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Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

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Illustration & Advertising Art

At the turn of the 20th century, Industrial Revolution inventions brought technological advancements to printmaking that ushered in a Golden Age of American illustration. Publishers and calendar companies developed new techniques for producing multi-color offset lithographs that were fast, affordable, and flat-out glorious to view, blurring the distinction between fine art and "art for commerce." The best examples by the finest commercial illustrators were revered by the public, and today are beloved by collectors.

  This interior illustration published in the July 17th 1954 issue of the Saturday Evening Post comes from the estate of the artist Edwin Georgi. The image shows a couple on a tense afternoon drive, and appeared on the second page of the first installment of the serialized mystery “Invitation to Murder.” A copy of […]

Invitation to Murder

Artist: Edwin Georgi

Filed Under: Illustration & Advertising Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1950s, Edwin Georgi, Saturday Evening Post
Added to Gallery: April 13, 2023

  This beautiful and mysterious illustration by Edwin Georgi was created in 1954 as illustration for an interior story in the Saturday Evening Post. Later, a very similar but more tightly rendered variation on this theme would appear in Redbook Magazine illustrating a story titled Marry For Money. While we have been unable to locate […]

Marry For Money Variant

Artist: Edwin Georgi

Filed Under: Illustration & Advertising Art
Tagged With: 1950s, Edwin Georgi, gouache, Saturday Evening Post
Added to Gallery: April 3, 2023

A large, luminous, and otherworldly gouache illustration most likely created for Redbook Magazine, verso is dated January 1958. A most awkward wedding day depiction where seemingly the groom new the bride and the bride’s maid of honor when they used to rock and roll. A dazzling work by one of our favorite artists in a rainbow inspired color palette that only Georgi could have conceived. Beautifully matted and framed in a period gold gesso frame.

Wedding For Three

Artist: Edwin Georgi

Filed Under: Illustration & Advertising Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1950s, american, Edwin Georgi, mid-century, original interior illustration, Redbook Magazine, slick magazine
Added to Gallery: March 31, 2023

A spectacular and otherworldly Edwin Georgi gouache painting on illustration board in a color palette so unusual it could only have been envisioned by this particular artist. A pair of lovers literally and metaphorically going different ways in their relationship sensing the distance between them, both nattily attired and icy cold in disposition. Published in an as of yet determined slick magazine (likely Redbook or Cosmopolitan) as a full color interior story illustration circa 1950s.

Two on a Match

Artist: Edwin Georgi

Filed Under: Illustration & Advertising Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1950s, american, Edwin Georgi, glamour, illustration, magazine cover, mid-century, noir, original cover art, original interior illustration, pin up, slick magazine
Added to Gallery: March 2, 2023

Original illustration by Bob Dacey from Pigeon Feathers This beautifully rendered watercolor is by illustrator Bob Dacey. A richly colored, dreamlike image that plays with light and dark, it features a boy standing in a dark barn with sunlight streaming in through slats in the wooden walls. The boy looks up as a trio of […]

Pigeon Feathers

Artist: Bob Dacey

Filed Under: Illustration & Advertising Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1980s, Bob Dacey, bookplate illustration, Franklin Library, Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories, Watercolor
Added to Gallery: August 16, 2022

Original illustration by Bob Dacey from Packed Dirt, Churchgoing, A Dying Cat, A Traded Car This beautifully rendered watercolor is by illustrator Bob Dacey. This is a richly colored piece done entirely in neutral tones. It features two Black women dressed in white in the forefront who are seen tending to a goat, and two […]

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

Artist: Bob Dacey

Filed Under: Illustration & Advertising Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1980s, Bob Dacey, bookplate illustration, Franklin Library, Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories, Watercolor
Added to Gallery: August 16, 2022

Original illustration by Bob Dacey from You’ll Never Know, Dear This beautifully rendered watercolor is by illustrator Bob Dacey. It is a dreamlike portrait with rich, brown tones and soft brush strokes. It features two young men at a carnival game with a wheel spinning in a blur in front of them as it takes […]

You’ll Never Know, Dear

Artist: Bob Dacey

Filed Under: Illustration & Advertising Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1980s, Bob Dacey, bookplate illustration, Franklin Library, Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories, Watercolor
Added to Gallery: August 16, 2022

LIFEGUARD - an original watercolor illustration by Bob Dacey

Original illustration by Bob Dacey from Lifeguard This beautifully rendered watercolor is by illustrator Bob Dacey. It is a dreamlike piece that captures the summer haze of hot days at the beach. It features a lifeguard, hunched forward, eyes on the water, as he keenly observes the beachgoers. Dacey was commissioned to create this piece […]

Lifeguard

Artist: Bob Dacey

Filed Under: Illustration & Advertising Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1980s, Bob Dacey, bookplate illustration, Franklin Library, Pigeon Feathers And Stories, Watercolor
Added to Gallery: August 16, 2022

[wp_paypal button=”buynow” name=”Come Be My Love by Wesley Snyder” amount=”1975.00″ no_shipping=”2″ quantity=”1″ return=”https://grapefruitmoongallery.com/thank-you-for-your-order” cancel_return=”https://grapefruitmoongallery.com/your-order-was-not-processed” button_image=”https://grapefruitmoongallery.com/wp-content/buy-now.png” target=”blank”] Post-War Romance and Intrigue This well-rendered gouache illustration by artist and illustrator Wesley Snyder features a bubbly blonde sweetheart in a white tennis skirt and a pink sweater emblazoned with the nickname “killer.” Fresh from the tennis court she […]

Come Be My Love

Artist: Wesley Snyder

Filed Under: Illustration & Advertising Art
Tagged With: 1940s, gouache, interior illustration, The Saturday Evening Post, Wesley Snyder
Added to Gallery: June 20, 2022

A beautiful original late 1920s pen and ink drawing by Cardwell Higgins designed as greeting card art.

Season’s Greetings

Artist: Cardwell Higgins

Filed Under: Illustration & Advertising Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: art deco, Cardwell Higgins, illustration
Added to Gallery: February 12, 2022

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