RARE HUGH LAIDMAN ORIGINAL COMIC CARTOON ART 1971 MCNAUGHT MIDDLE CLASS ANIMALS!

Description: Up for your consideration is a RARE authentic ORIGINAL comic / cartoon art piece drawn and signed by distinguished artist HUGH LAIDMAN for McNaught Synd., Inc.! Hugh Laidman was an American commercial artist, illustrator, muralist, teacher and painter. He was born in New York City, and began his professional career at age 14, before graduating from the Pratt Institute in 1937. Before World War II, he was art director at Van Valkenburg Associates and later James J. McMahon Advertising. As a painter, he was known for the battle scene watercolors that he made while in the Marine Corps during the war, and for his figure and landscape paintings. He was one of the illustrators hired to illustrate the Apollo missions for NASA, but he was mainly an accomplished animal illustrator. This can be seen in his comic strip 'Middle Class Animals', that appeared in over 100 newspapers in the United States, Canada, throughout Europe and in South Africa from 1970-72 through the McNaught Syndicate. Laidman did several covers and ads for Colliers Magazine, a cartoon series for The New Yorker magazine, and numerous illustrations for Hearst Publications. He was furthermore author of several how-to books on drawing! Laidman's original artwork rarely comes on the market! Comic is framed - measuring 29 Inches X 13 1/2 Inches X 7/8 Inch. Visible art measures 24 1/2 Inches X 8 1/2 Inches. Framed piece weighs 4 LBS 2.4 OZ. Piece is in very good original condition with remnants of newspaper editing taking place! RARE and desirable piece - great for any collector! Will display beautifully - sure to grab lots of attention! In 1970 Hugh Laidman, an accomplished illustrator and commercial artist, came up with an interesting and original idea for a comic strip. Middle Class Animals offered readers a talking animal comic, but with the twist that the animals are drawn in a straight illustration style. While the description may make it sound kinda meh, in execution I think the idea had a lot of merit. Laidman's strip, which debuted on May 18 1970* via the MacNaught Syndicate, really stood out superbly on the comics page. The eccentric combination of word balloons and realistic drawing just seems to catch your eye. You find yourself reading the strip just to find out what the heck is going on there with that odd juxtaposition.Unfortunately, while readers were drawn to Middle Class Animals, the actual reading tended to leave them a bit underwhelmed. Laidman was a wonderful illustrator, but unfortunately as a gag writer he wasn't so terrific. Way too many of his gags fall flat, leaning heavily on the art to make up for it. It's too bad that McNaught did not exercise a more active editorial hand, because with the assistance of good gag-writers the strip could have, at least in my opinion, turned into a pretty major hit.McNaught further hobbled the strip by giving it an identity crisis. I quite like the title Middle Class Animals, which is a terrific name for a 1970s strip that offers a lot of hip references. However, they for some bizarre reason had newspapers running it under other titles. I'm aware of one paper that ran it as Us Animals, one that used the title Ani-Malcontents, and as you can see above, one used the title Animal Crackers, which is not only a klunky name but also trademark infringement since Rog Bollen's strip used the same title. How do you create buzz about a strip that runs under any old name some comics editor dreams up? With too many cards in the deck stacked against it, Middle Class Animals seems to have ended its run after two years, on May 13 1972**. *ESTATE FIND!!! * I have many similar items currently available for purchase! Please view my other listings / eBay store today!! I will gladly combine shipping costs whenever possible! BID / BUY with confidence!!! 100% POSITIVE FEEDBACK and 14 Day Return Policy!!!!

Price: 274.99 USD

Location: New Haven, Connecticut

End Time: 2024-07-26T01:22:03.000Z

Shipping Cost: 19.99 USD