"“I won’t let you take our Katie away!” illustration for River Singer" Lot no. 767
By Amos Sewell (American- 1901-1983)
1947 (Estimated)
28.00" x 14.00" Framed 36.5" x 22.5"
Mixed Media on Board
Initialed Lower Right
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Illustration for third and final installment of "River Singer" by Pete Martin for The Saturday Evening Post, published August 30, 1947, page 26.
The full caption reads: “Katie’s brother Ed flared, ‘I won’t let you take our Katie away! I’ll kill you first.’”
The Post describes "River Singer" as a "vivid, factual story of an era unique in American life, when pretty youngsters…found their romance and adventure, not in Hollywood, but aboard the remarkable showboats that plied our rivers." This captivating narrative follows the adventures of performers Katie (Hughes) Preble and her husband, Will Preble, as they navigate life on both a river showboat and a traveling tent show.
The image illustrates the final installment of the three-part article, which continues to chronicle the adventures of young performer Katie Hughes following the tragic sinking of her showboat and her subsequent union with her musician lover, Will Preble, who joined her family's traveling tent show. The image depicts a pivotal moment: Will's decision to leave the show and establish a more settled life with Katie, a choice that ignites the anger of her family. The dramatic angles and the strong contrast of light and shadow effectively heighten the tension of the scene, as Katie's brother confronts the young couple while the other performers watch the drama unfold.
Explore related art collections: Magazine Stories / Drama / Black & White / Action / Musical/Band / Women as Subjects / Romance / Circus / $100 - $5,000 / 1940s / Newly Researched
See all original artwork by Amos Sewell
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Amos Sewell had a special empathy for children and also particularly enjoyed depicting homespun, rural subjects. These special gifts were ideally combined in the illustrations he made for a series of stories about Babe, Little Joe, Big Joe, and Uncle Pete by R. Ross Annett that ran for over twenty years in The Saturday Evening Post.
Sewell was born in San Francisco and studied nights at the California School of Fine Arts, working days in a bank. After some years of this, he decided to try his luck as an illustrator in the East. To get there, he shipped out as a working hand on a lumber boat going by way of the Panama Canal.
In New York, he studied at the Art Students League and at the Grand Central School of Art. Among his teachers were Guy Pene DuBois, Julian Levi and Harvey Dunn. At the same time, he began to draw black and white dry-brush illustrations for the Pulp magazines.
He illustrated his first major manuscript for The Country Gentleman in 1937; next came The Saturday Evening Post, for which he subsequently also painted many covers. This led to commissions from other national magazines. Sewell also illustrated for many major advertisers, and his work won awards from the Art Directors Clubs of New York and Cleveland, were exhibited at the Society of Illustrators, and included in traveling exhibits both here and abroad.