Above: Framed view in beautiful carved gold gilt frame

A luminous and sensational oil on canvas by Charles Edward Chambers, a masterful magazine and advertising illustrator of the jazz age. Chambers created this remarkable, highly sensuous Polynesian enchantress scene as a commissioned interior magazine illustration, likely for Cosmopolitan where he was under exclusive contract for many years. This uninhibited and erotic island dance scene is one of Chambers’ finest paintings, marked by a subtle use of color and an unusually lively sense of movement. This is a masterful example of early 20th century exoticism in illustration.

Above: Detail of Dancer

Above: Detail of musician

Above: Artist’s signature lower right

Works of this caliber by Charles Edward Chambers have not surfaced at auction. The only appropriate comparable to surface was an original advertising painting for Chesterfield Cigarettes that at a High Noon Western Americana Auction on January 20, 2007 sold for $26,450.00

Above: Another example by the artist

Information about Charles Chambers Courtesy of ‘Who Was Who in American Art’ , the reference book on the cultural life in the United States.

Birth place: Ottumwa, IA

Addresses: Chicago area; Riverdale-on-Hudson, NY; NYC

Profession: Painter, illustrator

Studied: AIC; ASL with Geo. Bridgman

Exhibited: AIC, 1908; SC, 1918 (prize); NAD, 1931 (2nd Altman prize).

Member: SI, 1912; C. 1915; Artists Guild (pres.); Allied AA; SI.

Comments: Best known for his magazine illustrations and covers, plus a series of portraits of musicians for Steinway Piano Co., and a series of forty-five billboard displays for Chesterfield cigarettes.