Jeremy Steig, 1990, original mixed media drawing

Jeremy steig. 1942 (manhattan) – 2016 (yokohama) “untitled” (devil and suspicious nude) 1990. Mixed media on card. Signed and dated in marker top left. 250 × 333 mm|9 3/4 × 13 in. Steig was the son of new yorker cartoonist (and creator of shrek) william steig and elizabeth (mead) steig, head of the fine arts department at lesley college. His maternal aunt was the influential and celebrated cultural anthropologist margaret mead. From an early age he drew and painted obsessively, influenced to some extent by his father’s work, but also nurtured creatively by the wide cultural circle of artists of all kinds in which his family was immersed. He was an acclaimed musician who began playing flute professionally while at the high school of music in manhattan. His first album, flute fever, recorded at the age of 21, was released by columbia in 1963 and became a best-seller, credited by some as inventing the genre of jazz flute. The cover of this album, and most of his subsequent releases, was illustrated with his own distinctive artwork. His song “howlin’ for judy” from his 1970 album legwork was sampled in the beastie boys’ 1994 single sure shot, providing the main instrumental hook of the song. He performed the role of the pied piper, exclusively on flute, in the film shrek forever after. He lived in japan with his wife asako until his death from cancer in 2016.

Ref. : TDGA23GU