A Guidebook to the Carl Barks Universe

Additional credits: In a May 11, 1999 letter to Markku Kivekäs, Barks wrote: "I haven't much record of the painting. [...] It is one of a few subjects that I used for experiments in composition and color in the 1950's and 60's.
Some were watercolors and gouache, some acrylics, and some oils. This subject, "Utah Color", was one I did over and over with mountains of different shapes and colors. The buildings were adapted from a lesson sketch in an old time watercolor instruction book. I invented the sheep and foreground field.
I can't remember if this painting started as a watercolor on heavy paper stock and then was finished with heavy opaque gouache, or if it was finished with oil colors. It is a good example of how I slowly changed from a black and white ink cartoonist into an "artist"."

Owners, past and present:

"My sales book says I sold it to Bill Grandey in 1988 for 600 dollars.": Quote from May 11, 1999 letter to Markku Kivekäs.
Sold at a Christie auction, to Marko Leppälä, a Finnish collector.

Publications:

Unpublished?

Circulating material: Color photo of painting, partly covered with flash-light.

Correspondence:

May 11, 1999 letter to Markku Kivekäs

Other views:

larger picture

Questions: Has this material been published?

Sources | image: © [Carl Barks]

boy/girl sitting on stone

Inducks: ...
Barrier: ---
CBL: ---
Type: oil on canvas
Creation date: [1950s? 1960s?]
Art: [Carl Barks?]
Pencil: [Carl Barks? none?]
Script: [Carl Barks?]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: [none or unknown]
Issue: [none or unknown]
Pages: 1
Orientation: portrait
Width: ±10 1/4 inch
Height: ±13 inch

Additional credits: Framed size is 16 inch x 18 inch. Ebay-seller "cartref" wrote about this painting: "This is a wonderful oil on canvas with a very nineteen-teens feel and, in my estimation, in the original frame. It has been very carefully and lightly and professionally cleaned, has new wire and paper on the back, and is in excellent condition. The signature on the lower right-hand side is "Barks". There may be a first name, but it really isn't discernible. (I don't know if this could be the Carl Barks of Disney-illustration fame since I'm unfamiliar with his works.)"

A boy or girl sits on a giant stone in an open field, holding a stick in his/her hands.

Publications:

Unpublished?

Circulating material:

close-up of scene: colour
painting with frame: colour
signature: colour

Other views: See "circulating material" field.

Questions: Is this a painting by Carl Barks? Do you have more information? Has it been published?

Sources | image: © [Walt Disney Productions]

Rose of Tralee

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [unknown]
Type: Acrylic on Masonite
Creation date: 1966?
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [none or unknown]
Publication date: [none or unknown]
Issue: [none or unknown]
Pages: [1]
Orientation: [unknown]
Width: [unknown] inch
Height: [unknown] inch

Possibly a girl on an exotic location.

Publications:

Unpublished?

Questions: Has this material been published?

Sources

Allah's Little Lamplighter

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [unknown]
Type: Acrylic on masonite
Creation date: 1966?
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none?]
Submission: [none or unknown]
Publication date: [none or unknown]
Issue: [none or unknown]
Pages: [1]
Orientation: [unknown]
Width: [unknown] inch
Height: [unknown] inch

Publications:

Unpublished?

Questions: Has this material been published?

Sources

What a Nerve!

Inducks: ...
Barks code: 67-23
Type: Acrylic on Masonite
Creation date: 1967
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: [none or unknown]
Issue: [none or unknown]
Pages: 1
Orientation: portrait
Width: 10 inch
Height: 8 inch

Additional credits: Numbered "23-67" on the back.

Young girl feeding a jay bird.

Owners, past and present: When the painting was for sale at Ebay on / around 14 September 1999, seller Scottocaster from Santa Barbara wrote: "Carl's brush work is outstanding on this painting with fine detail on the girl, bird, and especially the stained glass window. This painting was purchased from the artist himself in the mid-'70's and has been in my family ever since."

Publications:

Unpublished?

Circulating material:

picture as on Ebay: larger picture
picture as on Ebay: signature
picture as on Ebay: notes on the back of the painting

Other views: See "circulating material" field.

