• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Recent Additions
  • The Gallery
    • About
    • Browse by Topic
    • eBay
    • Sorry, It’s Sold
  • Guarantee & Policies
    • Guarantee
    • Shipping & Payment
    • Amazon.com Shipping Information
    • eBay Buyer Protection
  • Contact & Social Media
    • E-mail & Phone
    • eBay
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

  • Gallery Blog
  • Golden Gallery
  • Fine & Decorative
  • Illustration & Advertising
  • Paperback & Pulp
  • Pin-Up & Glamour
Sorry, It's Sold

Bombs Away

Artist:C.C. Beall
Date:1944
Medium:Watercolor on illustration board
Dimensions:Sight size 23" by 30" Framed 25 1/2" by 32 1/2"
Condition:Excellent
Original Use:WWII Air Force Poster Artwork
Price: Sold
Full view of watercolor on illustration board painting
Full view of watercolor on illustration board painting

 

The artist's signature lower right
The artist’s signature lower right

 

The artwork as it appeared as a 1944 AAF government issued war poster - Bombs Away!
The artwork as it appeared as a 1944 AAF government issued war poster – Bombs Away!

A haunting, iconic and important, large format painting by Cecil Calvert Beall created for an American World War II Army Air Forces poster titled Bomb’s Away!. The backing paper on this watercolor on board still houses the posed source photo, (likely taken by Beall himself) of his son Charles Beall, posed as a B-17G Flying Fortress pilot in full uniform seen in the middle of a daring air raid mission, behind enemy lines. Next to the photograph on the verso backing paper is a handwritten notation from another Beall family member, that mentions the artist’s son Charles died shortly after this painting was created during military duty in the Balkens.

We believe this to be the only WWII commissioned poster original artwork by C.C. Beall that has ever been on the market. A recent East Coast estate find, this painting was discovered in a sealed wooden crate in a house where it had been left undisturbed for over 40 years.

Verso sepia photograph of the artists son Chris posed for the illustration.
Verso sepia photograph of the artist’s son Charles posed for the illustration.

 

Hand written verso text on back paper detail
Hand written verso text on back paper detail

 

Verso view
Verso view

 

Framed view in original silver and black enamel painted wood frame
Framed view in original silver and black enamel painted wood frame
Washington DC framers label still adhered to backing paper
Washington DC framers label still adhered to backing paper

Cecil Calvert Beall was a prolific American illustrator whose works were regularly featured in magazines like the Saturday Evening Post and Collier’s.

Beall+-add2

The majority of Beall’s published works were done in watercolor, a medium in which he excelled. His art is crisp, bold, and dramatically composed, emphasizing both starkly iconic imagery and dramatically transparent movement, often in the same image. His images of beautiful women and elegant men in action-charged contemporary life were published in both black-and-white and color, always deftly exploiting the tonal range of a given reproduction technology. The artist was also active painting covers for many of the paperback publishing houses that appeared during the 1940’s, his cover painting for Ernest Hemmingway’s, A Farewell To Arms is shown below.

Beall+-add3

During World War II, Beall continued to produce a popular series of Collier’s cover illustrations depicting decorated World War II heroes, in addition to contributing war-related reportage. At the end of the war, he was one of the invited few aboard the U.S.S. Missouri to record the Japanese surrender ceremony. President Harry Truman chose Beall’s painting as the official painting of the event.

Beall+-add

Beall+-add4

Beall was born in Saratoga, Wyoming, studied in New York at the Pratt Institute and Art Students League with George Bridgman. His early work was in a “bold poster style in watercolor marked by a strong pattern of light and shadow, which was favored by a number of illustrators” of the Collier’s magazine ‘school’.

Memberships included the American Water Color Society, Hudson Valley Art Association, Salmagundi Club and Society of Illustrators, which gave C. C. Beall an exhibition Award of Excellence in 1961.

Detail
Detail

 

Detail
Detail

Bombs Away

Artist: C.C. Beall
Price:  Sold

Filed Under: Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: Air Force, B-17G Flying Fortress, patriotic, poster design, WWII
Added to Gallery: February 2, 2015

 

Contact Grapefruit Moon Gallery



    Primary Sidebar

    Join our mailing list

    Grapefruit Moon Gallery Around the Web

    Facebook
    Instagram
    Pinterest
    Twitter

    Recent Additions

    Gone With the Wind

    Pigeon Feathers

    Packed Dirt, Churchgoing, A Dying Cat, A Traded Car

    Footer

    About Grapefruit Moon Gallery

    Grapefruit Moon Gallery, based in Minneapolis MN, specializes in vintage pin up and original illustration art.  We are the proud home of the Bunny Yeager archives.

    Since 2003, Grapefruit Moon Gallery has been a leading dealer of exclusive original paintings by Gil Elvgren, Alberto Vargas, Earl Moran, Rolf Armstrong and Henry Clive, as well as vintage photographs, prints, and period decorative arts in ceramic and metal.

    All artworks featured are original, accurately represented, and guaranteed to be the work of the named artist.

    Interested buyers may view pieces by appointment and we are happy to answer any questions you may have. [Contact Us]

    Grapefruit Moon Gallery on eBay

     

    Grapefruit Moon Gallery on Instagram

    View on Instagram

    Copyright © 2023