This sketch — recently found in an attic, wrapped in layers of moldering packing material, in a box that had been moved in 1983 to the attic from the apartment of a Brooklyn school teacher who died that year, who had inherited the box from his father, a rabbi, who died in the 1940s — turned out to be the work of Samuel Cahan (1886-1974), a now-obscure, once famous and unavoidable artist of the early 20th century.
Cahan was one of the most recognizable artists for the New York World from 1898 (he joined the staff at the age of twelve) till it shut down in 1931, where he drew many of the full color covers for the Sunday magazine, along with courtroom and other quick sketches. After the World expired, he joined the New York Times.
In 1917, he drew a portrait of Woodrow Wilson that Wilson used as the official image of his presidential campaign. He drew chapter illustration for the pulp magazine, Argosy and illustrations for the Tarzan stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
After World War II, he turned to etchings and paintings that depicted the decline of the Jewish community on the Lower East Side, from which period this sketch likely derives. It’s not entirely clear what the Jews in this picture are doing, but we think they are likely pretzel vendors at a LES market; the baskets resemble those in Cahan’s painting, “Pretzel Vendor.”
Cahan’s son, a prominent doctor and anti-smoking activist, died some time ago; his grandsons still survive. One is a doctor, one is a writer.
So: a picture that has probably not been looked at by any human being currently alive, by a now-obscure artist who was once famous, depicting a soon-to-be-extinct community engaged in a long-gone activity.
A perfect illustration for the Oblivioni ethos.