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ELMER SIMMS CAMPBELL.
“I used to know her - four checkbooks
ago.” Watercolor, gouache, and pencil on
board. 380X250 mm; 15x9
3
/
4
inches.
Signed in image, lower right, dated
September 1936 on verso, likely for
Esquire. Matted.
[1,200/1,800]
Simms Campbell was one of the highest paid
illustrators in the United States from the
1930s and into the 1960s and was one of the
only African-American illustrators working in
the field. As the creator of Esquire’s mascot
“Esky,” nearly every issue of Esquire during
his heyday included one of his works. He also
contributed to Playboy and the NewYorker.