Edmund Joseph Sullivan

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Edmund Joseph Sullivan
1869-1933
Cutting the Coat According to the Cloth
1917
Pen and black ink over graphite, on illustration board.
14 11/16 x 10 9/16 inches (373 x 269 mm)
Bequest of Gordon N. Ray, 1987.
1986.1576
Notes: 

Title from item.
Caption continues: Head Cutter. "We're cutting it very fine, Madam - you must either diet yourself, or submit to tight lacing."
Original drawing by E.J. Sullivan for a political cartoon for publication in the London weekly, The National news, 1917.

Inscription: 

Signed and dated at upper left, "Edmund J. Sullivan 1917"; on verso in pen, "Cutting the Coat According to the Cloth. Head Cutter. "We're cutting it very fine, Madam - you must either diet yourself, or submit to tight lacing."; in blue pencil, "National News," followed by specifications for the printer.

Provenance: 
From the library of Gordon N. Ray.
Summary: 

Drawing shows Britannia, with helmet and shield, standing in a tailor's shop where she is being fitted by Food Controller Hudson Ewbanke Kearley, 1st Viscount Devonport, who appears in the likeness of a tailor; on either side of them stand corseted mannequins labeled "Dernier cri," and, "The Devonport Waist."

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