Questions: Has this material been published?

Sources | image: © [Carl Barks]

Spring in Samarkand

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [unknown]
CBL: 10C-703
Type: Acrylic on Masonite
Creation date: 1967
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [none or unknown]
Publication date: 1990, August
Issue: The Carl Barks Library - Set X
Pages: 1
Orientation: portrait
Width: 7 inch
Height: 9 inch

Oriental scene showing a girl beside an open window, while a (mainly) red bird is whistling on the window-sill.

Publications:

The Carl Barks Library - Set X (USA): colour

Sources | image: © [Carl Barks]

Rodeo Queen

Inducks: ...
Barks code: 68-02
Type: oil on canvas
Creation date: 1968
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: [none or unknown]
Issue: [none or unknown]
Pages: 1
Orientation: portrait
Width: 5 inch
Height: 7 inch

Wild West theme.

Owners, past and present: For sale at Ebay on 7 September 2000 (item #430956416).

Publications:

Unpublished?

Circulating material:

picture as on Ebay: with part of frame
picture as on Ebay: with entire frame
picture as on Ebay: notes on the back

Other views: See "circulating material" field.

Questions: Has this material been published?

Sources | image: © [Carl Barks]

Dude Ranch Belle

Inducks: ...
Barks code: 68-04
Type: oil on canvas
Creation date: 1968
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: [none or unknown]
Issue: [none or unknown]
Pages: 1
Orientation: portrait
Width: 5 inch
Height: 7 inch

Wild West theme.

Owners, past and present: For sale at Ebay on 7 September 2000 (item #430956468).

Publications:

Unpublished?

Circulating material:

picture as on Ebay: with part of frame
picture as on Ebay: with entire frame
picture as on Ebay: notes on the back

Other views: See "circulating material" field.

Questions: Has this material been published?

Sources | image: © [Carl Barks]

Last Days of an Old School

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [unknown]
CBL: 06C-684
Type: oil on canvasboard
Creation date: 1968
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: 1990, May
Issue: The Carl Barks Library - Set VI
Pages: 1
Orientation: landscape
Width: 48 inch
Height: 24 inch

Backstage: Commisioned. In 1967, the graduating class at San Jacinto High commisioned a painting of their old school, which would shortly be vacated in favor for a new set of buildings. Carl Barks was asked to be the artist. In May 1968 Barks made a series of preliminary sketches and then set to work on the painting itself. It was finished by September. In the newspaper "Hemet News" a photograph was published of Barks standing beside the painting with three other people.

Publications:

The Carl Barks Library - Set VI (USA): greyscale

Sources | image: © [Carl Barks]

The Cool of Morning

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [unknown]
CBL: 10C-701
Type: Oil on textured backside of Masonite
Creation date: 1968
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [none or unknown]
Publication date: 1990, August
Issue: The Carl Barks Library - Set X
Pages: 1
Orientation: landscape
Width: 12 inch
Height: 9 inch

Additional credits: The textured surface and soft application of color create a hazy look, giving this simple desert scene a romantic quality.

Publications:

The Carl Barks Library - Set X (USA): colour

Sources | image: © [Carl Barks]

Yesterday's Mansion

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [unknown]
CBL: 10C-701
Type: oil on canvasboard
Creation date: 1968
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [none or unknown]
Publication date: 1990, August
Issue: The Carl Barks Library - Set X
Pages: 1
Orientation: landscape
Width: 16 inch
Height: 12 inch

Backstage: In a note on the back, Barks styled this "a recreational painting ... a mostly imaginary scene first conceived in the sixties for showing at outdoor art shows in Palm Springs, where only desert scenes sell. Over the years, I have often rewedded and tinkered with the original composition, added branches to the tree, painted in and painted out hedgerows of cypress, even added an ocean in the distance. All that work to give myself short rests from the grind of drawing and painting the Disney ducks."

Publications:

The Carl Barks Library - Set X (USA): colour

Sources | image: © [Carl Barks]

Ramona's Descision

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [unknown]
Type: [oil]
Creation date: 1968
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: [none or unknown]
Issue: [none or unknown]
Pages: 1
Orientation: [unknown]
Width: [unknown] inch
Height: [unknown] inch

Additional credits: Painted for the annual art festival held during the Ramona Pageant in Hemet.

