Artist: Otto Messmer (American, 1892-1983). Title: "Felix the Cat Posing #4 [Pat Sullivan Studio]". Medium: Pen and ink on paper. Date: Composed e1970s. Dimensions: Overall size: 5 5/8 x 4 1/8 in. (143 x 105 mm). Lot Note(s): Signed lower right. Cream colored wove paper. Very good to fine condition with no condition issues. Comment(s): The closest comparable sale we have found to our example is a sale for $1,912 at Heritage Auctions, April 9, 2015, lot #94002. Messmer created the character Felix the Cat, the world’s most popular cartoon star before Mickey Mouse. The attribution has been questioned by some, in part because of the claims of Australian cartoonist, promoter, and producer Pat Sullivan, for whom Messmer worked. The cartoons were unfailingly billed as “Pat Sullivan’s Felix the Cat." Sullivan widely asserted that he and his wife had invented a black cat as a film character. Although the two undoubtedly collaborated to some degree, and it is unlikely that the cartoon would have been as popular without Sullivan’s promotion, Messmer’s biographer concluded that Messmer himself was the creative mind behind Felix, and that assertion is broadly accepted. Finally, most prominent comics and animation historians support Messmer's claim, as do the veterans of the Sullivan studio. Image copyright © The Estate of Otto Messmer. [29879-1-1400]