This original pastel on illustration board by the prolific cover artist and pin-up illustrator Cardwell Higgins features an oddly alluring modernist brunette showgirl. Used as the cover for the May, 1937 issue of Modern Girl Book Magazine, this was unsigned by the artist, as was common in the pulp world. A tear sheet of this pastel which is included in the sale, was archived in the artist’s scrapbook, which we acquired several years ago at Charles Martignette’s estate auction in Florida. So while unsigned, this is the finished pastel published cover by Cardwell Higgins. Modern Girl Book Magazine was essentially a bed-sheet sized spicy pulp publication with a very short run and small circulation. We have a companion pastel by Higgins of a blonde in the same format and similar pose that we just added to our gallery a couple of days ago that we also believe to have been used as a cover for this title.

The pastel is handsomely framed and properly lined behind glass and ready to display.