24-246 Paul Davis Original 1960 Illustration 12 x 15

21-year-old Paul Davis contributed this terrific drawing to “The Push Pin Monthly Graphic Number 27” published in 1960 to promote the creative work of the eponymous design studio. The subject of issue 27 was “The Kings and Queens of England and how they died.” I’ve included a snapshot of the page where the drawing appeared.

This original drawing survives because in the 1980s I was a young designer at Push Pin given the job to help clean out the old art files. We threw away a dumpster full of paste-ups, the mechanical art sent to a printer for reproduction. They were considered worthless. I kept a few.

This art is a photostat hand-colored with India ink by Paul Davis. The process involved making the original painting (probably very tiny), then applying a halftone screen texture. That’s why there’s a notation “Sharp and contrasty” at the top. The last step was to fill in the background. Paul Davis left Push Pin to found his own design studio in 1963, working in NYC and from his Sag Harbor residence. He’s perhaps most known for the large bus stop posters and banners advertising performances at Joseph Papp’s Public Theater in NYC.