Crayon on paper drawing of a vague human shape with arms across belly. Rendered in black artist's crayon with small areas of blue and orange around the head. Signed on reverse in ink, "R.O./1970" with title, "The Complacent/(Clowns!)" and note, "Cleve sell for any price so that Joe D. gets it. If you (the buyer) have bought this drop me a line so that I know where this picture (I like) ends up. Forward! R. Osborn Salisbury, Conn." Framed under glass in simple wood frame.

After graduating from Yale, Robert Osborn studied painting in Rome and Paris before returning to Connecticut to teach art and philosophy at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville. He developed his distinct illustration style while drawing Navy training manuals during World War II, most of which featured a character named Dilbert whose blunders illustrated improper safety procedures. After the war, Osborn’s satirical cartoons appeared regularly in magazines such as The New Republic, Life, and Esquire. He also wrote and illustrated books on topics ranging from fishing and hunting to war and social issues. Between 1947 and 1994, illustrator Robert Chesley Osborn lived with his wife in Salisbury, Connecticut. Among his close friends were Rufus and Leslie Stillman of Litchfield.

• Osborn, Robert Chesley, 1904-1994

1970

24 1/2" x 19 1/2" (framed)

• paper
• charcoal