Collections record Beta

Crayon and Ink Drawing - Dear Rufus

1973-19-15

Crayon and ink drawing showing an abstract matador. At center is a skeleton rendered in artist's crayon with a fairly undefined body, who appears to be holding a sword and a cloth done in red crayon. To the right of the cloth is a swath of green. Written across painting in blank ink, "Dear Rufus:/This to thank you for/that fine bull. Nothing could/give me more pleasure –/unless – perhaps – that/ you and I would/be guaranteed/the bull's power/to charge &/attack to the/bitter/end./Again/many Thanks/Bob Osborn." Framed under glass with simple wooden 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

ca. 1960

18" long x 15" wide

• ink
• crayon
• paper