Australian-born artist Henry Clive (Henry Clive O’Hara) started out as a vaudevillian magician, became a silent film performer, and gained fame as an artist. His career as an illustrator began nearly by accident, when impresario Flo Ziegfeld discovered one of his sketches.
What is illustration art? Original illustration art is the original drawing or painting which was created with the purpose of being reproduced for print. Often accompanying text, be it narrative or advertisement, these images helped to tell a story. While illustration art has existed since before the printed press was invented, the mechanical advancement of […]
This unusual example of a science fiction themed menace pulp illustration by the talented artist Lawrence Sterne Stevens was created as cover art for the July 1948 issue of Fantastic Novels. Renowned for his grotesque imaginative horror art, and often compared to contemporary Virgil Finlay, Stevens was named after his father–a deeply religious preacher–and signed […]
Artist: Lawrence Sterne Stevens
Patten Wilson, the British Art Nouveau illustrator and fine artist created this immaculately detailed and haunting watercolor on paper for use as frieze panel decoration for a high end wallpaper company. At the turn of the 20th century, lavishly decorated Victorian homes would feature rooms filled with fine art wall-coverings that recalled the symbolist mural […]
Artist: Patten Wilson
This lighthearted cheesecake pin up illustration graced the January 1956 page of Bill Randall’s wildly popular “Randall’s Date Book” 12 page calendar series. For his “Date Book” commissions, Randall played off the success of the Brown & Bigelow Calendar company’s yearly Artist Sketch Pad pin up calendar, while adding his own charm and whimsy. Work […]
Artist: Bill Randall
This lighthearted cheesecake pin up illustration graced the January 1957 page of Bill Randall’s wildly popular “Randall’s Date Book” 12 page calendar series. For his “Date Book” commissions, Randall played off the success of the Brown & Bigelow Calendar company’s yearly Artist Sketch Pad pin up calendar, while adding his own charm and whimsy. Working […]
Artist: Bill Randall
Evoking both French impressionism and the regionalist spirit of the WPA, this Dewey Albinson oil on canvas shows a pair of figures (seemingly father and daughter) walking through a country lane on a summer afternoon. With their backs to the viewer, the pair walk from the shadows towards the sunshine, but further down their path […]
Artist: Dewey Albinson
An iconic Prohibition-era chromium cocktail shaker from Faberware A history of the cocktail and their shakers in American society. Though Happy Hour had existed since the turn of the century, when 5 pm ‘tea-time’ was usurped by cocktails, the sacrifice of World War I led to a post-war pleasure seeking public who wanted nothing more […]
An enchanting and one of a kind original watercolor by my favorite illustrator, Henry Clive. Given as a Christmas present in 1928. Inscribed “Dear old Art — Be good and you’ll be eccentric.” Dated “Hollywood-Christmas 1928.” Watercolor mimics a published Smart Set cover. I will include color copy of the published cover with sale.
Artist: Henry Clive
With the advent of sound in the early 1920s and its adoption by feature length films in 1927, films got dirtier. During the silent era the lack of dialogue constrained plots, and with sound narratives grew more complicated and came to involve adult themes and politics, incorporating dirty speech into what had previously been only […]
