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Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

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Sorry, It's Sold

Playing The Part

Artist:E.M. Jackson
Date:C. 1930
Medium:Oil on canvas mounted on masonite
Dimensions:Sight size 30" x 35" Framed 34 1/4" by 39 1/4"
Condition:Excellent recently mounted on masonite panel
Original Use:Interior Illustration of unknown usage
Price: Sold
Full view
Full view

 

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

 

Detail
Detail

An expressive Art Deco era large format oil painting by the noted American artist and illustrator Elbert McGran (E.M.) Jackson. The scene shows a bustling backstage dressing room, perhaps on opening night.  In the foreground, a confident, lavishly costumed Follies Girl clutches her script as she prepares to make her debut, with reassurances from another chorine costumed chorus girl. We are have yet to find the exact usage of this illustration, though by all appearances it seems to be an interior story illustration for one of the many glossy mainstream magazine titles in which Jackson’s work appeared, likely Collier’s, The Saturday Evening Post, or The Ladies Home Journal. Really an impressive example, we had this professionally mounted on masonite and handsomely framed. The painting displays very well and is ready to enjoy.

Framed view
Framed view

 

Frame profile corner view
Frame profile corner view

ELBERT McGRAN JACKSON (1896-1963) Elbert McGran Jackson, or E.M., Jackson, was one of the principal artists for The Saturday Evening Post and Country Gentleman magazines, with 58 covers to his credit. Born in 1896, he showed an interest in drawing from an early age. As a child there was only one art teacher in town from which he could take lessons, and he did so with zeal. He graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in Architecture. Once he realized that his passion was illustration, he began studying art at night. He was mentored by established illustrators, such as James Montgomery Flagg, and sold his first illustrations as a young man.

An artistic specialty of Jackson’s was painting women in poses that made them appear seductive and glamorous amidst architecturally authentic backgrounds. His technique was spontaneous as he painted from posed models. Usually, he illustrated for manuscripts involving romance and high society. However, he also illustrated for a wide variety of genres, including murder mystery and masculine adventure.

More than thirty of Jackson’s Post covers were illustrated during the 1920s. Jackson drew many covers that were sentimental or humorous. Jackson also painted portraits that represented the modern relationships between men and women, such as the May 10, 1930 Post cover of a young man and a young woman sitting back to back at a barber shop taking in one another’s new hairdos.

Through his work for The Saturday Evening Post, and covers for other mainstream American titles including Collier’s, and The Ladies Home Journal, E.M. Jackson, known primarily for his realist/representational art style, showed a more whimsical and varied side to his long and successful career as an illustrator, before his passing in 1962.

Playing The Part

Artist: E.M. Jackson
Price:  Sold

Filed Under: Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1930s, art deco, burlesque, E. M. Jackson, Saturday Evening Post, theater
Added to Gallery: August 3, 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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