Lot 157: CHERRY, SAM

PROPERTY OF VARIOUS OWNERS "Barbed Wire," oil in art board (20 5/8 x 18 1/2 in.; 523 x 470 mm), [Brooklyn, New York, c. 1939–1958]; edges of board chipped, margins soiled, not affecting image, which is vivid.

Samuel Joseph Cherry (1903–1975) was a master of pulp magazine illustrations. Most of his work in the field was done between 1939 and 1958. Too old for the draft during the Second World War, Cherry was one of the few pulp artists not in uniform and was in great demand. For almost twenty years his covers could be found on magazines such as 10-Story Western, Detective Tales Thrilling Ranch, Thrilling Western, West, Western Rodeo Romances, Texas Rangers, Fighting Western, and The Western Novel Classic. In 1959, he left the field and joined the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency. Cherry often used bodybuilder John Hanley for his model, and Hanley is the subject of "Barbed Wire" and several of the paintings in the following lots. This and the following five lots are colorful examples of the pulp art genre which thrived until the coming of television.