Jack Schurch, 1952, 15" x 20"
I came across a large pile of old paintings, drawings, pastels, and prints by Jack Schurch one day while thrifting, but this was the only piece that was interesting enough for me to purchase. Mr. Schurch must have worked as an illustrator for some years, as several cheap prints of Delacroix inspired Medieval horseback battles, ethnic village scenes, and other early-sixties "living room art" were included among the eight or ten original works I saw. Most of the pastels had a mass-production-like quality to them as if they would have been used for greeting cards or for the aforementioned living room art, but I just cannot figure out what sort of product the above piece might have been used for. The woman's hair has been drawn in India ink and then pasted onto the cardboard "canvas" which makes me think that this work may have undergone a few revisions in preparation for production, but I just can't seem to get past that huge protruding nipple. If this pastel was indeed drawn for commercial use, what type of product was the image printed on, and who would have ever bought such an item in 1952?