Above: Framed view of presentation grouping

Above: 11″ by 13″ thumbnail preliminary pastel sketch

A framed presentation grouping including a thumbnail pastel preliminary sketch by Rolf Armstrong and large format promotional gelatin silver photograph of Jewel Flowers as posed by Rolf Armstrong. Created for a Brown & Bigelow Cowgirl themed Pin-up calendar titled “Try This” which first appeared in either 1949 or 1950.

Above: Detail of photograph

The finished illustration was widely seen on calendars in the early 1950s included in the sale is a large format vintage advertising calendar of “Try This”.

Above: Included in sale a large original Brown & Bigelow Calendar

From the estate of Mike Wooldridge, the noted Armstrong scholar and collector. Mike befriended Jewel Flowers in the course of his research into Rolf Armstrong, and he acquired this directly from Jewel. This is charmingly framed in a rope adorned Western Americana wood frame behind glass. A unique and effective presentation of the work process of modeling, staging and creating a calendar commissioned pin-up pastel.

Mike Wooldridge was a lifetime collector & co-author of “Pin Up Dreams” a monograph on Rolf Armstrong that was researched and enthusiastically compiled by Mike over many years. Mike was without question the greatest scholar of Armstrong, the American illustrator and Calendar Pin-up artist. His sudden death in January of 2010 was a tremendous loss to his family, friends, and the collecting community at large. We are honored to have the opportunity to share these examples from Mike’s legendary collection, and to have known Mike as a friend, respected colleague and font of knowledge.