"Baseball Magazine Cover, July 1918" Lot no. 744
By Joseph Francis Kernan (American- 1878-1958)
1918
31.00" x 24.00"
Oil on Canvas
Signed Lower Left
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Original cover for Baseball Magazine, published July 1918
This July 1918 cover for Baseball Magazine shows an exciting play at the plate as a player dramatically slides towards home base. The player seems confident he’s about to score even if we can’t see if the catcher is in position. Surely Kernan knew this thrilling feeling well through his own experience as an athlete. This painting was formerly in the collection of James “Rip” Collins, the famed first baseman of the St. Louis Cardinals during the 1930s, and former member of the “Gas House Gang.”
Baseball Magazine was founded in December 1907 by Boston sportswriter Jacob Morse. As the first monthly American magazine devoted entirely to baseball, the publication had the time and space to run lengthier, more in-depth feature-length articles compared to weekly publications such as Sporting Life and The Sporting News. Morse’s vision of a deluxe publication filled with eye-catching illustrations and engaging quality content brought the magazine early commercial success.
Joseph Francis Kernan was the perfect illustrator to capture the spirit of the game, and therefore the attention of Baseball Magazine readers. Kernan played baseball throughout high school, and reportedly played professionally in order to finance his art education and early career in commercial art.
Explore related art collections: Sports / Magazine Covers / Men / Action / 1910s / Baseball / $50,000-$100,000
See all original artwork by Joseph Francis Kernan
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Joseph Francis Kernan was a sportsman all of his life and the majority of his subjects featured, as he described it, "the human side of outdoor sports, hunting, fishing and dogs." These were the ideal subjects for magazine covers and his work appeared on all of the major - and some minor- magazines, including The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, Liberty, The Country Gentlemen, Capper's Farmer, The Elks, Outdoor Life, and The Associated Sunday Magazines. His work was also commissioned for calendars, and advertisers such as Fisk Tires, International Harvester and Pratt & Lambert.
Kernan was born in Brookline Massachusetts and studied at the Eric Pape School of Art in Boston. This was financed by playing professional baseball. He also taught for two years at the Pape School before launching his art career.
A major collection of some 450 Kernan's Illustration's spanning a career of over 40 years is held in the collection of the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Alberta Canada.