Just in time for Halloween - well, a day late - here’s a puzzling
little picture. It appears to be an original John R. Neill illustration
from the 1940 Oz book The Wonder City of Oz,
showing Jack Pumpkinhead and Jenny Jump. This was offered at auction
recently, but there’s a problem - the published version of this drawing
has sold in the past and is currently being offered by Peter Harrington,
a bookseller in the
United Kingdom. So, what is this one?
When I saw this offered, I
immediately had misgivings. I knew the published drawing was currently available elsewhere.
The drawing itself didn't look "right". Looking at the other listings in this auction, my unease increased;
every lot was being sold as “attributed to” or “in the manner of”
various artists. Consequently, I had very little
faith in the authenticity of anything being offered. This drawing had no
provenance, and when I asked I was simply told it came from a private
collection. But I was intrigued by it, and I bid on it!
I was the only bidder and won
the auction for a fraction of the low estimate. Why would I buy a
drawing that I felt was fake? I was fascinated by the idea of an actual
Neill forgery, and of the work involved in creating it. I was very
curious to see the drawing in person, to get a better sense of how close
the artist came to succeeding.
This
seems an odd image to copy; there are some questionable Oz
drawings out there, but they tend to be “unused” images that haven’t
been seen before. This drawing is one that’s known to exist. A strange
choice to copy, except - there is a very clear image of
the published artwork readily available online. It would be easy to use
this as a template for creating a fake. Below, I've scaled the drawing and aligned the
published version and this version together, to show how closely the
basic drawing matches.
In examining the drawing,
it’s surprising to see how closely many of the lines match up to the original
version. Even fairly obscure things - on the right side, there
is a fine line drawn under the heavy ink wash shading. This is not
readily obvious, but it’s there in both drawings. That shows a good
attention to detail; and yet, areas of shading are missing from Jenny’s
left shoe, and on Jack’s sleeve. Not quite as attentive as I thought.
The expression on Jenny’s face simply isn’t right; if I were trying to
forge a drawing, I’d be particular about getting the face right!
The
line work is a mix of bold and fine lines, but it’s missing Neill’s
touch. The lines are all of the same weight, while in Neill’s work there
is a lively mix of both delicacy and strength, creating an elegant
feeling of light and depth within the drawing. It was the lack of this
quality, along with Neill's characteristic grace of line that initially made me doubt this drawing.
The paper is wrong as
well. It’s drawn on a wove paper with a definite texture which I haven’t seen in other drawings
from this book. The paper is nicely aged; and the drawing bears a very
nice signature. This is in pencil, rather than ink, which is odd. And,
with a little looking online, I found the original signature that this
is based on - a detail of a drawing recently offered for sale.
This in itself is interesting, as it shows that this is a rather recent
forgery, within the past two years. The
published version of the drawing is not signed.
Finally,
the scale of the drawing is a little off. It’s slightly oversized
compared to other drawings I have from this book. As far as the idea
that this is a preliminary
or rejected drawing, at this
point in his life I should think Neill could dash off a drawing of this
sort without much difficulty or concern!
So
- the paper texture, the
scale of the drawing, the signature, the quality of the line
work and the general question of why this drawing would exist are all
points against this piece. Overall, it’s a fascinating example of
someone trying to be clever. By buying it I've removed it from the
marketplace, and I like having it in my collection as a curiosity - but
be warned, there could be other similar pieces turning up on the market!
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