Lot 29: Dorothy Kay SOUTH AFRICAN 1886-1964 - Pack of Dogs; Two Dogs, two

Dorothy Kay
SOUTH AFRICAN 1886-1964
Pack of Dogs; Two Dogs, two
Pack of Dogs : signed; inscribed with 'Sept 19th' and the caption on the reverse; inscribed with the publication's name and the caption on a label
adhered to the reverse; Two Dogs : signed; inscribed with 'Dec 22nd' and the caption on the reverse; inscribed with the publication's name and
the caption on a label adhered to the reverse
mixed media on artist's board
each 36 by 52cm
-2

Inscription on the reverse of Pack of Dogs reads: No. 1 'The Outspan'. Illustration, Original.
Caption: "In a minute both Bles and Napoleon were completely surrounded by a pack of some of the ugliest, fiercest dogs in creation".
Inscription on the reverse of Two Dogs reads: No. 17 'The Outspan'. Illustration, Original.
Caption: "Between the greyhound and Bandit there soon developed a deep affection; strengthened in the months that followed by a common
love of the chase, by mighty trials of speed and by adventurous larcenies".
In 1927, the editor of The Outspan asked Dorothy Kay to produce illustrations for the stories in the new weekly magazine, and for the next
eighteen years, she regularly produced from two to four illustrations a week in charcoal, with white gouache accents, on artist’s illustration
board. Kay was an absolute stickler for accuracy and posed and sketched family and friends in the inevitable action poses required by the
adventure stories. She spent hours researching accurate detail, such as military insignia or the correct way to tie the knot in a noose, in the
Public Library or at the zoo if a story included animals, and she amassed vast quantities of anything that might conceivably be helpful, which
she stuck into voluminous scrapbooks for future reference. In the 1940s, Kay gradually withdrew from producing illustrations and passed the
torch to her daughters Joan and Patricia, who were subsequently to have their own work published in Outspan magazine on their mother’s
recommendation to the editor