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Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

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Sorry, It's Sold

Aphrodite’s Realm

Artist:Mahlon Blaine
Date:1930s
Medium:Gouache and ink on artist's paper
Dimensions:Sight size 10" by 14" Full Framed Size 16 7/8" by 20 7/8"
Condition:Excellent
Original Use:Illustration of unknown usage
Price: SOLD
full view
Full view
the artists signature lower right
The artist’s signature lower right
Full Framed View
Full Framed View

This feverish and provocative original illustration by Mahlon Blaine appears to date to the late 1930s, when the artist was mining the myth of Aphrodite for Nova Venus, a series of artworks illustrating a poem written by Blaine that interrogates the relationship between love, lust, and modernism. Characteristically dark, and replete with complicated and even bizarre symbolism, this gouache and ink painting explores fertility, temptation and eros.

detail
Detail
detail
Detail
verso view before framing
Verso view before framing
Ornate Frame Detail
Ornate Frame Detail

Mahlon Blaine is a vastly underrated and valued artist and illustrator and is viewed as an enigma today.

Some of Blaine’s published work includes illustrations in The New Yorker:

Cup of Gold by John Steinbeck ~ McBride: 1929

Hashish and Incense by Paul Verlaine ~ The Paul Verlaine Society: 1929.

The Temptation of Saint Antony by Gustave Flaubert ~ 1930 ~ New York: Williams Belasco & Myers, 1930

Candide or Optimism by Voltaire ~ Concord Books, New York, 1930.

Kama Sutra – Medical Press of New York 1936

Adventures of Sinbad the Sailor by Laurence Housman ~ Illustrated Editions Co.: 1936 ~ Eight double pages of art, frontispiece, chapter headings.(also World ed.)

The Restless Jungle by Akeley – National Travel Club 1936 d/w

The Maniac. A Realist Study of Madness from the Maniac’s Point of View ~ under the pseudonym G. Christopher Hudson ~ Books For The Few 1941

Eastern Love Stories ~ Shakespeare House: 1951 ~ One plate

Dunninger’s Magic Tricks ~ Commissioned by patron Joseph Dunninger ~ 1951

American Aphrodite Magazine ~ 1953 & 1954 ~ Nos. 9, 10, 13, 15, 16

Edgar Rice Burroughs Canaveral Press ~ 1962 ~ Seven titles, each with a dust jacket and seven interior illustrations by Mahlon Blaine ~ His last commissioned work.

There has as of yet been no exhaustive bibliography of Blaine’s privately published erotica works but some representative titles are as follows:

Tearful Passage ~ Pals of Pain ~ Mr. Bottomley Goes to Town ~ Whipping Pirouettes ~ The Circus Lasher ~ The Pain Clinic
~Education of a French Model ~The Memoirs of Josephine Mutzenbacher and more.

Aphrodite’s Realm

Artist: Mahlon Blaine
Price:  SOLD

Filed Under: Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: allegorical, Aphrodite, erotic, Interior Book Art, macabre, Mahlon Blaine, Nova Venus
Added to Gallery: February 24, 2015

 

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    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]

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