Featured Joel Beckwith print - who are these characters?

I found this Joel Beckwith print a week or so ago at a local thrift store. Goigling him I found many works by him usually using a person in an unusual scene or wardrobe.
Many of them seem familiar, but drawn as a character, and they are pretty funny.
I tried doing an image search of mine and found one titld Wizard but it wasn't the same as mine.
Can anyone tell me about mine?
Are the characters in mine based on real people?
Any info would be helpful since i cant find anything!
Thank you!

 

I love weird and quirky and this qualifies in spades.

 

Before I saw the title I was thinking it was an illustration for A Confederacy of Dunces.

 

A lot of his work features wizards.

Debora

https://philamuseum.org/collection/object/83922

https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Merlyn/0B9FB41BFFDFBB00C10446F32291BEDB

 

Interesting to stumble across this today. I am Joel's wife, and am in the process of writing his obituary today. Your post and question did my heart good. I love knowing that his work is still out in the world and bringing pleasure!

Joel had several themes that went through his work. The Wizard theme is one that he returned to often. Joel viewed "Wizards" as universal know-it-alls or self-important experts, each viewer may interpret this as they will. The comment "Confederacy of Dunces" is exactly on target.

This etching dates from the early 1980s, while we still lived in Arlington, VT.

A much later wizard image is attached. This is a hand-colored etching with gold-leaf and graces my living room today. "Search for Truth" continues the pursuit of the know-it-alls in an increasingly distracting world. I love the guy with the bow tie.

 

How kind of you, @Art Hound, to share this information with us at what must be a very difficult time for you.

Debora

 

My condolences. Thank you for sharing more about Joel's work and themes. I love his line work and all the detail.

 

I love the color addition!!