Publications:

Unpublished?

Circulating material: A greyscale photo of Barks posing with the painting has been published in The Carl Barks Library of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories in Color No. 27.

Questions: Has this material been published?

Sources

Daughter of the Chief

Inducks: ...
Barks code: 69-02
Type: oil on canvas, signed.
Creation date: 1969
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: [none or unknown]
Issue: [none or unknown]
Pages: 1
Orientation: portrait
Width: 21 inch
Height: 26 inch

Indian theme.

Owners, past and present: For sale at Ebay on August 27, 2000 (item #417804883). According to the seller (Mark Wilson?): "This painting hung in Mr. Barks home for many years & comes in the frame he put it in. Has his personal stamp and date on back side (2/69 - which means that it is his second painting and dated from 1969).... Bruce Hamilton (of Another Rainbow, and Carl Barks expert) commented to me "That's been in Carl's home... it is the earliest Barks oil I have ever seen"."

Publications:

Unpublished?

Circulating material:

picture as on Ebay: including signature close-up and a note on the back

Other views: See "circulating material" field.

Questions: Has this material been published?

Sources | image: © [Carl Barks]

A Day in May

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [unknown]
Type: [oil]
Creation date: 1969
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [none or unknown]
Publication date: 1977
Issue: Comic Book Price Guide: 1977/1978 [#7]
Pages: 1
Orientation: landscape
Width: 20 inch
Height: 16 inch

River and trees, with mountain on the background.

Publications:

Comic Book Price Guide: 1977/1978 [#7] (USA. Tennessee, Cleveland): colour

Sources | image: © [Carl Barks]

Hayday

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [unknown]
CBL: 10C-700
Type: Oil on Masonite
Creation date: 1969
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [none or unknown]
Publication date: 1990, August
Issue: The Carl Barks Library - Set X
Pages: 1
Orientation: landscape
Width: 24 inch
Height: 18 inch

Despite the cartoony aspect of the little house and the angular rows of mown hay, Barks keeps this farm scene realistic by adhering to rules of perspective and by softening large areas of color in the hills, rocks, and sky.

Publications:

The Carl Barks Library - Set X (USA): colour

Sources | image: © [Carl Barks]

Lost River at Enman's

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [unknown]
CBL: 10C-702
Type: oil on canvasboard
Creation date: 1969
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [none or unknown]
Publication date: 1990, August
Issue: The Carl Barks Library - Set X
Pages: 1
Orientation: landscape
Width: 16 inch
Height: 12 inch

Backstage: The Enman and Barks farms were neighbors in Oregon, and young Carl and his brother Clyde used to go ice-skating here in winter.

Publications:

The Carl Barks Library - Set X (USA): colour

Sources | image: © [Carl Barks]

Lost River Ranch

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [unknown]
Type: [oil]
Creation date: 1969
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none?]
Submission: [none or unknown]
Publication date: [unknown] ([Finland])
Issue: Minä Roope Setä
Pages: [1]
Orientation: [unknown]
Width: [unknown] inch
Height: [unknown] inch

Publications:

Minä Roope Setä ([Finland]): details unknown

Sources

Young Pauma Savage I

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [unknown]
Type: oil on canvas
Creation date: 1969
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none?]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: 1994 ?
Issue: Sotheby's Comic Book and Comic Art sales #6588 ?
Pages: [1]
Orientation: [portrait]
Width: 18 inch
Height: 24 inch

Owners, past and present: The art was for sale at Sotheby's auction in June 1994. The price range estimated was $4000-6000.

Publications:

Sotheby's Comic Book and Comic Art sales #6588 (USA, New York): ?

Questions: Has this material been published?

Sources

Young Pauma Savage II

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [unknown]
Type: oil on canvas
Creation date: 1969
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none?]
Submission: [none or unknown]
Publication date: 1981 ?
Issue: The Duckburg Times 12 ?
Pages: [1]
Orientation: [portrait]
Width: 18 inch
Height: 24 inch

Publications:

The Duckburg Times 12 ([USA]): ?; details unknown; maybe it's Young Pauma Savage III, instead

Questions: Has this material been published?

