In a career spanning five decades, Karl Hubenthal (1917-1998) worked in virtually every area of cartooning and freelance illustration. Following his service in World War II, Hubenthal was personally hired (1949) by William Randolph Hearst as a sports and editorial cartoonist for the Los Angeles Herald- Examiner. Working from his home studio in the Los Angeles suburb of Encino and lacking immediate access to the newspaper's reference library, Hubenthal found it increasingly important to maintain and rely on his meticulously organized "morgue" of clippings, ephemera, tearsheets, news wire photos and "scrap" for image research. Thousands upon thousands of images were carefully organized by the artist in bulging file folders. Today while any reference photo is but an instantaneous Google image search away, prior to the digital revolution virtually every cartoonist, illustrator and commercial artist depended on their well-stocked analog morgue when they found themselves having to draw anything from Mount Rushmore to a steam locomotive. In 2018 it should come as no surprise that something once so ubiquitous within a cartoonist's studio has essentially disappeared. This is why The Karl Hubenthal Morgue Of Research Imagery is of such extraordinary historic significance.

We are currently seeking appraisal of this historic, one-of-a-kind artifact by a qualified professional experienced in illustration, cartooning and the commercial arts to help establish its Fair Market Value before donating the collection to a major university's comic research archive.

Please email us.

The Morgue

Linear feet:

Approximately 10

File Folders:

340-370. These brown chipboard folders measure 15" x 9.5". They are each hand-lettered/numbered by Hubenthal on their tabs.

Dividers:

30. These 15" x 9.5" elements are also hand-lettered by Hubenthal.

Black Index Book:

Alphabetical 3-ring binder in black faux-leather 6.5" x 8". Hand-typed page entries.

Green Index Book:

Alphabetical 3-ring binder in green canvas 6.5" x 8". Hand-lettered by Hubenthal with rubber stamped numbers.

Housing:

4 drawer Anderson Hickey legal folder file cabinet (black)

Collection:

An estimated 8,000+ pieces of reference images (all numbered by rubber stamp) collected and catalogued by Hubenthal. Includes newswire photos, newspaper/magazine clippings, paper ephemera, tearsheets, printed cartoons/illustrations, original sketches/thumbnails, veloxes, camera-ready prints, syndicate slicks, etc.

 

 

Photographs:

(Click For Detailed View)

The black index book (hand-typed)

The green index book (hand-lettered)

Drawer detail

Hand-lettered legal size files

Newswire photographs going back to the 1930s

Many of these photographs still bear original airbrushing and retouching

Stacks of vintage newswire photographs that were published in Hearst newspapers

Just a handful of the over 70 reference images in Hubenthal's morgue folder titled "FACTORY"

Morgue folder 275 (FOURTH ESTATE) includes photos of typewriters, newsrooms and printing presses.

It is difficult to provide an exact count of how many individual reference images are housed in the morgue, but we estimate approximately 8,000+

Numerous Hubenthal pencil sketches were files away in the morgue, though almost none are dated.

These sketches are primarily drawn in soft pencil on newsprint or vellum. Over 100 were discovered in the morgue.

Every now and then you'll open a file in the morgue, stumbled a sketch -- and find a tearsheet clipping of Hubenthal's final, published version of the art.

"Karl was the first professional cartoonist I ever met. At first he became a mentor, then over the years a friend. When he passed away in 1998, his wife Elsie called me up. She knew that even as a kid of 15 I was wildly impressed with Karl's morgue, so she asked me if I would like to have it -- otherwise she'd regretfully have to throw it away. Of course I was honored to become the caretaker of Karl's morgue. Since 2005 I've mantained the files in the basement of my Cape Cod studio. When famous illustrators, cartoonists and artists of my generation come to visit, together we browse the morgue in awe. It is a one-of-a-kind artifact from a different time and one would be hard pressed to find a similar repository in existence. Karl's morgue is a piece of history, a tangible resource that one can actually touch with their hands -- and appreciate the challenges all commercial artists faced when working in the pre-Google image search years. Happily, I have been the caretaker of this uncommon collection of reference ephemera for long enough - but now it's time to pass it on so the collection can be accessed, studied and appreciated within an academic environment. This is why I have decided to donate The Karl Hubenthal Morgue Of Research Imagery to Columbia University's Comics and Cartoons Library. It's important that we preserve and maintain such a rare and precious resource like this - rather than letting it become forgotten or, worse yet, lost to a landfill. I couldn't be happier to find in Columbia a home for a resource as unique as this - and surely Karl would be just as happy." - Bob Staake Chatham, Massachusetts, USA