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Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

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Sorry, It's Sold

Teen-Age Gangs

Artist:Rafael Desoto
Date:1954
Medium:Oil on Illustration Board
Dimensions:Sight Size 19 1/2" X 30 1/2"
Condition:Excellent
Original Use:Cover art for Popular Library
Price: Sold
Full view
The artist's signature lower right
The published artwork (included in sale)

Teen-Age Gangs was created by Rafael Desoto as cover art for a 1954 Popular Library Paperback Book written by Dale Kramer and Madeline Karr. A gritty defining example which shows a bleak sensationalized, youth gone wild culture, which was to captured the moral panic over juvenile delinquency that was a focal point of American culture in the 1950s, most notably explored in films like Rebel Without a Cause and Blackboard Jungle. The back cover text slug reads as follows: Here is the inside story of juvenile gangs in action - their hangouts and habits, their girl friends and underworld heroes: dope peddlers and bookies, trigger-happy hoodlums and easy money boys... The painting is signed lower right and a copy of the published paperback is included in the sale, by all standards just a masterpiece of scandalous pulp-fiction paperback art.

Detail
Detail

Rafael Desoto was one of several artists that made the transition to paperbacks from the pulps. He produced pulp covers up until the demise of the industry in the 1950s, for such magazines as Adventure, Argosy, Black Mask, Captain Zero, Crack Detective, Fantastic Novels, 15-Story Detective, Fifteen Western Tales, New Detective, Smashing Detective, and Walt Coburn's Western Magazine. In the 1950s he also produced many paperback book covers for Ace, Bantam, Dell, Lion, Signet, and Pocket Books, including the iconic H Is For Heroin for Popular Library.

Verso view
Press slugs on back of paperback
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Teen-Age Gangs

Artist: Rafael Desoto
Price:  Sold

Filed Under: Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1950s, american, Gang, Golden Age, original cover art, original illustration art, paperback, pulp, subversive, Teen-Age Gangs, The Golden Gallery
Added to Gallery: August 4, 2017

 

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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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