WDCS140 - May 1952

People who ordered duck paintings from Barks could be divided into three groups as for themes: Some wished a specific scene from a story, others a rendering of a front cover, while others asked Barks to consider a painting with a motif of their own.

The painting on this page was requested by a fan living in Washington D.C. at the time, who wanted Barks to make a copy of the front cover for WDCS140 from 1952. This was meticulously executed in detail.

19-72 Flubbity Dubbity Duffer

Technical:
The artwork was made in oil on Masonite board. Size: 16x20" (410x510mms). The painting was supplied with a wooden frame (marked Made in Taiwan) and issued with a metal plate carrying the title.

Title:
Barks always had problems creating titles for his work, as he was not especially interested in that detail. Presumably, his title for this painting is the most zany title ever given. Here is a small rundown of the three elements: Flubbity describes something which is funny - Dubbity is a rhyming word that Barks invented for the occasion (you can see more examples HERE in the Rhymes section) - Duffer characterizes someone who is incompetent or stupid.

Composition:
The artwork depicts Donald Duck in an uncontrolled tantrum at the golf course. He has managed to get himself into a situation where nothing seems to go his way. He is unable to hit the ball the normal way (obviously he has tried - just look at the tee surroundings!) and now his last resort seems to be swinging all his irons and woods in one devastating stroke thus making sure that he at least hits something!
How the situation has escalated so violently is somewhat of a mystery, because it is evident from the nephews' attitudes that this is not the first hole of the course, and furthermore Uncle Scrooge is an interested party booking the many strokes accumulating (perhaps a wager is taking place?). By the way, in the front cover Barks added Scrooge as an after-thought aiming to promote the character that was still rather new (the series titled Uncle Scrooge was about to be launched at the time from Western Publishing).

Eyes:
Donald's eyes are especially noticeable as they are not of the usual pie-cut shape from the stories that Barks always used (Scrooge has the correct version). Explanation: When drawing his ducks' eyes Barks usually took out a pie-cut shape in the opposite direction of where the characters were looking. In that way the ducks' eyes would look more alive and shining and it was also easier to understand what they were looking at.
Instead Barks made Donald's eyes totally round and black with small, white 'pearls' in the direction he is staring. Barks later admitted that he had forgotten how the eyes should have been portrayed, because he had wanted a special effect when making the front cover 20 years earlier. Back then Barks had delivered the black and white drawing to Western's editor with Donald's eyes outlined and without blackening. The intention was that the editor should make sure that the eyes were filled with a burning red colour (Barks never applied colours to his covers) in order to further express Donald's raging mood (seeing red, as it were), but the editor missed that important part and simply ended up filling the eyes with black colour. This is why Donald's eyes in the cover do not even carry Barks' pie-cut trademark.
So, in the painting Barks again missed the special effect, but it was finally corrected in a restored front cover published in the Carl Barks Library (CBL), set 8, page 425, from 1983.
 

1-75 Compleat Golfer In 1975 Barks made a second golf course painting, this time with Donald in a very relaxed and extremely benevolent mood. Instead the nephews had to toil. Notice that Barks often - as in this case - opted for a nephew wearing a yellow cap and not a green one. The artwork was sold at 1767.50 dollars through Barks' painting manager Russ Cochran, who cashed in 10% of the sum.

As usual Barks made numerous sketches for the upcoming artwork. Here are a few detailed ones in different layout stages:

In 1999 the publisher Another Rainbow made a miniature lithograph of the painting. It was printed in 595 issues as a regular edition, numbered and signed by Barks.

Flubbity Dubbity Duffer
Prototype Deluxe Figurine

During the 1990s Barks and Another Rainbow published several elaborate figurines rendering the Disney ducks. Many of these were made in fine China by the British company Connoisseur of Malvern, and one was meant to copy the golf theme. Three prototypes were made each consisting of three separate ceramic elements on wooden bases, all put together on a larger, polished wood base. The figurine measures 14" (350mms) in height and 17" (430mms) in width. Barks signed his name in gold ink on the golf bag. Notice that the company forgot (or deliberately omitted) to furnish Scrooge with a set of clubs.
The series was never put into production and only one has survived. It was auctioned in August 2010 at 7,767.50 dollars. As for the other two, see more HERE.
A contributing reason for leaving the project was probably the simple fact that it was very hard to make a 3D figurine out of the 2D presentation. Why? Because Donald is jumping and that is not possible to replicate in a figurine. So a decision had to be invented to 'tie' the airborne Donald to the figurine. The solution was to pin him to a stick with a sign saying 13 Tee (see more HERE)...