Sale 2495 - Illustration Art, December 6, 2018

224 c AURELIUS BATTAGLIA. Jim Tully. Caricature likely for Vanity Fair magazine, circa early-1930s. Charcoal on paper. 552x451 mm; 21 3 / 4 x17 3 / 4 inches, on 24x19-inch sheet. Signed “Battaglia” in lower right image. [400/600] As one of the earliest Hollywood freelance reporters in the 1920s and ’30s, Tully became known as a real enfant-terrible for his candid and unsavory profiles of celebrities. In addition to his infamous role in journalism, his scrappy upbringing and creative streak led him to success in fields as varied as pugilism, tree surgery, and poetry, fiction, memoir, and travel writing. He is considered somewhat of a cult figure today. 225 c JOEL BECK. “The Meakey Mouth Junior Story.” Pen and ink with wash and collage elements, on thick paper mounted to backing paper with hand-lettering. 508x236 mm; 20x14 inches. Signed in title panel. Scattered toning and glue bleed-through from mounting, margins soiled and worn.   [700/1,000] A raunchy, irreverent Disney spoof from the Bay Area cartoonist Beck, creator of “Lenny of Laredo,” a 1965 satire loosely based on the life of Lenny Bruce, which is considered the first underground comic book published on the West Coast. 224 225