Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
Rainbow Jewel Flowers This is a fun, c. 1950, unpublished pastel illustration by the Father of American Pin-Up, Rolf Armstrong. This well-rendered whimsical sketch features the artist’s muse and lifelong friend Jewel Flowers in an ethereal gown bursting with a kaleidoscope of rainbow colors. Armstrong created this pastel for Flowers as a gift and it […]
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
Price: Sold
Earlier this year, the Society of Illustrators inducted American illustrator and pin-up artist Rolf Armstrong into their Illustrator’s Hall of Fame. Since 1958, the Society of Illustrators has elected to its Hall of Fame artists recognized for their distinguished achievement in the art of illustration. Artists are elected by former presidents of the Society and […]
From the son of a small town tugboat captain to the Father of American Pin-Up Art, Rolf Armstrong led a full life and had a long and prolific career. In 1919, Armstrong aligned himself with Brown & Bigelow where he painted countless images for advertising calendar art.
For Sale: signed and inscribed pastel by Rolf Armstrong showcasing Jewel Flowers, his most iconic model, muse, closest friend and confidant.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
Price: Sold
On offer is the final original preliminary pastel by Rolf Armstrong for his late 1950s Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company calendar “Delightful”.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
Price: Sale Pending
Early Rolf Armstrong artwork, created as 1919 sheet music cover. Provenance includes the collection of Kenneth Anger, author of Hollywood Babylon.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
Price: Sold
This alluring jazz age portrait of Evelyn Brent by Rolf Armstrong of silent film star Evelyn Brent was commissioned as original artwork for the cover of the March 1930 issue of Screenland Magazine. Armstrong executed a series of covers for this title between 1929 – 1930; he once remarked that Brent had the most perfect face he had ever portrayed. Pastel is matted and framed behind glass and in a fine state of original conservation.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
Price: SOLD
This refined pastel portrait of film legend Mary Astor by the American illustrator Rolf Armstrong dates to 1933, during the artist’s brief tenure as a Hollywood portraitist. The elegant and understated large format artwork reflects Armstrong’s desire to move away from the rigid demands and deadline driven style of his in demand career as America’s leading calendar artist. In 1931, Armstrong moved from New York to the West coast and started an independent fine art company “Armstrong Art Services.”
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
Price: SOLD
A rare surviving pastel by the prolific and inventive early pin-up artist James Ross Bryson. Bryson defined Art Nouveau feminine beauty with his Edwardian views of corseted and lavishly attired, erotic, and bold anti-Victorian maidens. A staff artist for the Thos. D Murphy calendar co., his work also appeared on postcards, advertisements, and magazine covers. Bryson’s strong use of color, and stylized depictions of feminine glamour were heavily influential on art deco pastel artists like Rolf Armstrong, Earl Moran and Zoe Mozert.
Artist: J. Ross Bryson
Price: $7,500.00
An exceedingly scarce and early Art Nouveau period original pastel portrait by Rolf Armstrong dated 1913. A crisply rendered serene take on a sad eyed solemn brown eyed lass. This pastel dates just one year later than his first published works of 1912 for Puck and Judge magazines. His signature had not yet become the stylized scripted font of which we are accustomed to seeing. I have yet to uncover the published version of this work, it was most likely commissioned as a sheet music cover or perhaps a cover for American Sunday Magazine, one of several periodicals willing to take a chance on the young emerging talent.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
Price: $9,500.00
