Ellie Bogardus - The Commercial Side

When I received the recent image of another Ellie Bogardus painting that Todd had sent, I wrote to my sister-in-law how the cat resembled one of the paintings my brother and she have.

"See what you think - whether there is similarity between your 1980, and the one on the blog."

She checked, and sure enough, it was from the nineteen-eighties as well.

"This one is really similar to the print on the sweatshirt your mom had. Looks very much 1980's Ellie."

Child's sweatshirt, 1987 - "I Feel So Cuddlie"

"Does Mom still have the sweatshirt? If so, I will need a photograph of it - the commercialization of Ellie."

Dana: "I think she may be wearing it in a photo."

Me: "Do you have a copy? I will check back in my electronic photo album. I[f] you have copy, would you scan it and send it to me?"

About the same time I sent my question, she wrote back: "I just put a picture on your wall. You made me dig through the baby stuff[.]"

She checked her photographs and found a picture with my niece wearing an Ellie sweatshirt. Above is a picture of the sweatshirt dug up from the past - definitely a 1980's style drawing of a cat.

Earlier today I was thinking that I will need to begin creating a social network diagram for the connections between people who are contributing to compilation of Ellie Bogardus artwork being brought together. As for the commercial nature of the cat-on-a-sweatshirt piece, even the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics keeps records on employment by artists in the Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition - check it out at the link here.

Pop Art is just that, popular art. Back when Ellie was painting, there was no way with our young family we could have afforded her art. The same for my brother and sister-in-law: "...the Ellie I could afford in "87. Didn't think I threw art away. I bet your mom still has hers. I'll look for her picture."