But only one. After more than 800 entries, only one person has sent in the correct answer…and even he had to look it up.
Joev Dubach identified the painter of the painting I posted (here) as Ken Reid. Mr. Reid was the art director of The Dick Van Dyke Show and the painting was used in the episode, "The Masterpiece," in which Rob Petrie accidentally buys a painting — that painting — at an art auction. It's advertised as being by "Artanis" and he finds out later, after destroying the painting, that it's the work of Frank Sinatra, who signed it backwards. But it was actually painted by Mr. Reid.
Among the wrong guesses I received, some in vast quantity, were Tony Bennett, Red Skelton, Jack Kirby, Sergio Aragonés, Bob Kane, me, Frank Frazetta, John Wayne Gacy, Harpo Marx and Jerry Lewis. I also received a number of guesses of Artanis and/or Frank Sinatra from people who apparently think Ol' Blue Eyes did that painting or that I was asking you to guess who the TV show pretended had painted the painting.
For what it's worth, Mr. Dubach informs me that he figured it out as follows…
I got there by cropping your picture to just the painted part, and then uploading it to Google image search to find a couple of blogs that said it was from an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, in which it was allegedly painted by Artanis, a pseudonym for Frank Sinatra
…but Google then led him to a page from The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book by our pal Vince Waldron, and that page identified Ken Reid as the craftsman. So lemme again recommend Vince's book. If one loves The Dick Van Dyke Show, one must purchase the best book anyone will ever write about it. One must.
And if you're in the mood to watch "The Masterpiece," here it is with, as they say, limited commercial interruption. Cartoon voice fans will recognize Alan Reed, the first voice of Fred Flintstone, as the auctioneer…and Howie Morris as the art expert…
