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Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

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Paperback & Pulp Art

The Calico Kid

Artist:J. W. Scott
Date:1934
Medium:Oil on Canvas
Dimensions:Sight Size 20 1/2" x 30 1/2" Framed 29" x 39"
Condition:Excellent
Original Use:Cover Art for Street & Smith's Western Stories, Sept 8, 1934
Full view of artwork
Full view of artwork

 

The artist's signature
The artist’s signature

 

Western Stories Pulp - Sept, 8, 1934 with published cover art included in sale.
Western Stories Pulp – Sept, 8, 1934 with published cover art included in sale.

A rare surviving cover painting by J.W. Scott, created for the September 8th, 1934 issue of the Street & Smith Publishing pulp magazine Western Stories. A copy of the magazine is included in the sale. A gritty old west scene of a group of cowboys including the Calico Kid reloading and preparing to fire above a rugged desert pass. The work is executed with an impasto technique that brings a tension and urgent intensity to the Americana Western genre imagery.

Framed view in original antique wide profile handsome frame
Framed view in original antique wide profile handsome frame

Illustration Magazine recently devoted a large portion of issue #14 on the life and works of John Walter Scott, who worked during the 1930s creating numerous and stylistically diverse pulp covers, the verso canvas notes this was a cover for a “Sept 8 Western, we recently bought a title of the published pulp which is included in the sale.

Detail
Detail
Detail
Detail
Corner frame profile
Corner frame profile
Verso NYC address in artist's hand
Verso NYC address in artist’s hand
Print notations on verso for publication usage "Western -Sept. 8 "
Print notations on verso for publication usage “Western -Sept. 8 “
Verso view of untouched original canvas and pine stretchers
Verso view of untouched original canvas and pine stretchers

This untouched Golden Age of Illustration cover work shows the artist’s New York address on the verso as well as print usage notations. The frame is original to the painting and a very handsome wide profile rugged example that looks fabulous with this large and rare pulp cover illustration.

The Calico Kid

Artist: J. W. Scott

Filed Under: Paperback & Pulp Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1930s, american, Golden Age, J. W. Scott, magazine cover, original cover art, pulp, western, western americana
Added to Gallery: February 9, 2011

 

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