They’re actually surprisingly skilled drawings considering they were done at the spur of the moment,” said Cohen.
“Probably my favorite is by my friend, Tom Bachtell, an illustrator whose work often appears in The New Yorker. He made one for me, but he usually also donates one or two to the annual auction.”
Other masterpieces purchased at the Live Bait auction now hanging in the Cohen powder room include drawings by Lynda Barry, Lena Horne, Eli Wallach, Elmore Leonard, and Geraldine Ferrero.
“I love the idea that these well-known and accomplished people are playful enough and generous enough to donate their doodles a wonderful little theater in Chicago that most of them will never even see,” said Cohen. “A few years ago at a party, I asked Lawrence Ferlinghetti to draw something. He used a green marker and while drawing, he dipped his finger in his glass of wine to use the liquid to blur the lines and create shading.”
Cohen says she has paid between $40 and $500 per doodle. Some of the best drawings by the most famous people go for amounts in the thousands.
“It’s for a good cause, the arts,” said Cohen.
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