Fox and Hare.

New York:, undated [1902].. Fine. Fine condition. Original Charcoal and ink on paper. Image and sheet size : 12 1/4 x 9 3/4 inches. Elegantly custom framed in Ecru rag board with gilt decoration, one inch neoclassical silver moulding. Dimensions: 21 5/8 x 19 5/8 inches. Executed in charcoal and ink on paper- Charles Livingston Bull's preferred medium- On a rocky outcropping set above sinuous trees, a crouching Fox spies on two unsuspecting Hare below. It is evident in this charged scene of the intended hunt set in a sinuously treed landscape Bull owes a debt to the ephemerally fluid nature of the English Art Nouveau, and reflective of the work of Aubrey Beardsley (1872 - 1898)- a clear inspiration to Bull. Nonetheless- this drawing could quite possibly have been a composition intended for Andrews Wilkinson's Plantation Stories of Old Louisiana. It was not unusual for Bull to create far more compositions than were used for hundreds of stories he illustrated. Yet as was Bull's habit, these original drawings were often given to the author of the work- or the editor and were seldom seen afterwards.