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Constantin Alajalov
Telephone Exchange

1962

About the Item

Telephone Exchange, Cover of The Saturday Evening Post Magazine, April 7, 1962 Constantin Alajalov was the court artist to the Czar of Russia at the time of the Russian Revolution, barely escaping with his life before coming to America and getting a job illustrating for New Yorker magazine. He quickly adapted to the American way of life, and his cartoon-like drawings made his admiring public laugh at themselves. His many covers for The Saturday Evening Post were amusing, unique and highly collectible. “The Telephone Exchange,” painted for the cover of The Saturday Evening Post on April 7, 1962, shows two young ladies chatting while a surprised telephone operator listens intently to learn the local gossip. In the fifty years since then, operators have been replaced by direct dialing, and gossip has been relegated to newspapers and television. The Post described, “We hasten to point out that most telephone operators do not consider eavesdropping good form. The apartment-house switchboard girl depicted on our cover by artist Constantin Alajalov, however, evidently finds listening in to gossip fascinating —though on this occasion, downright shocking. We have only faint hope that the earful she is getting will cure her noisiness.” (The Saturday Evening Post, April 7, 1962, p. 3)
  • Creator:
    Constantin Alajalov (1900 - 1987, American)
  • Creation Year:
    1962
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 21 in (53.34 cm)Width: 10 in (25.4 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Fort Washington, PA
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: 4861stDibs: LU3843924563

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