WILLIAM STEIG (1907-2003)
"'Bats and Barnacles!' Ebenezer exclaimed..." Study for the illustration in Steig's Farmer Palmer's Wagon Ride (New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1974). Mixed Media, including watercolor, ink and graphite on paper. 203x216 mm; 8x8 1/2 inches, on 10 1/2x10-inch sheet. Signed "W. Steig" in lower image. Archivally framed. A copy of the 1992 paperback edition accompanies the artwork.

A colorful and humorous variant illustration of the role reversal when donkey Ebenezer and Farmer Palmer the pig switch cart positions on their periled trip back from an otherwise successful market day. The published version differs in detail but maintains the basic composition and coloring.

 

Condition:
Bright, strong colors on clean paper with minor matte burn in margins. Archivally framed. "from Farmer Palmer's Wagon Ride" penciled in lower margin, recto, with "23" [the page number in the book].