How They Played At Meadow Brook, As Seen By Cyril Gorainoff 1928 The Spur Magazine Page
$250
Cyril Gorainoff
The Spur Magazine
1928
14 3/8" x 9 1/2"
Suitable for framing
Cyril Gorainoff artist rendering of the following polo players: Tommy Hitchcock, Jack Nelson, Earl Hopping, W. Averell Harriman, Lewis Lacey, Arturo Kenny & Winston Guest
This single vintage magazine page (p. 77) from *The Spur* — a lifestyle monthly magazine focused on horse and hound, equine, riding, racing, and outdoor activities for a wealthy readership — features a full-page spread of action drawings by Cyril Gorainoff titled “How They Played at Meadow Brook, As Seen by Cyril Gorainoff.” The caption identifies these as impressions drawn especially for *The Spur* of episodes in the great international match between the United States and Argentina — the inaugural Cup of the Americas, which debuted in 1928 at the famed Meadow Brook Club on Long Island and attracted more than 100,000 spectators over three days. Seven polo players are depicted and individually labeled across five action vignettes: on the American side, **Tommy Hitchcock Jr.**, who carried a 10-goal handicap — the highest ranking in polo — from 1922 to 1940 and was on the 1928 Cup of the Americas winning team; **W. Averell Harriman**, who starred in the U.S. defeat of Argentina’s national polo team for America’s Cup in 1928 and later became a prominent statesman and Governor of New York; and **Winston Guest**, an Anglo-American polo champion best known for his exceptional achievements in international polo during the 1930s. On the Argentine side, **Lewis Lacey**, who was selected to play for Argentina in the 1928 Cup of the Americas and was rated 10-goals between 1915 and 1932; **Arturo Kenny**, an Argentine polo player who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics, where he was part of the Argentine polo team that won the gold medal; and **Jack Nelson** (Juan Nelson), who also was a member of that 1924 Argentine Olympic gold-medal polo team. The seventh player depicted is **Earle Hopping** (spelled “Earl” on the page), an American polo player born October 31, 1882. The drawings are signed by Gorainoff and dated 1928. Cyril Gorainoff was a Russian officer who came to America after the Russian Revolution and became a celebrated sporting artist; he was known for his paintings of birds and dogs and had a real talent for doing horses. After coming to New York, he met ceramicist Frank Vosmansky and they opened a small gift shop on Madison Avenue, later entering into an exclusive contract with Abercrombie and Fitch. This page is suitable for framing and is a rare document of one of the most celebrated moments in American polo history, featuring some of the sport’s biggest names rendered by one of its finest sporting artists.