Sources

Young Pauma Savage III

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [unknown]
Type: oil on canvas
Creation date: 1969
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none?]
Submission: [none or unknown]
Publication date: 1981 ?
Issue: The Duckburg Times 12 ?
Pages: [1]
Orientation: [portrait]
Width: 18 inch
Height: 24 inch

Publications:

The Duckburg Times 12 ([USA]): ?; details unknown; maybe it's Young Pauma Savage II, instead

Questions: Has this material been published?

Sources

With All Their Possessions

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [unknown]
Type: Oil
Creation date: 1969
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: 1996
Issue: Animal Quackers
Pages: 1
Orientation: landscape
Width: [unknown] inch
Height: [unknown] inch

Indian theme.

Publications:

Animal Quackers ([USA]): colour

Sources | image: © [Carl Barks]

Evening Star

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [unknown]
Type: Oil
Creation date: 1969
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: 1996
Issue: Animal Quackers
Pages: 1
Orientation: portrait
Width: [unknown] inch
Height: [unknown] inch

Indian theme.

Publications:

Animal Quackers ([USA]): colour

Sources | image: © [Carl Barks]

barn

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [unknown]
Type: [oil?]
Creation date: late 1960s?
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: [none or unknown]
Issue: [none or unknown]
Pages: 1
Orientation: portrait
Width: 8 inch
Height: 10 inch

Barn with river, fence and three birds on foreground.

Owners, past and present: For sale at Ebay on / around 23 November 1998.

Publications:

Unpublished?

Circulating material:

larger edited picture
picture as on Ebay

Other views: See "circulating material" field.

Questions: Has this material been published? What is the title and identification number?

Sources | image: © [Carl Barks]

Carving the Maze Stone

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [unknown]
Type: [oil]
Creation date: probably late 1960s
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none?]
Submission: [none or unknown]
Publication date: [none or unknown]
Issue: [none or unknown]
Pages: [1]
Orientation: [unknown]
Width: [unknown] inch
Height: [unknown] inch

Publications:

Unpublished?

Questions: Has this material been published?

Sources

"Field with a Ditch and a Mail Box"

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [unknown]
Type: [oil]
Creation date: probably late 1960s
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none?]
Submission: [none or unknown]
Publication date: [none or unknown]
Issue: [none or unknown]
Pages: [1]
Orientation: [unknown]
Width: [unknown] inch
Height: [unknown] inch

Publications:

Unpublished?

Questions: Has this material been published?

Sources

Flight to the Mountains

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [unknown]
Type: Acryl on Masonite
Creation date: late 1960s
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none?]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: 1994 ?
Issue: Sotheby's Comic Book and Comic Art sales #6588 ?
Pages: 1
Orientation: [portrait]
Width: 9 inch
Height: 11,5 inch

Subject seems to be a Native American version of the Flight into Egypt, with a man walking with a staff up a mountain. Behind him is a woman on horseback carrying an infant. She is in blue with a white shawl or veil, clearly meant to look like the Virgin Mary.

Owners, past and present: The art was for sale at Sotheby's auction in June 1994. The price range estimated was $1000-1500.

Publications:

Sotheby's Comic Book and Comic Art sales #6588 (USA, New York): ?; small photo?

Questions: Has this material been published?
Sally, thanks for your information. My reply to you was returned as undeliverable.
Could you please contact me again? --- Daniël

Sources

Coast Range Farm

Inducks: ...
Barks code: 70-09
Type: Canvas
Creation date: 1970
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: [none or unknown]
Issue: [none or unknown]
Pages: 1
Orientation: landscape
Width: 10 inch
Height: 8 inch

Owners, past and present: For sale at Ebay on / around 18 November 1999. Seller "dear.charlie" located at San Franciso described the painting as "a gorgeous 8 x 10 inch canvas painting still in its orginal ornate frame! It is titled "Coast Range Farm" and coded "9-70" (9th painting done in 1970). SIGNED at lower right corner."

Publications:

Unpublished?

