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17. Juan Carlos Barberis (20th Century) The Witch
Original drawing in gouache on illustration board, 1959, 330 x 240 mm., signed and dated JC Barberis, N.Y., 29/10/59. There is a paucity of information available about Barberis, whose work dates from the second half of the last century and who apparently worked in both Spain and the United States. He illustrated a number of books, including The Secret Language and Remarkable Behavior of Animals, An African Bestiary and Jack London’s Call of the Wild, and various issues of the journal ANALOG: Science Fact & Science Fiction. Just where this particularly grisly presentation of a witch would have fit in is unknown, but the image is well calculated to scare the be-Jesus out of any young reader of fairy tales.
Illustration art has gone from being low man on the totem pole to a serious category of collectible art with many examples bringing many thousands of dollars. But one doesn’t need market orientation to see the skill brought to bear on this horrific image. Pleasant dreams!
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