Heritage to Re-Offer Controversial Charles Schulz Oil Painting Owned by Stan Lee.

DALLAS, TEXAS: Heritage Comics Auctions (HCA) will re-offer an important and controversial painting by Charles Schulz in its upcoming Signature Sale, to be held April 2-3, 2004 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City.

"This is one of the most important pieces we have ever handled, because it is the only painting ever done by the most beloved and popular cartoonist of all time," said John Petty, Auction Director for Heritage Comics. The painting is described as follows:

Charles Schulz - Original Oil Painting (1965)

The story really begins in 1947, with the publication of the first Li'l Folks strip in the St. Paul Pioneer Press by a then-unknown cartoonist named Charles Monroe Schulz. The strip ran for two years as a Sunday feature at the back of the women's section. Eventually wanting a raise and better placement, Schulz approached his editor, who promptly turned him down, thereby forcing Schulz to resign. From such small decisions is history often made, however, as this was the impetus Schulz needed to take his strip to a wider audience and, on October 2, 1950, Peanuts premiered in seven newspapers. Two years later the Sunday strip premiered and the feature was a certified hit. Considered by many to be the finest comic strip ever published, the Peanuts characters are known and beloved around the world and have spread their fame over a variety of media, including TV specials, feature films, a hit Broadway musical, and, as offered here, the high-class world of fine art.

In 1965, a number of the nation's top cartoonists were asked to created a piece of "pop art" (au courant at the time, due to the groundbreaking and gallery-worthy work of artists like Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol) for an exhibit and auction to benefit the USO. Hosted by Joan Crawford, the event was a gala black tie affair sponsored by the Newspaper Comics council, attended by over 400 people. One of those people, a young comics writer named Stan Lee, fell in love with this piece painted by Schulz and outbid everyone else in the room for it. Rendered in oils on masonite, Schulz cut real slats of wood and attached them with nails to the masonite board to create Snoopy's doghouse. Furthermore, Snoopy's ear is a real piece of felt. Measuring 21.25" x 31.5" overall, with an image area of approximately 19.75" x 30", this is, as far as is known, Schulz's only foray into this medium, making this a truly unique piece of Americana.

Included with this magnificent piece is a photo of Joan Crawford posing with the painting. The piece is signed by Schulz in the lower left corner, and the original gallery sticker identifying the piece is retained on the back.

Provenance: Collection of the consignor Stan Lee, USO Benefit auction 1965, Charles Schulz.

Controversy: Some bidders may remember, as reported on November 21, 2002 in The New York Times, that this piece was originally offered in Heritage's October 2002 auction at the Dallas Comicon. At that time, questions raised by the Schulz estate regarding the painting's authenticity caused it to be withdrawn prior to the auction.

The day before the painting was to be sold, Heritage Auctions received an e-mail from Edna Poehner, Administrative Assistant to Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates in Santa Rosa, California, insisting that the artwork was not created by Schulz. Heritage announced the withdrawal and shared the following email, written by Ms. Poehner, with all interested bidders: "According to Mr. Schulz's secretary at that time, Mr. Schulz's wife, Jean, and various people who worked with Mr. Schulz and know his art, this was definitely not done by him. He would have had to have painted it out behind the garage, packed and mailed it off himself, as she never saw or heard of any signs of such a project. He has never spoken of any kind of oil painting, in fact he often said that he wished he knew how to use oils."

For the next year, while Heritage researched the matter, the painting has adorned the office wall of Heritage President Greg Rohan. According to Greg, "Despite the allegation by the Schulz estate, we never doubted the authenticity because of its provenance. We politely pointed out that his widow may have no memory of it because the painting was created a full ten years before she married Schulz. Ms. Poehner remained polite but firm in her stance."

Consignor Stan Lee was equally adamant regarding the painting's authenticity: "I KNOW the painting is authentic as I personally attended the USO auction, and personally bid on it," Lee said. "Every piece was offered as an original work by a known comic strip artist. I can't believe that the USO or Charles Schulz would have been party to a hoax. I also have a Polaroid photo of the painting I showed to Sparky [Schulz's nickname] at a cartoonist's function in 1988. He said to me something like, "Gee, I barely remember this,' then autographed the back of the photo to me, writing, 'To Stan with friendship. Charles Schulz.' Seems to me if the painting wasn't authentic he'd have said something entirely different, or, at least, not autographed the back of its photo!"

Mort Walker, creator of the comic strips Beetle Bailey and Hi & Lois, who also attended and submitted artwork for the 1965 fund-raising auction, agrees with Stan Lee. Walker was contacted by Lee, and responded immediately: "In talking to several other cartoonists, the unanimous feeling is that the Schulz painting owned by Stan Lee is authentic. I knew 'Sparky' for 50 years and know he would never allow anyone else to do his artwork or sign it. He was very adamant about that," Walker stated in a letter.

We also asked Stan to attempt to locate the photograph he described above. This photograph has been located, and now accompanies the painting, along with other documentation about the event, including a photographic slide depicting Joan Crawford standing next to the painting, and a copy of a press release from the May 1965 event at which the painting was sold (the same picture of Ms. Crawford standing next to this painting is quite prominent in the press release). Heritage Comics, now fully satisfied as to the authenticity of this landmark work, is pleased to offer this important, unique and exquisite piece of cartoonist and pop art history to the collecting public.

For more information about Heritage's auctions, and a complete record of prices realized, along with full-color, enlargeable photos of each lot, please visit www.HeritageComics.com.