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Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

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Sorry, It's Sold

Men’s Adventure Magazine Illustration

Artist:Samson Pollen
Date:1960s
Medium:Gouache on illustration board
Dimensions:30" x 20"
Condition:Fine+
Original Use:Interior illustration for a men's adventure magazine
Woman in a bikini on a boat shooting a pistol with one hand and holding a flare gun in the other
Full view of gouache illustration

Original Men’s Adventure Magazine Illustration by Samson Pollen

Offered here is a thrilling, vintage and original, grayscale gouache on board by the prolific and frequently-published illustrator Samson Pollen.

A classic example of 1960s men’s magazine art, this high-stakes, action-packed illustration was likely published as an interior illustration of a men’s adventure magazine.

Excitement abounds in this illustration as a badass blonde pin-up girl in a bikini finds herself in the middle of a gunfight with soldiers on a ship out at sea. The sails of the ship have caught on fire while our heroine holds a smoking flare gun in her other hand.

Detail view of a blonde in a bikini holding a gun in one hand and a flare gun in the other
Detail view

Men’s Adventure Magazines as a Genre

Men’s adventure magazines (or MAM’s) were a genre of magazine published in the United States from the 1940s up until the early 1970s. Catering to male audiences, these magazines featured pin-up girls and lurid tales of adventure that typically featured wartime feats of daring, exotic travel, or conflict with wild animals. These magazines were also colloquially known as “armpit slicks”, “men’s sweat magazines”, or “the sweats”, especially by people in the magazine publishing or distribution trades.

Soldiers aboard a ship collapsed and gripping their gunshot wounds
Detail view

Samson Pollen

Samson Pollen was a prolific illustrator in the genre of Men’s Adventure Magazines. In particular, Pollen’s dangerously beautiful women have gained quite a bit of attention themselves with the publication of the picture book, Pollen’s Women: The Art of Samson Pollen.

Pollen created hundreds of cover art and interior illustrations during the heyday of this genre, from the mid-1950s to the 1970s, and he is considered to be one of the greats.

Pollen recently passed away in December of 2018 and this never-before-seen original illustration is from his own collection.

Full view of illustration by Samson Pollen
Full view of illustration board

This illustration is in excellent condition with no visible wear to the image area. The illustration board shows scattered corner and edge wear, but would be easily hidden behind matting and framing. Truly, a fantastic piece of mid-century American illustration!

The illustration board measures 30″ x 20″ with an image size of 24″ x 16″

View of the back of the illustration board
View of verso

Men’s Adventure Magazine Illustration

Artist: Samson Pollen

Filed Under: Paperback & Pulp Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1960s, blonde, gouache, illustration, magazine illustration, Men's Magazine art, original interior illustration, pulp, Samson Pollen
Added to Gallery: February 28, 2023

 

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