A classic situational cheesecake pin up mishap unfolds in this original Louis F. Dow calendar painting by the Chicago area artist Charles Showalter titled “High & Dry.” The lovely nude is caught, high, and perhaps now dry after removing her clothes. Grapefruit Moon Gallery recently acquired this and several other Louis F. Dow published calendar paintings from a private party, and like those, this has never been on the market before. By all accounts, and in all respects, “High & Dry” is a ‘fresh’ exciting estate find.

Showalter executed several pin up calendar girl images for Dow in a style reminiscent of Gil Elvgren and Hadden Sundblom. A Chicago based artist about whom little is known, Showalter likely worked within the Sundblom shop. The writer and pin up historian Charles Martignette speculated in the 1990s that Showalter was in fact a pseudonym for Sundblom, but information on the artist has since come forward to disprove this.