A deftly rendered luminous pastel portrait of silent and early talkie legendary Hollywood film star Greta Garbo, created as the cover for the June 1934 issue of Screenland magazine. One of the finest examples of cover portraiture we have ever come across by Charles Gates Sheldon who had a very prolific career creating stylized glamorous art deco Hollywood film star portraits for many of the leading jazz age movie magazine titles.
This published original pastel is beautifully framed and silk matted behind glass.
Recently many examples of Sheldon’s Hollywood movie magazine portraiture have sold at auction from the Charles Martignette estate collection, comparables of other top notch works by the artist have sold in recent years for as much as $17,930.00 at auction.
This is an important and rare surviving Hollywood tinsel town era Golden Age of Illustration treasure that is in a very fine state of conservation.
Sheldon exectued another published portrait of the iconic actress for Screenland Magazine in November of 1935 as seen below. By the mid-1930s she was already known for her elusive persona, best captured in 1932’s Grand Hotel, when she uttered “I want to be alone.” That phrase was voted one of the most memorable movie lines of all time, and her secrecy towards the press created a frenzy of interest around the actress throughout the 1930s. She was a highly sought cover subject, and her ethereal allure is captured in this mesmerizing portrait by Sheldon.