Circulating material:

larger edited picture
picture as on Ebay

Other views: See "circulating material" field.

Questions: Has this material been published?

Sources | image: © [Carl Barks]

What's The Hurry?

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [unknown]
CBL: 10C-703
Type: oil on canvas
Creation date: 1970
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [none or unknown]
Publication date: 1977
Issue: Comic Book Price Guide: 1977/1978 [#7]
Pages: 1
Orientation: landscape
Width: 24 inch
Height: 18 inch

Human sleeping on the back of a horse, barn visible on background.

Backstage: In a September 2, 1970 letter to Donald and Lynda Ault, Barks explained that he originally priced this painting at $280.00 "to keep it from selling too quickly. I hope to do more nostalgic, horsey, kidsy paintings to maybe edge into the calendar market. By pricing the horse picture ... a little high, it doesn't sell to the first farmer that comes along. Instead it hangs like an advertisement for many people to see. And maybe one viewer will be a calendar printer".

Surviving material:

what's the hurry? [pencil sketch]

Publications:

Comic Book Price Guide: 1977/1978 [#7] (USA. Tennessee, Cleveland): colour; small picture
The Carl Barks Library - Set X (USA): colour

Sources | image: © [Carl Barks]

Big Shot

Inducks: ...
Barks code: 71-05
Type: Oil?
Creation date: 1971
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: [none or unknown]
Issue: [none or unknown]
Pages: 1
Orientation: portrait
Width: 5 inch
Height: 7 inch

Additional credits: Notes on the back mention "BIG SHOT" and "#5-71" in black paint or marker.

Squirrel-looking animal sitting up on a bare tree in a hilly landsscape.

Backstage: Current owner Linda Linsday believes that painting was made during the years that Carl Barks lived in the San Jacinto area, which is about 10-15 miles away from Temecula. This is the place where he retired after working at Disney.

Owners, past and present: The painting was owned by Doctor Balding, very renowned in the area of Temecula. He bought the painting at an auction.
Currently owned by Linda Linsday from Temecula, CA.

Publications:

Unpublished?

Circulating material:

larger picture: edited from digital photo
other picture, with part of frame: edited from digital photo
signature: edited from digital photo
animal detail: edited from digital photo
digital photo #1 (...): digital photo as supplied
digital photo #2 (animal detail): digital photo as supplied
digital photo #3 (...): digital photo as supplied
digital photo #4 (signature): digital photo as supplied

Other views: See "circulating material" field.

Questions: Has this material been published?

Sources | image: © [Carl Barks]

The Showoff

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [unknown]
Type: [oil?]
Creation date: 1971
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [none or unknown]
Publication date: 1977
Issue: Comic Book Price Guide: 1977/1978 [#7]
Pages: 1
Orientation: portrait
Width: 12 inch
Height: 24 inch

Stag on hill under dead tree, mountains on background.

Publications:

Comic Book Price Guide: 1977/1978 [#7] (USA. Tennessee, Cleveland): colour; small picture

Sources | image: © [Carl Barks]

Student Witch

Inducks: ...
Barks code: 74-03
CBL: 02C-464
Type: Oil
Creation date: 1974
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: 1974/1975, Winter
Issue: Funnyworld 16
Pages: 1
Orientation: landscape
Width: 20 inch
Height: 16 inch

Additional credits: Barks created this painting for the cover of Funnyworld 16. On this cover, the text "Our student witch is a funny animals freak" is quoted under the painting.

Witchcraft theme.

Backstage: The derby-hatted ogre ressurrects an old idea, taken from an (at that time) unpublished sequence of in Trick or Treat.
Stephen Eberhart's article "Somewhere Under the Rainbow (Part I)", published in The Barks Collector 21, identifies running man with webbed feet as an early design for the Gneezles in in Mystery of the Swamp.

Owners, past and present: Auctioned in 1976 at Newcon II, Boston?
According to Comic Book Price Guide: 1977/1978 [#7] (page A-8), the art sold for $1200 in 1977.

