Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
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.
An original gouache cover illustration for an unidentified issue of the notorious French publication “La Vie Parisienne”. The long running, humorous and racy magazine chronicled the exploits and sexual proclivities of sassy and free spirited French follies showgirls and their often dim witted suitors in risque, breezy, spicy pulp-like fashion. This original gouache painting is nicely double matted in an oval window in a fine antique ornate gesso gold frame behind glass.
Artist: Maurice Milliere
A whimsical and delicately rendered oil on canvas by John Rae embodying the artist’s unique mix of pointillism and impressionism. Rae, a student of Howard Pyle, was commissioned to create this delightful painting in 1925 for a Cream Of Wheat advertisement titled “It’s a Busy World When You’re Five.” The image features a rollicking street scene with an organ grinder and monkey entertaining children and neighborhood pets. Seldom do original artworks come on the market that offer the chance to own a part of history, and we are delighted to be able to offer them.
Artist: John Rae
Shortly after the Armistice of 1918 brought an end to World War I, an outbreak of violence within San Francisco’s Chinatown attracted national attention, and raised awareness of the off-and-on gangland violence known as the Tong wars. As San Francisco became known as home to the largest Chinese population anywhere outside of Asia, fascination about […]
Artist: Pedro Llanuza
This Orson Lowell scene of a flapper couple ice yachting with the unexpected help of a pierrot deckhand was presumably created as a cover painting for Collier’s magazine.
Artist: Orson Lowell
A sophisticated, topical Orson Lowell pen & ink drawing featuring a Japanese soldier bowing before a mythically inspired goddess of death (named by Lowell Mortise, a play on the latin word for death) with the caption So Sorry – have made mistake. The age of this piece, which dates to the first years of the 20th century, makes this by all accounts a commentary on the massive casualties ensued during the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905, a war Japan won, but at a human price much too high.
Artist: Orson Lowell
An inventive and smart C.1930 pastel by frequent Golden Age of Hollywood Movie Magazine cover artist Mila Baine, showing a radiant and stylish Claudette Colbert. Likely a cover for the title Movie Mirror, where Blaine did numerous commissioned covers of Hollywood’s leading ladies in the early 1930s. From the collection of Ken Galente, former owner of Silver Screen Gallery in New York City.
Artist: Mila Baine
A rare surviving cover painting by the prolific and flamboyant artist Henry Clive who worked as an illustrator for Randolph Hearst for nearly three full decades creating covers for The American Weekly. This is one of the very last paintings Clive completed for Hearst, part of a series of pin-up girl cover images depicting “The Girl Who Inspired The Song”.
Artist: Henry Clive
Dating to approximately 1910, this large and expertly rendered gouache painting likely was used as magazine advertising art for Kodak Cameras in American weekly magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post. This bears a Forbes Litho Company of Boston ad agency verso label and bears the name of “Thompson” on the back of the illustration board, the artist is unidentified at this point. Titled “Vacation Requirement” this is great early 20th century advertising Americana treasure with a stylish Edwardian attired family cooling off at the beach.
Artist: Unknown
An original gouache cover painting for the notorious French publication La Vie Parisienne. The long running, humorous and racy magazine chronicled the exploits and sexual proclivities of sassy and free spirited French follies showgirls and their often dim witted suitors in risque, breezy, spicy pulp-like fashion. Maurice Milliere was a frequent contributor of cover illustrations. Fans on both sides of the Atlantic were familiar with the adventures of our delightful bobbed hair cover girl “Fanny” who appeared in a variety of humorous and or scandalous poses. Text translates to Our Huntresses: How the ladies make their powder speak.
Artist: Maurice Milliere
An early and exceptional painting by New York artist and illustrator Malcolm Strauss who specialized in motor genre works creating Automobile Club posters.
Artist: Malcolm Strauss
