Lady of the lake

It is not often that you see early commercial works By Gustaf Tenggren coming up for auction. Now there's an opportunity to catch one. This great black & white drawing is sold at Wooley and Wallis' auction of Arts and Crafts 17 Jun, 2015.

Black & White crayon drawing, 46 x 16.5cm.

It's made in crayon, either a conté crayon or a lithographic crayon, with highlights in white gouache. This was presumably made around 1925 for a beauty advertisement in one of the major American magazines, like Delineator, Good Housekeeping or Pictorial Review. At the time, Tenggren made ads for some dozen of magazines, and was a fast rising star on the commercial illustration scene of New York City.

Left detail. The focusing of the girl's hair leads you to believe that this is an ad for
shampoo, soap or perfume, of which Tenggren produced a lot at the time.

A unique piece, and seemingly in good shape. The estimate, £300-500, is not unreasonable. For details, call Michael Jeffrey, Arts & Crafts expert at Wooley and Wallis, at +44 (0) 1722 424505.

Right detail. Is this Charon rowing the Styx? His passenger does not look worried though.