Collections record Beta

Crayon and Pencil Drawing

1973-19-16

Crayon and pencil drawing of an abstract figure, rendered in black artist's crayon on paper. Seated figure done in cartoon style with stringy hair falling over its eyes, holding a champagne glass in left hand. Pencil marks in torso give the impression that the figure is full of liquid and has bubbles rising out of its head, mirroring the liquid in the champagne glass. Signed in lower-left, "R. Osborn." 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

c.1960

9 1/4" wide x 11 3/4" long

• pencil
• crayon
• paper