"Two Separate Pieces sold as a Pair: Career Vs. Homemaking, Post Cover"" Lot no. 4835
By Constantin Alajalov (American- 1900-1987)
1959
Both pieces same measurements, framed separately: 23" x 17.5", Framed 30"
Gouache on Illustration board.
Signed Lower Left (on one only)
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Original Cover for The Saturday Evening Post, September 19, 1959. This it a two part purchase, both illustrations included.
This is the first in a series of shortived gatefold covers produced by The Saturday Evening Post. Painted on two illustration boards, the artworks are sold as a pair, but individually framed for versatility in display.
Woman at desk daydreaming about domesticity and Woman at sink daydreaming about office life.
The post describes on page 5:
On the ample spaces of The Post’s first “gatefold” cover, artist Alajalov depicts Miss Outside and Mrs. Inside in a wistful reverie. Their daydreamers- well, one is an evening dream- are located in the grass-grows-greener elsewhere category. Miss outside yearns for a tall, dark, handsome and otherwise perfect man (is there such a specimen?); and Mrs. I, while her slightly imperfect oaf watches large lasses rassle and Junior uncorks a tantrum, envisions herself a secretary arranging flowers. They’ll feel better tomorrow, for reality is usually sunnier than in dour moments it seems to be. Meanwhile, couldn’t both ladies take a lesson in tidiness from the girls of their dreams?
Magazine included
Explore related art collections: Saturday Evening Post Covers / Humor / 1950s / $50,000-$100,000 / Women as Subjects / Work / Labor
See all original artwork by Constantin Alajalov
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Constantin Alajalov sold his first cover to The New Yorker magazine in 1926, and continued to paint a long and colorful series of satirical vignettes of American life for both The New Yorker and The Saturday Evening Post until 1962.
Alajalov was born in the Russian town of Rostov-on-the-Don. The Revolution came when he was seventeen and a student at the University of Petrograd. He survived this period by working as a government artist, painting huge propaganda pictures and portraits, and in 1921, he made his way to Constantinople, which was an international refugee haven.
Although largely self-taught as an artist, Alajalov earned a precarious living by sketching portraits in bars or painting sidewalk advertisements for movie houses. He progressed to doing murals for night clubs, taking mostly food as payment. After two years of this, he saved enough to pay his passage to America.
Once here, Alajalov resumed painting murals, in Russian night clubs, and within three years had sold that first New Yorker cover. For the rest of his career, he continued to give us a candid and humorous look at our foibles.