By Stephen Longstreet
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Bessie Smith - If You Don't Like My Peaches - Don't Shake My Tree
Collage, 1980
Signed and dated in pencil lower right (see photo)
Titled in pencil lower left
Original price verso '3,000' (see photo)
Provenance: Acquired from the artist
Joseph M. Erdelac, Cleveland, friend and patron of the artist
Condition: Very good
Usual minor condition issues (wrinkling) associated with the artist's creation process
Stephen Longstreet (1907-2002)
The artist’s own grandchildren attempt to fathom the real life and nature of Stephen Longstreet, prolific author, artist, screenplay writer, and jazz aficionado.
Born Chauncy Weiner (sometimes spelled Wiener) in New York City in 1907, Longstreet reinvented himself on a regular basis. Changing his name first to “Henry,” then “Henri,” he started his career as a commercial artist for a department store. In various public biographies he claimed to have studied in New York, London, and Paris, and said he was a student of cartoonist Ralph Barton (1891-1931). Facts that can be documented are that he was art editor for Golfer and Sportsman magazines, and was a contributor to various other magazines including The New Yorker, Saturday Evening Post, Colliers, Life, and Hooey, among others. He wrote sketches for NBC radio and the Rudy Vallee Show.
In the 1930s, Longstreet worked and wrote under the names Thomas Burton, David Ormsbee, and Paul Haggard...
Category
1980s Abstract Art by Medium: Magazine Paper
