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.

Fire Dancer Charles Edward Chambers	The Queen of Summer Willy Pogany

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 which evokes the allure of the Indian Maiden and wonderfully captures the Depression-era popular fascination with exotic-themed escapism.

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.

A large early artwork by Howard Chandler Christy used as a book plate in The Man in the Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart, copyright 1909 Bobbs-Merrill Publishing Company. This illustrated the chapter titled "The Woman in The Next Car." A very fine and impressive painting in a handsome fumed quarter sawn oak antique frame. Published book included with sale.

A well executed and conceived oil on illustration board created as cover art for an as of yet unidentified Romance paperback. Scene features a Gone With The Wind inspired Civil War era southern plantation interior scene with the requisite pretty maiden. Artwork is by the illustrator Ray Pease, and comes nicely framed and in a fine state of preservation.

This Raphael Kirchner Ziegfeld Follies pastel is a newly unearthed piece of New York City theater history, and a once in a generation find. Part of a suite of five illustrations which feature the erotic and luminous showgirls who starred in the legendary theater revue Ziegfeld Follies and made the name synonymous with images of the most beautiful, brazen and sensuous women in early 20th century New York. This portrait of Vivienne Segal hung in the lobby of the historic Century Theater until it shut its doors in 1936.

A scarce and wonderful original gouache painting on illustration board by Anne Harriet Sefton a.k.a. Fish; this was the cover for The December 1921 Christmas edition of Vanity Fair Magazine. Work is in the humorous yet refined swinging youth style that came to personify the art deco jazz age. Painting is elaborately framed in a hand carved ornate antique wood frame and comes with a bound volume of 1921 Vanity Fair Magazines which includes the complete December 1921 volume.

A dazzling and evocative gouache illustration painting for a 1972 edition of Hans Cristian Andersen's classic tale "The Little Mermaid". A shining deftly rendered example in the manner of Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac. Work is matted and framed and signed by the artist lower left and titled in the margin lower right.