GEORGE STUDDY
"Still Buzzing Around!" Illustration for Bonzo Series postcards produced by Valentines & Sons, featuring Bonzo the Dog swatting away a wasp, c. 1926. Mixed media, including watercolor and gouache over graphite on board. 197x318 mm; 7 3/4x12 1/2 inches. Signed in lower right image.George Studdy, the British comic strip artist, created the beloved character of Bonzo the Dog in 1922. First appearing in The Sketch magazine, the loveable pup quickly became a popular international icon, making appearances in other publications, such as The American Weekly magazine, in animated cartoons, and on mass-produced merchandise. This illustration was commissioned by Valentines & Sons for a series of Bonzo postcards that were created and sold after the character was dropped from The Sketch in the late 1920s. Reflecting Bonzo's global appeal, the postcard series was subsequently produced for the international market by A.R. & Co. I.B./Inter-Art Co. One printed example found of this postcard design with dual captions in German and English shows that the text on the foreign language cards are not necessarily direct translations of the original English.