Page 117 - Swann Galleries - Modernist Posters - Sale 2314 - May 13, 2013

GEORGE B. LUKS (1867-1933)
137 ● THE SUNDAY WORLD. 1897.
18x11 3/4 inches, 45 3/4 x 293/4 cm.
Condition B-: tape on verso along tears at edges; tears and losses at edges; creases, abrasions and staining in
margins and image; pen markings in upper margin; vertical and horizontal folds. Paper.
When Outcault left one New York newspaper for a higher paying offer at the other, a huge legal battle
ensued. The wrangling could not produce clear copyright ownership of the character, but awarded
The New York World the rights to the title “Hogan’s Alley.” Quite quickly Pulitzer hired Ashcan artist
George Luks to continue the strip. At the Journal, Outcault continued presenting his character but
renamed the strip “McFadden Flats.” With two of New York’s (and America’s) biggest newspapers
running the same popular cartoon character week after week along with their host of outlandish,
sensationalist and often plain untrue stories which they had to produce in order to keep and increase
readership, the term “Yellow-Kid Journalism” began being used (later reduced to “Yellow Journalism.”)
The strip stopped running in 1898. RARE [1,000/1,500]