Jean Harlow by Charles Sheldon

This 1930s-era original pastel on board by Charles Sheldon was one of the many movie magazine covers he created featuring Golden Age Hollywood icons.

The pastels he created for Photoplay from 1925 to 1930 included glamorous depictions of Hollywood film stars like Clara Bow, Mae West, Jean Harlow, Greta Garbo, Gilda Gray, Mary Pickford, and numerous other Hollywood enchantresses. Unlike many movie magazine illustrators, who primarily worked off of publicity photos, many of these stars sat for Sheldon personally. Along with his work for Photoplay, the artist worked for Screenland, Movie Classic and Radio Digest magazines. We have yet to identify the exact publication information for this original pastel, but it was created as magazine cover in the 1930s.

This comes from the estate of Charles Martignette.

Jean Harlow: the Original Blonde Bombshell

In her decade long acting career, Jean Harlow made 36 movies, endured tragedy and scandal, and became the first movie actress to appear on the cover of Life magazine. After acheiving overnight stardom at age 18, with her scene stealing turn in Hell’s Angels she became known as the “platinum blonde” and “blonde bombshell. She was such a sensation that “Platinum Blonde” clubs sprang up across the country and Howard Hughes offered $10,000 to any hairdresser who could replicate “Jean Harlow Platinum.” From this point on, she became a fixture on newsstands, her bleached hair and ice blue eyes instantly familiar to the movie going public.