A Pet and His Owner Cartoon in Watercolor, by Arnold Roth

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On offer is a whimsical watercolor, gifted as noted, “For Abigail Surasky 4/19/63” with the comment “The most beautiful girl … Read more On offer is a whimsical watercolor, gifted as noted, “For Abigail Surasky 4/19/63” with the comment “The most beautiful girl in the English Speaking World.” The giver was renowned cartoonist Arnold Roth (1929) whose illustrations have appeared in nearly every major U.S. magazine since the 1950s. The list includes The New Yorker, Playboy, Sports Illustrated, Esquire, and TV Guide. His work is held in the permanent collections of major institutions, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. In 1983, Roth was elected president of the National Society of Illustrators.
There’s an improvisational, spontaneous quality to Roth’s work, which he likens to jazz. A lifelong jazz aficionado and saxophone player, he draws in a "jazz-like" manner, viewing each piece as an artistic challenge to "get himself into and out of trouble."
Given the subject, this piece may have been created for "A Comick Book of Pets," a 65-page book by Roth, published in 1976 by Charles Scribner's Sons. Incidentally, the full title is “A Comick Book of Pets: Found, Raised, Washed, Curried, Combed, Fed, and Cared for in Every Other Way,” further indication of a satirical and whimsical perspective on life. And not lost on the artist, pets sometimes look a lot like their owners.
Signatures: as AR, lower right behind the stool (photo #6); in the margin, lower left and upside down at the end of the note, (photo #9 ); and verso, full signature with address, (photo #10) See less