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#FA-10 - Original Tempera Illustration by California Commercial Artist, Albert Mundhenk - approx. 9.5" x 20.75" - $195.00, as-found This is a piece of original art that was done in 1914. The title, seen in pencil at the bottom of the piece, reads: "Made for a 'Cartoon Masquerade' Poster at Calif. School Arts & Crafts, Berkeley", and signed at the right in ink "A. Mundhenk - '14 - Apologies to all.". Mundhenk was a commercial artist who lived in Watsonville, California and had offices in San Francisco. His working career spanned the last decade of the 19th and the first three decades of the 20th centuries. Based upon the several varied pieces of his we have offered thus far, we believe he worked primarily in tempera. These works came to us through another dealer, who purchased them from a California estate. Sadly, little information came along with the art itself, so we've had to piece together what little we have from the subject matter of the art itself, and a few anecdotes. Original pieces of Mundhenck art we have offered range from commissions for commercial shipping interests, children's book illustration, California landscapes, plus personal Christmas cards, and this very unusual piece! Older members of our society and cartoon buffs will recognize such popular early 20th century cartoon characters as Buster Brown, Maggie and Jiggs, and the Captain and the Kids (or Katzenjammer Kids as the strip was later named) plus a host of others, which I'm unable to identify because I wasn't born until 1940. The condition, is Good+, with 3 vertical file folds, and some chipping and creasing at the corners, where it was obviously held on some wall or bulletin board with pins. White "jesso" has been used to blot out some design elements that the artist wished to change. Also there are pencil additions at the UL margin and the bottom. The cartoon and captions were done in India Ink and then colored-in using tempera (or poster paint). The pencil notes were probably added after the art had been photographed for the poster, and thereafter the original resided in his office as a memento of the occasion. All of this is speculation, of course, but having grown-up with a graphic artist father, it would seem to fit with what I saw over the course of his career. The piece is lightly mounted on a backing board using archival-grade, non-staining tape. the backing board and mat are of acid-free materials, and all is protected in a mylar sleeve. As with all of our offerings, we unconditionally guarantee the authenticity of this piece and Mundhenk's signature!