Toonder, M./Marten Toonder Studio's Drawing Tom Poes en de Chinese Waaier

Lijn-oh Li smoking a pipe while Tom Puss quietly enters the room. India ink, watercolour on paper. 7.8 x 12.7 cm, (ca. 1944). In passe-partout. Rare original work, by Toonder or one of the early Studio illustrators.

Provenance: Given to collector Sonneveld in 1973 by Joop Becker. Becker and his wife worked at the Toonder Studio's Cartoon department during the war and early post-war years (they worked on a.o. Tom Puss and the Haunted Castle). Correspondence from Becker to Sonneveld referring to this period can be consulted upon request. *The drawing differs in minor details from the one used for the printed black-and-white D.A.V.I.D. edition (1948). The story 'The Chinese Waaier' first appeared on August 15 1944, and was abruptly cut short on November 20 of that year, picture no. 1079. Around that time Toonder was reported ill ('Tom Poes had fallen ill'- De Telegraaf), which coincided with the German takeover of the newspaper De Telegraaf.