"Gourmet Cook?, The Saturday Evening Post cover" Lot no. 4880
By Constantin Alajalov (American- 1900-1987)
1946
21" x 15.5"
Watercolor on board
Signed lower right: Alajálov
REQUEST PRICE
PURCHASE REQUEST
Click the image above for an additional view.
Original cover for The Saturday Evening Post, published April 13, 1946
Framed under glass
The Post described, “Not long ago, Constantin Alajalov, who painted our cover for this week, had an experience that preyed on his mind until he decided to exorcise it by changing it into a Post cover. One evening a friend — he was a friend then, at least — suggested that a theater party, of which Alajalov was a member, would do well to dine lightly, in order not to be late for the curtain. ‘Afterward I’ll whip up a little something for you,’ the suggester said. ‘It didn’t work out quite that way,’ Alajalov said bitterly. ‘He had trouble doing a thing called ‘separating’ eggs, whatever that is. We thought up a few names for the concoction he produced, but we decided it would be kinder not to use them.’ When Alajalov got around to painting his shattering experience, Mrs. Brian Aherne, the wife of the movie star, lent him her pin-up kitchen as a model—flowers in the window, built-in cabinets, pet cookbook and all.” (The Saturday Evening Post, April 13, 1946, page 2)
Explore related art collections: Saturday Evening Post Covers / Magazine Covers / 1940s / Food / Humor
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.