Original Drawing "Paris Cowboy #2"
Publication: 1965.
Notes: An original charcoal drawing (8-1/4 by 10-5/16 inches) of a man wearing a Western shirt with a kerchief at his neck reaching for a drink on a bar. This drawing appears to be of the same figure as Wolfe's "Paris Cowboy #1", which was made at the Galerie Francois Petit in Paris. Both drawings were likely exhibited at Tom Wolfe's one-person show at the Maynard Walker gallery in November 1965. The original gallery label is still affixed to the back of the frame. At the time of the show, Wolfe's inventive journalism was making waves among newspaper and magazine writers and his first book, a collection of what came to be known as New Journalism pieces, had just been published.
Throughout his writing career, Wolfe also made drawings. A number of the pieces in his book Mauve Gloves & Madmen, Clutter & Vine are illustrated with drawings. His caricatures were collected in the book In Our Time, in 1981. This early drawing, in a style reminiscent of Egon Shiele and other German Expressionists (Wolfe's drawings have been likened to the illustrations in the influential German satirical magazine Simplicissimus), is more artistic than comic.
In the early 1960s, the Paris Cowboy Look made inroads into fashion and an interest in the mythical American West spread in France (see, for example, stories like "Paris Cowboys Ride the Champs-Elysees as Wild West Craze Grows in France" in the Columbia (Mo.) Daily Tribune, Feb. 7, 1965). This Wolfe drawing, of a member of a specific group of Paris fashionistas, feels closely connected to his exploration of American subcultures in that first book, The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby.
In the mid-1960s, Wolfe's fine, accomplished drawings were shown by the New York gallerist Maynard Walker, who also represented Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton, and other important American artists (the gallery's records are in the American Art Archives at the Smithsonian Institution). Walker gave Wolfe a one-person show of his drawings in 1965. Wolfe had a second show of drawings in the 1970s, and since then his work has rarely been seen.
Wolfe (1930–2018) wrote a number of popular and influential books in the New Journalism style, which he helped pioneer, including The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and The Right Stuff. In the 1980s, he turned to fiction, with acclaimed novels like Bonfire of the Vanities.
Edition + Condition: The drawing is in the original gallery frame, with the gallery label noting the title of the work on the back. The frame measures 14-1/4 by 16-1/4 inches. The drawing is fine and floats inside the mat. The mat has tanned; there is light wear to the frame. The drawing is signed "Wolfe" at the lower left.
PROVENANCE: From the collection of Mary Etta and Ed Moose, San Francisco restaurant owners who met Wolfe in the 1960s and kept up a friendship with him for the rest of his life. The Mooses opened the popular Washington Street Bar and Grill in 1973 followed by Moose's in 1992. Wolfe was a patron of both restaurants. He knew the Mooses before they opened the restaurant, but how they met is uncertain.
Item No: #363803
Price: $2,500