• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Recent Additions
  • The Gallery
    • About
    • Browse by Topic
    • eBay
    • Sorry, It’s Sold
  • Guarantee & Policies
    • Guarantee
    • Shipping & Payment
    • Amazon.com Shipping Information
    • eBay Buyer Protection
  • Contact & Social Media
    • E-mail & Phone
    • eBay
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

  • Gallery Blog
  • Golden Gallery
  • Fine & Decorative
  • Illustration & Advertising
  • Paperback & Pulp
  • Pin-Up & Glamour
Sorry, It's Sold

Pearl Gardens

Artist:Bill Layne
Date:1950s
Medium:Gouache on Board
Dimensions:Sight size 12 1/2" X 10" Framed 19" X 17 1/2"
Condition:Mint
Original Use:Original Calendar Art for The Brown & Bigelow Calendar Co.
Price: S O L D
Above: Full view of goauche
Above: The artist’s signature lower left

The finest example of a Bill Layne Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company commissioned illustration we have had to offer. A 1950s-era gouache on board titled “Pearl Gardens, for Cultivated Pearls”. Created for one of this calendar company’s jewelry advertising accounts, the image depicts a pair of topless pin-up girl mermaids in an underwater oyster mine with a host of male atomic-age sea dwellers. The type of scene only Bill Layne could envision and execute. The whimsical charm predicts Layne’s later career in the animation department for Walt Disney feature films. We expect Bill Layne to become a wildly collected and important artist in years to come, and his star is growing all the time.

Above: Detail
Above: Detail

Bill Layne was a prolific and influential Walt Disney Studio’s commercial illustrator who also created hundreds of commissioned images for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company and was one of their last true stars. A unique talent that is just starting to fine traction among today’s forward looking collectors and dealers.

Above: Framed and matted in fine gallery frame
Above: Notations on verso

A list of titles that Layne illustrated follows:

1. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) (background artist)
2. Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974) (background artist)
3. Robin Hood (1973) (background artist)
4. Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) (background artist)
… aka Bedknobs and Broomsticks: 25th Anniversary Special Edition (USA: longer version)
5. The AristoCats (1970) (background artist)

6. Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968) (background artist)
7. The Jungle Book (1967) (background artist)
8. Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966) (background artist)
9. Goofy’s Freeway Troubles (1965) (background artist)
… aka Freewayphobia #2
10. Mary Poppins (1964) (background artist)
11. The Sword in the Stone (1963) (background artist)
12. “Disneyland” (background artist) (2 episodes, 1961)

13. One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) (background artist)

14. Sleeping Beauty (1959) (background artist)

Art Department:

1. Eyes in Outer Space (1959) (paintings) (as William Layne)

2. “Disneyland” (space paintings) (2 episodes, 1955-1957)

3. Cosmic Capers (1957) (space paintings) (as William Layne)

Actor:

1. Night of the Quarter Moon (1959) (uncredited) …. Cameraman

2. Female Jungle (1955) …. Heckler at Murder Scene
… aka The Hangover

Pearl Gardens

Artist: Bill Layne
Price:  S O L D

Filed Under: Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1950s, american, aquatic, Bill Layne, Brown & Bigelow, Disney, Elf, Little Mermaid, mermaid, pin up
Added to Gallery: July 11, 2009

 

Contact Grapefruit Moon Gallery



    Primary Sidebar

    Join our mailing list

    Grapefruit Moon Gallery Around the Web

    Facebook
    Instagram
    Pinterest
    Twitter

    Recent Additions

    Gone With the Wind

    Pigeon Feathers

    Packed Dirt, Churchgoing, A Dying Cat, A Traded Car

    Footer

    About Grapefruit Moon Gallery

    Grapefruit Moon Gallery, based in Minneapolis MN, specializes in vintage pin up and original illustration art.  We are the proud home of the Bunny Yeager archives.

    Since 2003, Grapefruit Moon Gallery has been a leading dealer of exclusive original paintings by Gil Elvgren, Alberto Vargas, Earl Moran, Rolf Armstrong and Henry Clive, as well as vintage photographs, prints, and period decorative arts in ceramic and metal.

    All artworks featured are original, accurately represented, and guaranteed to be the work of the named artist.

    Interested buyers may view pieces by appointment and we are happy to answer any questions you may have. [Contact Us]

    Grapefruit Moon Gallery on eBay

     

    Grapefruit Moon Gallery on Instagram

    View on Instagram

    Copyright © 2023