4 July 2021

Basil Reynolds original art

A post today for friend of the blog John Wigmans...he's a big fan of the work of Basil Reynolds (whose work I've looked at previously here). Normally the Book Palace have some of his smaller wildlife illustrations for sale (here) for £90 but they've recently taken delivery of a much larger piece...


as it says here ...

Artist: Basil Reynolds (biography)
Medium: Pencil on Cartridge Paper
Size: 10" x 14" (255mm x 355mm)
Date: c. 1938

This is the unique original Pencil drawing by Basil Reynolds.

A wonderful complete one page Christmas Special story. Skit, Skat and the Captain was a regular feature in Britain's first glossy photogravure comic Mickey Mouse Weekly.

The strip was created by its artist Basil Reynolds. Reynolds had been one of the youngest nationally syndicated newspaper cartoonists in the 1920s. This is a full pencil rough with full text. There are four editorial corrections in the last panel.

Original pre World War Two artwork is vanishingly scarce and to have cartooning of this quality surviving is a special treat. The clock joke was a recurring gag in the strip. Reynolds has been noted as having influenced the great Ken Reid.


A magnificent piece - it can be yours for £700!

1 comment:

  1. Hi Richard,

    Thanks for thinking of me. £ 700 is bit too much. But it is certainly interesting to see this rough.
    Btw, I think the rough was done in the early 1980s. Denis Gifford comes to mind for his Money Fun Comic. Another likely candidate is Gifford's Ally Sloper magazine from the mid-seventies. And then again it could have been drawn for a stillborn project of Gifford's from 1977: The Beaver Book of Mickey Mouse Comics where Reynolds was involved with. It would explain the remark 'And so...' in modern biro in the last panel. Or perhaps it was a special commission from a fan.
    But imho the rough is not from the 1930s...

    Thanks again.

    Best,

    John Wigmans

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