Welcome to my blog, featuring various pieces from my collection of Oz books, artwork and memorabilia!

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Hare-Brained Bunnies

Here for Easter is a magazine page of artwork by John R. Neill - The Hare-Brained Bunnies' Easter Party. These wonderful vignettes are a great collection of the Neill rabbits of this period!

This piece was published in Pictorial Review magazine in April, 1918. The original artwork for the top drawing of the rabbit band (or Pussyfoot Chorus), is still in the Neill family (see image below), and was featured in Illustration magazine in 2006. At that point it was listed as an unknown magazine illustration, but we can see how it was used. It's a pity that the Pictorial Review page wasn't printed in full color!

These drawings are closely related to Neill's cover of Pictorial Review magazine from 1916, and the series of bunny musician postcards that seem to date from the early 1920's.
In the 1922 Oz book, Kabumpo in Oz, one of the main characters is a rabbit named Wag, who could have stepped out of this series. I don't think I've run across any of these bunnies after that point in the early 1920's, which is too bad - they're great little characters!




I'm particularly fond
of The Egg Dance!


5 comments:

ilex said...

Wonderful. Believe it or not, I've been hoping someone would do a comparison of Neill's bunnies. They all look so intent, it's adorable. I can't get enough of them. Thanks for answering my Easter Wish!
Best,
Holly

Bill Campbell said...

I've always been drawn to the Neill bunnies, and would love to get my hands on an original! It's also fun to note that the poses of the three rabbits on the Pictorial Review cover are essentially the same as three of the postcards - the accordion, the violin and the trombone.

Sam said...

NICE picture, I love the oil-painting he used for colouring . . . though I'm a little concerned about the Egg Dance, hoping none of the bunnies step on any of the eggs!

plaisanter said...

I love his bunnies! Do you happen to know what page his drawing appears in the March 1919 McCall's?

Bill Campbell said...

Aren't they great? The bunnies are on page 16.