Herbert Bohnert (1890-1967)
Kinsey Blended Whiskey Gentleman Fisher
Watercolor and gouache on illustration board
American: c. 1940s
Signed lower left
37 x 30 inches
44.5 x 39 inches in burlwood frame
$7,800, framed
Gentleman Fisher
Painting by Herbert Bohnert, c. 1940s
Painting by Herbert Bohnert, c. 1940s
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A bemused fisherman who has caught an impressively large marlin watches a wealthy gentleman posing for a photograph. The gent proudly holds up his catch -- a string of little fish -- but is having his picture taken with the marlin. The gentleman was a character from a series of print ads for Kinsey Blended Whiskey that appeared in the 1940s. This is apparently the original illustration artwork for an ad or proposed ad.
Herbert Bohnert was a painter and illustrator. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he studied at the Cleveland School of Art. He pursued a successful career as an advertising illustrator in New York, and lived in Hastings-on-Hudson. Like his contemporary Norman Rockwell, Bohnert's illustrational style was naturalistic and attentive to the nuances of facial expression, costume and setting to convey character. A member of the Society of Illustrators, the Salmagundi Club and the Artists Guild, he was married to Rosetta Bohnert (1885-1980), also an artist.
Condition: Generally very good with the usua overal toning, light wear, soiling, abrasions. Small dampstain lower left not obtrusive. Board slightly warped.
References:
Falk, Peter Hastings, ed. Who Was Who in American Art. Madison, Connecticut: Sound View Press, 1985. p. 64.