Surviving material:

running man with webbed feet

Publications:

Funnyworld 16 ([USA]): colour; cover.
Animal Quackers ([USA]): colour
Student Witch [lithograph] (Germany): colour

Congruences:

W DD 26-02 in Trick or Treat: derby-hatted ogre

Questions: Is this painting really titled "Student Witch", or could the full title be "Our student witch is a funny animals freak"?
Is there really a relation between running man with webbed feet and in Mystery of the Swamp?

Sources | image: © [Carl Barks]

Porky of the Mounties

Inducks: ...
Barks code: 76-05
Type: Oil
Creation date: 1976
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: 1977
Issue: Comic Book Price Guide: 1977/1978 [#7]
Pages: 1
Orientation: portrait,
Width: 14 inch
Height: 22,25 inch
Based on: in "Porky of the Mounties"

Additional credits: Barks created this painting for the cover of Comic Book Price Guide: 1977/1978 [#7]. In his signature Barks mentions Warner Bros as copyright holder.

Mountie Porky Pig saves a little bear which got its pawn jammed in a trap, a big bear on the background licks a carrot eating Bugs Bunny on his face.

Surviving material:

porky of the mounties [color guide?]

Publications:

Comic Book Price Guide: 1977/1978 [#7] (USA. Tennessee, Cleveland): colour; front cover; partially covered by the cover lettering
Animal Quackers ([USA])

King Midas Having Fun

Inducks: ...
Barks code: 76-08
Type: oil
Creation date: 1976
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: 1996
Issue: Animal Quackers
Pages: 1
Orientation: portrait
Width: 16 inch
Height: 20 inch
Series: Kings and Queens of Myth and Legend
Series number: 1st

Mythological theme.

Research: Midas was a king from Greek-Roman mythology who could turn everything to gold by touching it.

Owners, past and present: Sold at a fan convention in 1976.
According to Comic Book Price Guide: 1977/1978 [#7] (page A-8), the art sold for $1600 in 1976.

Publications:

Animal Quackers ([USA])

Sources | image: © [Carl Barks]

Old King Cole

Inducks: ...
Barks code: 77-01
Type: oil on Masonite
Creation date: 1977
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: 1977
Issue: Graphic Gallery, issue 11
Pages: 1
Orientation: portrait
Width: 16 inch
Height: 20 inch
Series: Kings and Queens of Myth and Legend
Series number: 2nd

Research: Cole, or Coel Hen, was one of the first kings of Britain in the post-Roman era. His name lives on in a nursery rhyme.

Owners, past and present: In Graphic Gallery, issue 11, the original painting was being sold to the first buyer to call. ($2500)

Publications:

Graphic Gallery, issue 11 ([USA])
Carl Barks en de Mythe van Walt Disney's Donald Duck (Netherlands): greyscale
Animal Quackers ([USA])

Interviews:

1982 interview by Wim van Helden: Barks mentions the painting.; Dutch. Published in Carl Barks en de Mythe van Walt Disney's Donald Duck

Other views:

larger picture

Sources | image: © [Carl Barks]

King Neptune

Inducks: ...
Barks code: 77-02
Type: oil
Creation date: 1977
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: 1996
Issue: Animal Quackers
Pages: 1
Orientation: portrait
Width: 16 inch
Height: 20 inch
Series: Kings and Queens of Myth and Legend
Series number: 3rd

Mythological theme.

Research: Neptune/Poseidon was the Greek-Roman deity of the sea.

Publications:

Animal Quackers ([USA])

Belles of the Klondike

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [78-20?]
Type: Oil
Creation date: 1978
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: 1990, November (Finland)
Issue: Roope Setä [November 1990]
Pages: 1
Orientation: portrait
Width: 8 inch
Height: 10 inch
Series: "Famous Figures of History as They Might Have Looked Had Their Genes Gotten Mixed with Waterfowl"

Additional credits: Painted in 1978. Apart from the number "#20-78"[?], the back also notes "Comic Art Collection Of T.L. Taylor"; "Reproduction of this subject in whole or in part prohibited without written permission of the artist CARL BARKS"; and "Famous Figures Of History As They Might Have Looked Had Their Genes Gotten Mixed With Waterfowl."

Klondike theme. Blond duckwoman in red dress tries to allure a gold digger walking through the street. The background shows a saloon called "Northern Light".

