I attended a preview showing of the Heritage Auction Galleries' upcoming auction of "The Mad Magazine Original Art Treasures." These are the 50 or so original art pieces saved by the editors of Mad over the years, to adorn their halls and offices, that are now up for sale. What a collection -- many amazing covers from the 50s, and 60. The collection can be seen by the general public ONLY TODAY, from 10am to 5pm at MoCCA in New York City.
The picture on the right is the first true Mad picture of Alfred E. Neuman (earlier images of that face published by Mad were copies of existing advertising pictures), painted by Norman Mingo for the cover of Mad #30 (1956), The auction house estimates the value of this painting (together with a painting of the back of his head, used for the back cover) at "$30,000 - up." If it really goes for $30,000, someone got a bargain.
By the way, the painting on the left is by Kelly Freas, from the cover of Mad #43.
My favorite may have been Mingo's cover painting for Mad #171. There are many, many reasons for me not to even think about putting in a bid for this, but man, it would be a dream to own this. We noticed that the tax form Nixon is holding is a photocopied (and reduced) actual 1040 form, pasted onto the painting, with the "TAX PAID" note pasted onto the photocopy.
UPDATE: Alfred E. Neuman's name is now spelled correctly, thanks to alert readers! (How could I have misspelled that name?!)
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