Sale 2526 - Illustration Art, December 10, 2019

178 c CHARLES DANA GIBSON. “The Coming Game. Yale vs. Vassar.” Illustration published in Life magazine, November 21, 1895, republished on the front page of The San Francisco Call (November 24, 1895). Pen and ink with pencil tracing on paper. 210x382 mm; 8 1 / 4 x15 inches, image, on 16x22 1 / 2 -inch sheet. Unsigned, but captioned “Vassar vs. Yale. 1896” in lower margin (in another hand). Toned and with some matte burn. Glued to matte in three places along outer margins. [2,000/3,000] While Gibson’s girls were often portrayed as society girls at leisure, this cartoon celebrates their strength and equality. In this dynamic composition of a football game between the women of Vassar and the men of Yale, a runner is carrying the ball, one sleeve of his uniform already torn off, while three strong Vassarites prepare to tackle him. In the background, a couple of other Yalie blockers have been crushed by their female opponents. A feminist dream of the future, it displays a true battle of the sexes, and a prescient one at that: the two schools considered merging in the late 1960s. While football was never a traditionally organized sport at Vassar (their T-shirts proudly stating “Vassar Football: Undefeated Since 1865”), the colleges did eventually compete in 1962 when 30 intrepid Vassar students insisted on forming touch football teams and challenging the men from surrounding schools to play them. 179 c EGBERT NORMAN CLARK. Fly Fishing. Story illustration for an unidentified publication, likely 1930s. Pen, ink, and correction f luid on stiff paper. Appears to be clipped from a larger sheet. 313x525 mm; 12 1 / 4 x20 3 / 4 inches. Initialed in lower left image. [250/350] 178 179