A humorously rendered hockey themed gouache illustration by the noted American illustrator John Pike. In this comical work – a slightly battered but unbruised show-boating center iceman is celebrating his latest goal as the hapless goaltender looks on. The gag here appears to be that our self proclaimed “superstar” also appeared in other sports as he is tipping a baseball cap to the adoring or jeering fans as he tauntingly enjoys his latest feat.

Painting is in a fine state of conservation, signed lower right and is matted but not framed.

Bio Courtesy of The Smithsonian American Art Museum –

John Pike
Born Boston 1911 -died in Woodstock 1979

John Pike studied at the Cape Cod School of Art, then moved to Jamaica in 1933, where he lived for five years. He worked on many different art projects, including designing theaters and nightclubs, painting murals, and promoting a local rum company. Back in the States, he created illustrations for magazines and advertisements for everything from insurance to oil. In 1945 he traveled to Asia with the military, making sketches of the United States’ occupation of Korea, and also traveled around the world painting pictures for the Air Force Historical Foundation. He established the John Pike Watercolor School in Woodstock, New York, in 1960, and took people on “painting holidays” to Europe and South America.