1953 Topps Baseball Card Poster by Gerry Dvorak

[ocjack]

Have never seen that poster before. But it appears to show pictures of 1953 Topps cards, not pictures of the original artwork. I remember when Marriott bought the actual paintings for the Mantle and Mays in the Topps auction. They then issued prints of the paintings in limited number.

From my recollection, there was never any evidence that Dvorak actually painted the Mantle and Mays, other than his "say-so." Topps did not have any records from that period that would help settle the issue.

Dvorak, at the time, repainted the Mantle portrait. I remember showing it to a friend who is a well-respected artist. His conclusion was that if Dvorak had painted the original, his skills as an artist had declined over the years as represented by his re-draw of the portrait. From an artist's view, the newer painting lacked the subtlety, shadings, details and other finer points (beyond my non-artistic senses) that were part of the original drawing. His conclusion (only) was that Dvorak was not the original artist. Albeit, still an artist of some skill, and certainly a better painting than I could have accomplished lol. And as a caveat, may have been painted quicker to take advantage of the marketing push of the Marriott prints. (although the other side of that equation is that the artists who painted the original 1953 portraits were probably under extreme deadlines as well.)

It's interesting that of the portraits he claims to have painted (per the poster), the Mantle and Mays are not among them. But, it's one of those things we'll never know for sure. I'm attaching a picture of both the original portrait (on the left) and the later rendition (on the right).