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.
A dazzling and evocative gouache illustration painting for a 1972 edition of Hans Cristian Andersen’s classic tale “The Little Mermaid”. A shining deftly rendered example in the manner of Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac. Work is matted and framed and signed by the artist lower left and titled in the margin lower right.
Artist: Harold Thompson
A whimsical roaring twenties stylized Art Deco pen & ink illustration by John Held, Jr. of unknown publication usage. A stylish flapper girl in a cloche hat enlists this year’s dandy as her personal social secretary. Handsomely matted and framed under glass.
Artist: John Held, Jr.
This patriotic, morale boosting, WWII-era red, white and blue cover gouache illustration painting was the cover for the May, 2, 1942 edition of Liberty Magazine. The image depicts a curvy pin-up girl christening a ship as the nattily attired distinguished guests of the ceremony struggle to keep their eyes on the matter at hand. In a humorous nod […]
Artist: Stephen Ronay
Nell Brinkley was known for her ability to personify the 1920s move towards modernity and to interpret Victorian tradition through the eyes of her flapper heroine, The Brinkley Girl. In this inspired and tremendously fun pen and ink illustration, a Brinkley bride-to-be reminisces about her carefree maiden days of wanderlust and freedom. Signed and dated in […]
Artist: Nell Brinkley
A deftly rendered luminous pastel portrait of silent and early talkie legendary Hollywood film star Greta Garbo, created as the cover for the November 1935 issue of Screenland magazine. The artist captures the glamorous side of Garbo as styled from a publicity shoot promoting her starring turn in the M-G-M adaptation of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. […]
Artist: Charles Sheldon
This stunning oil on canvas painting by the illustrator F.R. Harper, presents a beautiful partisan French fighter looking over the ruins of a French village. Harper gained notoriety at the turn of the last century for his nostalgic and beautiful Indian Maiden images, and as World War I unfolded, he turned his attention to images like this which personified patriotic […]
Artist: F.R. Harper
This sparkling original oil on canvas by Robert George Harris appeared the December 1948 issue of McCall’s magazine, illustrating the story “When the Right One Comes Along” by Clara Wallace Overton. The long-running women’s magazine was known for its romantic fiction, and the hospital workplace love affair was a particularly popular subgenre. Here, the lovely nurse realizes the dashing compassionate doctor is […]
Artist: Robert George Harris
An impacting gouache illustration painting by the prolific American artist Jules Gotlieb, for the November 25, 1951 issue of The American Weekly, a Randolph Hearst publication. This was part of an ongoing series about prehistoric times which the supplement ran in 1951. Other artists that worked for this long running title include Henry Clive, Willy […]
Artist: Jules Gotlieb
In 1947–as the world reeled from the scale of the devastation caused by the Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 and an increasing Cold War threat of nuclear annihilation–Coronet Magazine commissioned Chesley Bonestell to illustrate a haunting “picture story” that showcased eight different catastrophes which could bring upon an end to life […]
Artist: Chesley Bonestell
This deftly painted cover illustration by Leslie Thrasher was created for the June 7th, 1930 edition of Liberty Magazine, and showcases the artist’s finely tuned ability to capture the spirit of the time in which he worked. The image shows two ruddy children in a game of dress-up, as a pair of blind and […]
Artist: Leslie Thrasher
