E. Simms Campbell
Harem with 14 Wives, Playboy Cartoon Black Cartoonist, 1963
Watercolor, Pencil on Illustration Board
15 × 11 1/2 in | 38.1 × 29.2 cm
$ 32,000.00
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The first Black Illustrator, E. Simms Campbell, paints a complex comic narrative featuring an opulent harem with 14 wives/concubines. The artist caters to a man's fantasy by placing the male...
The first Black Illustrator, E. Simms Campbell, paints a complex comic
narrative featuring an opulent harem with 14 wives/concubines. The
artist caters to a man's fantasy by placing the male subject in the
middle of a 360-degree ring of well-endowed beauties. Almost all of the
women are chomping at the bit to see if she will be the lucky winner.
Each portrait is painstakingly rendered to flaunt its well-endowed
feminine charms with gravity-defying breasts. In the center of it all is
the male protagonist, vicariously representing the viewer. He is
depicted playing spin-the-bottle to see who will be his next lover of
the moment. Visually, it's a delight to look at. Technically, it's
masterfully designed, with curving shapes, bathed in soft light, and a
mouthwatering purple color scheme. It may be one of Campbell's most
ambitious efforts because it successfully conceives and executes a large
scene populated with 16 people. As with all vintage cartoons, the jokes
may not always hold up. In fact, the cartoon works just as well with
out the text caption but it's the beauty of the artwork and its place in
art history that elevate this narrative art to equal standing with much
of the fine art hanging in today's museums. Deep Down He's Just a
Goddamn Kid, Playboy cartoon, November 1963 Watercolor and pencil on
board 16-3/4 x 13 inches (42.5 x 33.0 cm) Signed upper left: E Simms
Campbell Elmer Simms Campbell created the present work for the November
1963 issue of Playboy which was published on page 117 with the inscribed
caption: "Deep Down He's Just a Goddamn Kid." The work also appears on
page 17 of Playboy -- 50 Years: The Cartoons (Chronicle Books, 2004).
narrative featuring an opulent harem with 14 wives/concubines. The
artist caters to a man's fantasy by placing the male subject in the
middle of a 360-degree ring of well-endowed beauties. Almost all of the
women are chomping at the bit to see if she will be the lucky winner.
Each portrait is painstakingly rendered to flaunt its well-endowed
feminine charms with gravity-defying breasts. In the center of it all is
the male protagonist, vicariously representing the viewer. He is
depicted playing spin-the-bottle to see who will be his next lover of
the moment. Visually, it's a delight to look at. Technically, it's
masterfully designed, with curving shapes, bathed in soft light, and a
mouthwatering purple color scheme. It may be one of Campbell's most
ambitious efforts because it successfully conceives and executes a large
scene populated with 16 people. As with all vintage cartoons, the jokes
may not always hold up. In fact, the cartoon works just as well with
out the text caption but it's the beauty of the artwork and its place in
art history that elevate this narrative art to equal standing with much
of the fine art hanging in today's museums. Deep Down He's Just a
Goddamn Kid, Playboy cartoon, November 1963 Watercolor and pencil on
board 16-3/4 x 13 inches (42.5 x 33.0 cm) Signed upper left: E Simms
Campbell Elmer Simms Campbell created the present work for the November
1963 issue of Playboy which was published on page 117 with the inscribed
caption: "Deep Down He's Just a Goddamn Kid." The work also appears on
page 17 of Playboy -- 50 Years: The Cartoons (Chronicle Books, 2004).