Original sketch of raccoons by Edie Sedgwick, accomplished in graphite on an off-white 17.75 x 11.75 sheet of sketching paper that shows a mother raccoon carrying a kit in her mouth, signed below, “Edith Sedgwick, ‘62.” Matted to an overall size of 22 x 16.5. In fine condition, with a couple of trivial stains.
Sedgwick left the St. Timothy's School boarding school in 1959 and returned to her family’s La Laguna ranch in California. She remained there until she was sent to the private Silver Hill psychiatric hospital in New Canaan, Connecticut, in the fall of 1962. Her date notation of 1962 places her at the age of either 18 or 19 when this work was created. Sedgwick’s childhood on the ranch instilled in her a great love for animals of all sizes, with mice, rats, and raccoons being no exception. This very drawing can be found on page 114 of Jean Stein’s book Edie: An American Biography.
From the Michael Post Collection.
