With today’s post of “Ian plays and Snoopy Sings”, I reach out to all of you to join us to fill in the blanks if you know more about the history and the stories of “Ian and Snoopy.” This watercolor is part of a series of Children with Toys created around 1981 for a one man show at the Bank of Bentonville.
Each week we post the multi-dimensional talent and interests of James Yale and his art legacy. This watercolor series is one of many of his commissions in advertising. Do you know someone or a company who commissioned James to create advertising? Or perhaps you know who owns the artwork for us to re-photograph in high resolution to add in building James’ catalog and legacy? I always want to thank you for helping us each week with more clues to follow up on by sharing your artwork, stories, and these posts that may reach more sleuths to join us in this ongoing adventure.
What I do know about this series is that James was commissioned by Ertl Toys for an advertising campaign from 1980 – 1983. Ertl Toys for over 60 years produced farm toys for John Deere and also acquired the licenses to produce die-cast vehicles and model kits that included DC Comics and Star Wars.
From James’ notebook – Yale Studio History- 1977 – 1994, I found his entries about the series that included images for an advertising campaign from 1981-1983 watercolors of children with toys:
- Boy with a raygun
- Boy with Star Wars space ship
- Girl with panda bear
- model: Mikey and catfish with fishing rod
- Ian playing piano with Snoopy on the piano (Personal collection),
- Girl with doll
- Boy with tractor
- Boy with Dukes of Hazzard car
- Girl with monkey
- Boy with fighter plane
- Baby with deer
- Girl with collie dog
“Ian Plays the Piano and Snoopy Sings”, James kept in his personal collection. There is a little eddy of emotion for me in posting today. The last month before James left planet Earth, I would bring paintings from his artist studio up to the house for him to see one more time. One of those paintings was of blues singer Cherry Brooks titled: ”The Lesson.” The last painting James asked me to find for him was Ian and Snoopy. I didn’t find it until after he passed. Never seeing this watercolor before, I didn’t make the connection at the time, but is it a clue to who Ian is in this watercolor playing the piano? Is Ian related to Cherry Brooks?
And one more point of beagle interest about Snoopy: James and I rescued a very old beagle we named Olive. After living with her for over two years, we realized that we are beagle people. Beagless after Olive passed, I surprised James one day, and brought this little girl home, and placed her on his head. They were inseparable. This is Whoopi.
— Charlotte Buchanan Yale
