Fine & Decorative Art

Along with developments in lithography that led many leading talents of the day into careers as illustrators, the 20th century saw innovations in photography, printmaking, and design that revolutionized fine, public, and decorative art. Below, you will see showcased original artworks from the Art Nouveau, American Arts & Crafts, Art Deco, WPA-era and beyond.

An inspired and outrageous, entirely hand painted and created paper-mache decorative mask by Hannes Bok, this captures an exuberant, outlandish Art Deco Egyptian – Orientalist style. One of our favorite illustrators, Bok was born Wayne Woodard and grew up in Duluth Minnesota. As an adult, the artist carved out a meager living as an illustrator and “part time astrologer”. What we love most about Bok is his steadfast idealism and refusal to conform to the whims and rigors of publishing trends. Not surprisingly Bok died penniless in New York City. As today’s collectors and scholars unearth the lost history of the pulps the star of Hannes Bok burns brighter than at any time during his long and prolific career.

An Orientalist Avant-Garde Mask

Artist: Hannes Bok

Along with its companion work “Ye Chiselers” (previously sold through Grapefruit Moon Gallery), Clive created this masterwork for the tavern of The Masquers Club, a historic and fascinating Hollywood institution. A reclining redheaded flapper is seen consorting with a Persian genie of sorts, illustrating the verse from the Rubaiyat which is inscribed on the mural.

The Infidel

Artist: Henry Clive

A technically proficient early surviving self portrait charcoal drawing of and by Rolf Armstrong,

capturing a slightly idealized version of the handsome square jawed athletic and rugged young artist who was also an avid boxer and sailor. Armstrong was 26 at the time of this self portrait and was about two years into his commercial illustration career, during these early years the artist used himself for several commissioned works requiring a male model. From estate of Mike Wooldridge, co-author of “Pin-up Dreams – The Glamour Art of Rolf Armstrong”.

Self Portrait

Artist: Rolf Armstrong

A 1920s original oil on canvas painting by noted New York artist and muralist John Hemming Fry. Like his fellow muralists Eugene Savage and Edwin H. Blashfield, Fry created epic imagery in a dreamscape romanticized style, borrowing freely from classical Greek, Celtic and Roman folklore and imagery. This mythological trilogy on death and dying features three separate vignettes painted in subdued blue and steel gray tones against a background of ancient Northern European hills. A flowing, lyrical, sometimes abstracted composition that also incorporates elements of the contemporaneous Dada and Surrealist movements. An inventive and decorative large antique oil painting that retains its original handsome gesso frame, and is verso inkstamped by the artist.

A Celtic Tragedy

Artist: John Hemming Fry

Working within the gritty and near-apocalyptic style of the ashcan school, Paul Raphael Meltsner captures here the shimmying decadence of movement that defined Depression-era burlesque, as well as the art form’s manner of dehumanizing both performer and patron. Though brazenly showcasing her human form, the dancer in the foreground hides her face from the canvas, and the audience recedes into the merest suggestion of faces represented merely as forms. This is a moving and masterful artwork, reminiscent of the works of Everett Shinn, a contemporary of Meltsner’s.

The Faceless Crowd

Artist: Paul Meltsner

Grapefruit Moon Gallery is ecstatic to offer the original pair of carved Hondurous Mahogany decorative column panels that were built for the tavern in Hollywood California’s legendary Masquers Club on 6735 Yucca Street. These Afro-American nymphs were carved by the noted WPA muralist and woodcarver Stuart Holmes. We purchased these with the two large original Henry Clive Masquers Club mural paintings we offered and sold earlier this year.

Masquer’s Club Nude Panels

Artist: Stuart Holmes

This touching, personal charcoal portrait by Rolf Armstrong features his long-time housekeeper and personal friend Rebekah Louisa Hooper–Ma Hoops–in a lovingly rendered Hawaiian islands view, with traditional plumeria tucked behind her ear. Hooper worked at Armstrong’s homes in Honolulu Hawaii and Marblehead Massachusetts, becoming a fixture in his tight knit circle.

Ma Hoops

Artist: Rolf Armstrong

A large well preserved pencil signed copper plate etching by Stephen Parrish, the celebrated artist, etcher and father of beloved American Illustrator Maxfield Parrish. Featuring a New England harbor view with a lone fisherman standing on the pier. The presence of the figure is unusual for etchings by Parrish, whose harbor landscapes rarely featured images of people. This was framed in the 1920s and retains the original unopened backing paper and a verso label from “E & A Art Shop.” The etching is signed in pencil lower right in the margin and is in an fine state of preservation. A rich impression on Japan paper in excellent condition.

A Harbor Scene With Figure

Artist: Stephen Parrish

A finely rendered lovely red headed nude siren by Pal Fried, this is a fresh Chicago estate find in a fine state of original conservation in a handsome ornate carved wood period frame. Titled on back of canvas “Tina” in the artists hand, a defining and sexually charged erotic depiction by the prolific and celebrated Hungarian portrait painter.

Tina

Artist: Pal Fried

A large, inspired, new to the market oil on canvas by Pal Fried; a smoldering reclining nude in a deeply erotic 1940s moment. Retains original ornate carved wood frame. The canvas is untouched and stamped on the verso and titled in the artist’s hand “Reclining Nude”. A fine well preserved luminous example of what this prolific European painter’s signature work.

Reclining Nude

Artist: Pal Fried

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