Collections record Beta

Collection Record Detail

Object Name

Crayon and Ink Drawing - Dear Leslie

Object Number

1973-19-18

Description

Crayon and ink drawing of an abstract face done in a cartoon style. Face is rendered in black artist's crayon with a red ink wash detailing the mouth. Face is at center of paper, smiling with squinted eyes and a small tuft of hair. No nose or ears. Written in bottom-right corner, "Dear Leslie: What a marvel/filled luncheon for your birth-/day. I'd look down the/table & 7 people were/ laughing so hard they/couldn't stop. A rare &/pleasant scene. Love to you/2 Bob 6.13.65." Drawing under glass in white mat, simple wood frame.

Comment

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.