Lot 18: Gustavus (Gus) Dirks (American, 1879-1902) Four cartoons for New York Journal,

Four cartoons for New York Journal, c.1900, comprising:
1. "The Baby Elephant's Bottle."
2. "Pig--'Say Mr Artist wouldn't this make a good picture.'"
3. "Poetical Mosquito--'I stood on the bridge at midnight.'"
4. Tramp asleep under a haystack.
Each signed.
Pen and ink with some watercolor.
Various sizes.

Gus Dirks was best known for his Bugville cartoons in Hearst's Journal-American, Judge, Life and other magazines. The drawing of the "Poetical Mosquito" is in the manner of the great German cartoonist Wilhelm Busch. His brother Rudolph Dirks created the Katzenjammer Kids based on Busch's Max und Moritz for Hearst's chief competitor, Joseph Pulitzer's World. Despite the childlike humor of his cartoons, Gus Dirks suffered from depression and overwork and eventually committed suicide.