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.

Window Dressing Theodore Haupt	La Coquette Alberto Vargas

A whimsical and stylized rare original gouache painting on illustration board by Anne Harriet Sefton a.k.a. Fish; this was the cover for The April 1919 edition of Vanity Fair Magazine published by Conde Nast. Work is in the humorous yet refined swinging youth style that came to personify the art deco Jazz Age. Painting is silk matted and beautifully framed in a period antique gold gilt wood frame under glass.

A tense and well rendered set at sea Golden Age of Illustration painting by the noted and prolific American artist Ralph Pallen Coleman, signed and dated 1925 in the lower right corner. Set aboard a ship at sea, the image hints that the vessel is heading into troubled waters at least metaphorically. While the well groomed male calmly prepares to light his pipe, his pretty flapper companion holds her hand over her heart, both attracted to and made nervous by taking this trip with her suitor.

A well rendered and precise colorful interior gouache painting by one of our favorite art deco-era illustrators Herbert Paus that reflects the attention to detail and skill of the artists working during the Golden Age of Illustration. This large signed work depicts a son leaving his family's pastoral cottage by carriage as his grieving mother looks on. A nostalgic look back at the well to do culture of pre-machine age American society.

A brilliantly rendered pen & ink illustration by the legendary New York City illustrator Al Hirschfeld. In this tightly rendered "two worlds collide" generation gap sight gag, the new guard Andy Warhol is greeted by the old guard Bob Hope. The scene offers a humorous look at the cultural growing pains that were a part of American life during the turbulent 1970s. Work is framed and matted behind glass in a simple 1970s - 80's black lacquered wood frame.

A Christmas themed dazzling original calendar illustration by Bill Layne for The Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company. This was for a pharmacy drugstore account and appeared on a Christmas Holiday Calendar in 1953. Layne worked for Walt Disney in the art department creating story board graphics and design embellishments which is apparent here in his twinkling Tinkerbell fairy goddess depiction.

This rare original painting by Henry Clive graced the cover of the June 18, 1933 edition of William Randolph Hearst's The American Weekly. Clive was often called upon to create serialized images of pin up enchantresses who embodied a theme. This is one of those works - from a series of images which depicted a variety of maidens about to be struck by cupid's arrow.

This rare original painting by Henry Clive graced the cover of the October 13, 1946 edition of William Randolph Hearst's The American Weekly. Clive often played with serialized themes in his work for the magazine, and this Egyptian inspired image was from a series entitled "Pin-up Girls of History." Pictured as Cleopatra is the lovely Hollywood film star Dorothy Lamour, whose impossibly good looks and exotic features draw comparison to the legendary queen of the Nile, though the actress never portrayed her in film.

An early and exceptional motor car gouache on illustration board painting by noted New York artist and illustrator Malcolm A. Strauss who specialized in genre works of early motor carriages creating posters for The Automobile Club of America showing early car race scenes from the infancy of The Motor-Age. This dates from the early 1900s and has the added attraction of a lovely Edwardian lass daringly and confidently navigating the then brand new domain of the horse-less carriage/tin-lizzie motorcar.

An original signed painting by the prolific illustrator Henry Clive. This was likely commissioned for the cover of The American Weekly, a William Randolph Hearst publication. Clive spent three decades creating several hundred covers for this weekly publication, although the original paintings rarely come on the market. Pictured is pin-up model and Paramount Film Star Mona Freeman who made a nice career for herself typically cast as the perky good girl supporting actress.

A rare and whimsically delightful surviving cover painting from the golden age of illustration by Theodore Haupt, which appeared on the cover of The New Yorker; January 28, 1928. This painting captures the fun and folly of New York City in a severe art deco zig-zag aesthetic. During the busy wintertime wonderland shopping crush, a window dresser is shown feverishly attiring a nude store mannequin as snow covered throngs watch in delight. Haupt illustrated forty four covers for The New Yorker between 1927 and 1933.