Original painting by Oscar-winning actor James Cagney, done as a birthday gift for fellow actor Jack Webb, accomplished in oil on a 7.25 x 13.25 board, signed in the lower left in white paint, "J. Cagney." The lively Impressionist-style artwork shows a bouquet of bursting red flowers against a streaky mustard-colored background. Displayed in its original 11 x 17.25 frame, with an autograph poem on the backing in black felt tip, signed "Jim C." Cagney pens a poem entitled "A Birthday Jingle," in full: "For Jack, upon his natal day, / A deserved pallette knife bouquet / For his devotion to one unhappy land / Means more to him than trees & sand / or movies shown on Channel Seven / For all its faults to him it's Heaven." In very good to fine condition, with tears and crude tape repairs to the damaged backing. Accompanied by a letter of provenance from 1990, stating: "I purchased this painting in 1988 from Mrs. Jack Webb, at an estate sale, at her daughter's home in Santa Monica, Calif. It was painted exclusively for Jack Webb by James Cagney, as a birthday gift."
Cagney earned his fame as one of Hollywood's most distinctive tough guys, playing gangsters in classics like The Public Enemy (1931), Taxi! (1932), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), and White Heat (1949). Webb, on the other hand, is remembered for his role as the straight-laced detective Sgt. Joe Friday in the the Dragnet franchise. A unique piece of original artwork painted by one noteworthy actor for another.
