Letters from Carl Barks - part 1

[Daniel van Eijmeren]

Since last year I got so busy with the information and material sent 
to me by people, that I got very much behind in processing it all.
Thanks to software made for me by a friend (who's DCML-member, too), 
I'm now able to work faster. If I don't spend too much time on writing 
this very explanation, I might even catch up! :-) 


Now, finally, the subject of this email:

A b/w xerox of below typewritten letter was sent to me on November 8, 2000.
Transcription is made by me. I hope it's free of errors. I will make a scan
of the xerox available. As far as I know this letter is unpublished. 
If it isn't, please let me know.


Some notes about the contents of the letter:

"Belles to the Klondike" is a non-Disney oil, with number "#20-78" 
on the back. It is part of the series "Famous Figures Of History As 
They Might Have Looked Had Their Genes Gotten Mixed With Waterfowl."

The back also notes "Comic Art Collection Of T.L. Taylor" and 
"Reproduction of this subject in whole or in part prohibited 
without written permission of the artist CARL BARKS".

In the below letter, Barks gives additional information about this 
copyright notice. He also refers to "lean years", which I think is 
a reference to having quit with painting his more popular Disney 
subjects in 1976. (Temporarily, as it turned out.)


-- Daniel


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June 1, 1990 

Dear Mr. Leppala: 

Thank you for your interesting letter of May 25th and for the 
photos and comic books. I am astonished to learn that BELLES OF 
THE KLONDIKE has traveled all the way to Finland and that it has 
commanded such a respectable price as $65,000 (U.S.). My records 
show that I painted and sold the subject in 1978 to a collector 
named Terry Taylor for $600. I hope he got a substantial part of 
that huge increase in price. It was the patronage of venturesome 
buyers like him that kept me going in those lean years. 

As for the copyright notice on the back of the painting, it is 
intended to stop people from reproducing the subject in such ways 
as posters or multiple prints for individual sales. I have no ob- 
jection to its use as part of a magazine or newspaper article. 
I would only object if Roope-Seta printed it as a "tip-in" on 
glossy paper that could be lifted from the magazine whole. 

You ask how many non-Disney subjects I have painted. My record 
books show that I dashed off about 67, of which 53 are small 
8x10 inch comic watercolors. The others are 14x18 inch and 16x20 
inch oils. I did a few small landscape paintings in the 1950s 
and 1960s that I do not count. 

I want to thank collectors like yourself for bidding up the 
prices of my older paintings to such respectable levels. You in- 
spire new buyers to pay good prices for my new paintings. I only 
regret that I am now so old and slow I can barely paint two 
subjects a year. 


Sincerely 

Carl Barks

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