The Grand Age of American Illustration was at its peak after the turn of the century in the early 1900s. The printing industry with its technological advancements and the American Industrial Revolution made for a multicolor offset printing process that was fast, affordable, and flat-out glorious in print. Cover artists were much in demand, earned lavish salaries and often became household names and stars in their own right. The distinction between fine art and "art for commerce" was blurred and artists like Alphonse Mucha, Maxfield Parrish, Norman Rockwell, and countless others excelled in both realms. These often lost original paintings are available exclusively via Grapefruit Moon Gallery.

La Coquette Alberto Vargas	Princess Pat Flapper Girl F. Earl Christy

A haunting and epic large scale finely detailed and tonally impacting oil on canvas painting by Charles E. Chambers. An Orientalist Black Market alter scene that utilizes ochre and umber tones in a dark and menacing suspense filled manner. This was an interior illustration for "Sons" the second book in the Good Earth trilogy by Pulitzer Prize winning author Pearl S. Buck. This eerie and emotionally powerful image illustrates a pivotal scene in which the Wang family, having lost their fortune through opium promiscuity, is forced to sell their village estate and its contents, in a black market auction of sorts.

A well rendered and rare surviving 1920s original oil on board illustration by the prolific New York artist Charles M. Relyea. Featuring an art deco Indian Maiden this is a fine example of American calendar art and was a widely published image titled "Chums" which evokes the allure of the Indian Maiden and wonderfully captures the Depression-era popular fascination with exotic-themed escapism.

An early 1900's expertly rendered historical depiction that is either by Howard Pyle or a commercial work by a Howard Pyle admirer. A gray toned "en graiselle" rendering of three Pilgrim's admiring the wide open spaces of the new world. Work is unsigned and nicely framed in an American Arts & Crafts aesthetic wide profile gallery frame.

A colorful Western stylized 4th of July parade scene by the American Illustrator Edward V. Brewer, best known for his Cream of Wheat Advertising works. The large, vibrant, oil-on-board painting features a bright color palette and inspired Main Street scene and was used as a travel poster by the Northern Pacific Railroad to promote travel to America's rugged and daunting Rocky Mountains. From the Charles Martignette estate, the recently deceased author of "The Great American Pin-up".

A well-crafted, stylish, and eye-catching cover painting by the renowned pin-up calendar artist and commercial illustrator Fritz Willis. This was used as a cover for a Shipstads & Johnson Ice Follies program in the early 1960s. In many regards Willis was the last of the great American pin-up artists; he brought pin-up imagery, poses and styles into the mod era and embraced changing ideals of femininity without being revisionist or nostalgic. In all regards, Willis shone in these yearly Ice Follies commissions as he excelled at costuming and seemed to enjoy capturing the evolving pop culture styles of the moment.

A large whimsical 1963 Calendar commissioned gouache painting for The Louis F. Dow Calendar Company signed "Arnquist" a pseudonym which allowed Bill Layne (who was under contract with Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company) to also get paid for calendar works he created for the rival Saint Paul Minnesota competing calendar company. A printed tear sheet of the painting titled "Cat Nap" used as a calendar page March 1963 is included in the sale. This work features a xylophone and a band of mice as the central components as a snoozing cat gets his whiskers trimmed in blissful oblivion to the happenings. Nicely matted and framed and ready to enjoy.

A spectacular and otherworldly Edwin Georgi gouache painting on illustration board in a color palette so unusual it could only have been envisioned by this particular artist. A pair of lovers literally and metaphorically going different ways in their relationship sensing the distance between them, both nattily attired and icy cold in disposition. Published in an as of yet determined slick magazine (likely Redbook or Cosmopolitan) as a full color interior story illustration circa 1950s.

We are pleased to offer "Castles in the Air" one of a pair of 1920s gouache painting by the Minneapolis Minnesota artist Lee Mero. Painting retains its brightly colored pin striped art deco enamel painted wood frame. This was likely a commissioned work for the Buzza Motto Company who prospered during the Roaring 20s Jazz Age years providing prints, plaques, bridge tallies and menu books that captured the style and aesthetics of the burgeoning modernist art deco movement.

A fantastic original oil on board illustration by George Washington Hood exploring Swedish mythology, illustrating the story Silverwhite & Lillwacker in "The Swedish Fairy Book." Caption reads "Then Silverwhite drew his sword with a great sweep, & rushed upon the sea troll." From the Golden Age of Illustration this painting is a magical work that is beautifully framed and ready to enjoy, a 1921 First Edition copy of the published book with illustration featured on page 44 is included in the sale.

A vignette style interior illustration by Charles Chambers for an as of yet undetermined American slick magazine, featuring a damsel being rescued from rising waters in a precarious flood zone destination. This style of vignette painting likely had text overlaid in in the final printed version. The white painted expanses upper left and lower right would become part of the story developments and turns, to keep the 1920s magazine reader glued to the adventure and action in the story.