Backstage: Barks has explained the copright notice in a June 1, 1990 letter to Marko Leppälä.

Owners, past and present:

"My records show that I painted and sold the subject in 1978 to a collector named Terry Taylor for $600.": Quote from June 1, 1990 letter to Marko Leppälä.
Sold in 1989, to Marko Leppälä, a Finnish collector (the fourth owner of the painting).

Publications:

Roope Setä [November 1990] (Finland): details unknown

Correspondence:

June 1, 1990 letter to Marko Leppälä.

Other views:

larger picture: colour

Questions: Is Barks's code (78-20) really the same as the code for Blackbeard the Pirate? Or could it have been misread for 78-30, which otherwise seems to be an unused number?

Gold Rush Gold Diggers

Inducks: ...
Barks code: 78-37
Type: Oil
Creation date: 1978
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: 1996
Issue: Animal Quackers
Pages: 1
Orientation: portrait
Width: 11 inch
Height: 14 inch

Klondike theme. Two girls rob a gold-seeker on the street. Two men lie drunk on the foreground. Two girls fight while falling from a roof in the background.

Publications:

Animal Quackers ([USA]): colour; limited edition print, accompanying the book.

Bat Masterson

Inducks: ...
Barks code: 78-38
Type: oil
Creation date: 1978
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: 1996
Issue: Animal Quackers
Pages: 1
Orientation: portrait
Width: 11 inch
Height: 14 inch
Series: ["Famous Figures of History as They Might Have Looked Had Their Genes Gotten Mixed with Waterfowl"] ?
Series number: [unknown, if any]

Wild West theme.

Research: Bartholomew "Bat" Masterson (1853-1921) made himself a name as gambler, sheriff, and journalist in the Wild West.

Publications:

Animal Quackers ([USA])

The Sheik of Araby

Inducks: ...
Barks code: 78-39
Type: oil
Creation date: 1978
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: 1996
Issue: Animal Quackers
Pages: 1
Orientation: portrait
Width: 11 inch
Height: 14 inch
Series: ["Famous Figures of History as They Might Have Looked Had Their Genes Gotten Mixed with Waterfowl"] ?
Series number: [unknown, if any]

Publications:

Animal Quackers ([USA])

King Beowulf

Inducks: ...
Barks code: 78-40
CBL: 10C-703
Type: Oil on Masonite
Creation date: 1978
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: 1978
Issue: King Beowulf [lithograph]
Pages: 1
Orientation: portrait
Width: 16 inch
Height: 20 inch
Series: Kings and Queens of Myth and Legend
Series number: 4th

Mythological theme?

Research: Beowulf was a king from Scandinavian legend whose life culminated in his battle against a dragon.

Publications:

King Beowulf [lithograph] (USA): colour
The Carl Barks Library - Set X (USA): colour
Animal Quackers ([USA])

The Pied Piper

Inducks: ...
Barks code: 78-41
Type: Oil
Creation date: 1978
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: 1996
Issue: Animal Quackers
Pages: 1
Orientation: portrait
Width: 14 inch
Height: 18 inch
Series: ["Famous Figures of History as They Might Have Looked Had Their Genes Gotten Mixed with Waterfowl"] ?
Series number: [unknown, if any]

A beaked flute-playing pied piper dancing through a city street with lots of beaked children joining him.

Publications:

Animal Quackers ([USA]): colour; cover.

The Caliph of Baghdad

Inducks: ...
Barks code: 78-42
Type: oil on Masonite
Creation date: 1978
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: 1996
Issue: Animal Quackers
Pages: 1
Orientation: portrait
Width: 14 inch
Height: 18 inch
Series: ["Famous Figures of History as They Might Have Looked Had Their Genes Gotten Mixed with Waterfowl"] ?

Publications:

Animal Quackers ([USA]): colour
The Caliph of Baghdad [lithograph] (USA): colour

Santa's Christmas Mail

Inducks: ...
Barks code: 79-15
Type: oil on Masonite
Creation date: 1979
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: 1996
Issue: Animal Quackers
Pages: 1
Orientation: landscape
Width: 20�inch inch
Height: 16�inch inch

Christmas theme. Santa Claus about to receive another load of mail.

