RAINBOW CLASSICS, Original Illustration by Kurt Wiese for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne by WIESE, Kurt - 1946

Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing Company, 1946. Drawing in pen, black ink, and white gouache. 8 ½ x 11 ¾ inches on drawing paper 9 x 13 ¼ inches. The drawing, not signed, does have the penciled annotations, "1/2 Reduction" and "p. 162"; the verso bears only a few numbers. Showing the nose and a window of the Nautilus as it drifts through water thick with fish large and small; it is on page 171 of the published book (not p. 162), and in text describing seas north west of Australia. Matted and labeled for display. Upper margin a little darkened by the mounting hinge. Kurt Wiese (1886-1974), was born in Germany and wanted to be an artist early on, but pushed to the export trade, work took him to China, then World War I forced him to Australia as a prisoner and there he began drawing again. After release he went to Brazil, all places that fed his skill and imagination with narratives and images. In 1927 he arrived in the United States, quickly achieving success with his Bambi (Felix Salten) illustrations. Other well-known children's stories he illustrated included the Freddy the Pig series (Walter R. Brooks) and The Story about Ping (Marjorie Flack). Two stories he both wrote and illustrated were Caldecott Honor books, and he illustrated two Newbery Medal winners and two Newbery Honor books.