Kenny's Drawings: Gun Totin' Heroes Edition

Good morning! It's that time again-- let's return to our foray into the 1950's, tablet-based (back when that had nothing to do with iPads!) art of Kenny, a first grader with a FIRST RATE eye for art. If you missed the last post, meticulous archives of Kenny's drawings were found in a manila envelope in the basement of an estate sale a couple weekends ago. I just can't get over how much talent these show for a kid who probably can't read or write yet.

One of Kenny's favorite subjects is men-with-guns. One of Kenny's main subjects is men-with-guns. I think about the Lone Ranger/Davy Crockett children's entertainment trends of the late forties' and fifties', and can you blame him for every male figure in his pictures packing heat? The green man above seems to have a pistol in his left hand and some kind of bag in his right hand. Is the purple cap and insignia on the front of his one-suit some kind of a superhero costume? Uniform? Why are his hands red? The most fascinating thing about these pictures is the intentionality of each and every piece. If it was 1947, and you asked six year old Kenny what part of the drawing was, I'm sure he could explain it to you at length.

This might actually be my favorite picture of the whole lot. Here, Kenny's collaged different colored construction paper to a piece of heavier cardstock and drawn in the details in crayon. See the added red feet, hat, and holster? See the mask and the blue buttons? Does this not remind you 100% of the work Al Hansen (Beck's grandfather, an early member of the Fluxus artist group that included Yoko Ono)? Maybe I'm projecting, but this little guy fell out of a sheaf of papers and I went, "I LOVE IT. I LOVE IT SO MUCH" just as soon as I'd laid eyes on it. It's a little bigger than the reproduced size here, and I can't wait to put it in a frame and hang it over the couch. With all the other ephemera. Bravo, Kenny!

The piece above looks like something out of my Kilowatt nightmare... having much experience with items retrieved from estate sale basements bearing unexpected stowaways (worst case example of all time: a Patti Boyd style lace Edwardian sixties' dress I put on after buying from a basement sale, just to see if it fit, from which A LIVING ROACH came scuttling, past my skin, out one delicate cuff, to much screaming, hand flailing, and cussin'), I actually flung this little guy across the room, thinking that one of the fingers was an insect leg or worse. Later, when I was scanning everything in, I found it laying across the air conditioner vent, looking up at me with its faraway, pencilled in eyes. WHAT IS IT? Honestly reminds me of something out of Silent Hill. How about how the arms are deliberately painted blue, and the hand orange and yellow, respectively, but the face is only colored with a slash of blood-splatter-looking red crayon? Spooksters.

Last but not least, here's a familiar face! Kind of. Kenny's mother has labelled this one as having been completed "March 4, 1946", when Kenny would have been all of five, and explained that the sketch depicts Dick Tracy. It's adorable how the yellow trench-coat is there, a little lime-ier than usual, and the hard-nosed profile, but that Kenny's added buttons, an x-ray visible purple gun, a red neckerchief (possibly as a nod to the aforementioned Lone Ranger?), and an orange (not yellow) fedora. Also, Dick Tracy is pink. Still! I love the attention to detail.

There's so, so, so much more where that came from. Which Kenny piece do you like best from this week? Did you watch lots of gun-toting hero shows like Dick Tracy, Lone Ranger, Davy Crockett as a kid?

That's all for today; see you tomorrow for Photo Friday!

Kenny's Drawings (1948-1950)

Good morning! And isn't this just a killer little face to start your day off with? Ladies and gentleman, I want you to meet Kenny. Snazzy little guy, isn't he?

Kenny was a student at Inglewood Elementary in the late 1940's and early 1950's. He had two siblings, Joan and Johnny, and his parents were both painters (of portraits and landscapes and such, rather than, say, houses). I know all of this because I went to an estate sale this weekend in a rambling, huge house just at the end of Music Row, where the majority of stock was comprised of famous autographs. I saw a three page typed letter about the shooting of Dodge City in 1939, written and signed by Errol Flynn (the only time I've legitimately been given pause over the possibility of spending $1,000 on something other than college classes...the will was there, but the wallet was weak!), Alfred Hitchcock's famous self-portrait outline with his signature, and a Life magazine cover signed by Gary Cooper, all of which I was mightily impressed with.Upstairs was hot and yielded no treasures; downstairs, in the basement, there were a number of large art pieces, probably from the seventies', and lots and lots and lots of dust and dirt. In a cedar chest, I found a large manila envelope with sheaves of writing paper sticking out, labelled "Children's Drawings" in brisk, large cursive script. I bought that and a metal ice tray from the fifties' for $2, and called it a day.

When I got home, the treasures that envelope produced! I spent a good part of the afternoon trying not to sneeze and sifting through the probably 100 + pieces of paper inside.

As said before, I know I'm kind of a sucker for ephemera (see the entire Doris and Ray collection, sitting in boxes in my den), so I've tried to be good lately about not picking up mountains of other people's photos and memorabilia just because the individual and personal angle appeals to me. In this case, though, the price was right, and I can't tell you how impressed I am with these musty little pieces of paper! The mother saved drawings from all three children, but Kenny was a particularly prolific artist and I have to say I like his pictures the best. All four and five year olds scribble and scrabble out drawings, but this little guy had real talent! Above, a representative drawing from the envelope-- you've got your law men/ cops/ robbers/ cowboys and a bevy of weapon choices, all rendered in full color and carefully detailed. See the triggers on the pistols? Or the boots and hats on all three figures? Will they choose a knife or a gun as their accessory? Who knows!

This picture, which the labeling tells us is from February 7, 1946, when Kenny was five, shows a "pirate man" with beard. Again, notice the gauntlet gloves, the knife scabbarded in the pirate's belt, his Smee-style hat and striped shirt under a blue coat. Something about all of these drawings remind me more of Basquiat than first grade art class. I wonder what kind of artist he was when he grew up!

While some of the pictures are helpful explained by his mother's pencilled-in captions, others remain a mystery. This one looks like a little girl in boots, possibly in a closet? Bottles and pans and shelves...could it be a roadside knick-knack shack for selling trinkets? What are the buildings or scribbles to the left and right? I won't definitively know, but who definitively cares? These are just the most precious little drawings. I love them.

Last but not least, the "over" message in the left hand corner tells you that the back is labelled "Kenny, Age 4, Cowboy". And OH MY GOODNESS, LOOK. At the age of FOUR, the little guy has successfully shown a Tom Mix like character complete with gun holster, ten gallon hat, medallion-embellished chaps, horse, and livery. I want to try and figure out if there's a way I can manipulate these (sans Photoshop, only because I don't have it) to clean or brighten the color up a little bit and repair the tear, thus leaving me with as good a little art print as I can imagine. Wouldn't these look cool over the couch?

Well, that's my treasure for the day. There's a WHOLE lot more where that came from-- I'll try and figure out how I want to parcel these out to show you guys. If you're as interested as me, that is! What do you think? Which picture is your favorite? Do you remember having any particularly crazy pictures saved by your parents over the years to delight or mortify you in your adulthood? Did you find any surprise treasures this weekend? Tell!

See you tomorrow, have a great Monday!!