Backstage: Barks: "I knew that people went nuts over the idea of Christmas and they loved it, so I catered to their whims." Barks own favorite holiday is: "New Years's, because they�ve got a couple of good football games on."

Publications:

Animal Quackers ([USA]): colour
Fröliche Weihnachten (Germany): colour

Other views:

larger picture: width=475 height=378

Xerxes and the Harem

Inducks: ...
Barks code: 80-01
CBL: 10C-703
Type: Oil on Masonite
Creation date: 1980
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: 1980
Issue: Xerxes and the Harem [lithograph]
Pages: 1
Orientation: portrait
Width: 16 inch
Height: 20 inch
Series: ["Famous Figures of History as They Might Have Looked Had Their Genes Gotten Mixed with Waterfowl"] ?

Research: Xerxes was the king of Persia in the 5th century B.C.

Publications:

Xerxes and the Harem [lithograph] (USA): colour
The Carl Barks Library - Set X (USA): colour
Animal Quackers ([USA]): colour

Well-Armed Stranger

Inducks: ...
Barks code: 82-01
Type: oil
Creation date: 1982
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: 1996
Issue: Animal Quackers
Pages: 1
Orientation: landscape
Width: 28 inch
Height: 22 inch

Additional credits: This is the 1st of probably 3 oil paintings depicting realistic western scenes.

Wild West theme.

Publications:

Animal Quackers ([USA])

Questions: Could this be the same painting as "Another Saloon Scene"?

Worth a Whole Month's Wages

Inducks: ...
Barks code: 82-02
CBL: 02A-170
Type: oil
Creation date: 1982
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: 1986, November
Issue: The Carl Barks Library - Set II
Pages: 1
Orientation: landscape
Width: 28 inch
Height: 22 inch

Additional credits: This is one of several frontier theme oils painted in the early 1980s, and/or the 2nd of probably 3 oil paintings depicting realistic western scenes.

Wild West theme. Wild West saloon scene in which a cowboy is dancing with a girl, while another cowboy plays a mouth-organ. The other people in the saloon watch it with enjoyment.

Backstage: In November 15, 1985 notes written for the The Carl Barks Library - Set II, Carl Barks told that "the cowboy's lives weren't all spent out on the snow-covered ranges rescuing calves. They whooped it up a bit, too." Geoffrey Blum mentions that Barks preffered to show such a scene, though he greatly admired the tough, often bleak western scenes of Charles M. Russell.

Publications:

The Carl Barks Library - Set II (USA): colour
Animal Quackers ([USA])

Interviews:

1982 interview by Wim van Helden ?: Apparantly, this is the Wild West saloon scene painting mentioned by Barks.; Dutch transcription. Published in Carl Barks en de Mythe van Walt Disney's Donald Duck

After Ted Kautzky

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [unknown]
CBL: 10C-701
Type: oil on canvas
Creation date: 1982
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Ted Kautzky; Carl Barks?]
Hero: [none]
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: 1990, August
Issue: The Carl Barks Library - Set X
Pages: 1
Orientation: landscape
Width: 10,5 inch
Height: 8 inch

Additional credits: A practice sketch based on one of Kautzky's demonstration paintings in "Ways with Watercolor" (New York: Reinhold, 1949).

Publications:

The Carl Barks Library - Set X (USA): colour

farmer avoiding bird's nest

Inducks: ...
Barks code: [unknown]
Type: Unfinished painting
Creation date: 1980s/1990
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks]
Hero: [none?]
Submission: [none or unknown]
Publication date: [none or unknown]
Issue: [none or unknown]
Pages: [1]
Orientation: [unknown]
Width: [unknown] inch
Height: [unknown] inch

Additional credits: In a May 6, 1990 telephone conversation with Geoffrey Blum, Garé Barks mentioned some (at least at that time) unfinished paintings: "There are several exquisite pictures sitting around the house that Carl simply hasn't had time to finish, like the one of the farmer turning his plow to avoid running over a bird's nest. Or the girl in the pink dress - at least three people would love to buy that one."

Publications: