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.

A dazzling Heinrich Kley mixed media work featuring a host of primordial animals engaged in an orgiastic dance of evolution. A splendid cast of characters is assembled by this fondly remembered avant-garde, Jugendstil, German Expressionist artist. This is a rare full color example of the artist’s work, most surviving pieces by Kley are pen & ink drawings. This evocative artwork is rich in humor, technique and imagery. Work is in a wonderful state of preservation and nicely matted and framed in a period gesso frame.

Primordial Soup

Artist: Heinrich Kley

A rare and whimsically delightful surviving cover painting from the golden age of illustration by Theodore Haupt, which appeared on the cover of The New Yorker; January 28, 1928. This painting captures the fun and folly of New York City in a severe art deco zig-zag aesthetic. During the busy wintertime wonderland shopping crush, a window dresser is shown feverishly attiring a nude store mannequin as snow covered throngs watch in delight. Haupt illustrated forty four covers for The New Yorker between 1927 and 1933.

Window Dressing

Artist: Theodore Haupt

A rare surviving luminous pastel portrait of early talkie era legendary Hollywood film star Katherine Hepburn, created as the cover for the September 1933 issue of Screenland Magazine. An excellent example of cover portraiture by Charles Gates Sheldon who had a very prolific career creating stylized glamorous art deco Hollywood film star portraits for many of the leading jazz age movie magazine titles. Pastel is beautifully framed and silk matted behind glass.

Katharine Hepburn

Artist: Charles Sheldon

A macabre and dark highly inventive large format gouache illustration painting by Harrison Fisher used as a full color book plate in the 1907 edition of “A Dream of Fair Women” by Lord Alfred Tennyson. In this scene our maiden fair has just completed lent and prepares to give the devil his due and go out ballroom dancing in revealing for the day, corseted attire. This is a classic Harrison Fisher painting and a wonderful and historically impactful example of late Victorian period imagery where traditional customs are seen colliding with a less restrained, more promiscuous Edwardian vision of femininity.

Thoughts of Pascal

Artist: Harrison Fisher

A rare original pastel of Jean Harlow commissioned and used as the cover for the March 1932 edition of “The New Movie Magazine” by prolific American illustrator Charles Gates Sheldon. Sheldon was a frequent cover artist for this title and for Photoplay Magazine capturing the allure of the silent and early talkie era female film stars in glamorous stylized pastel portraits taken from photographs he shot himself at his Carnegie Hall, New York City Studio. A coveted example of early tinseltown featuring perhaps the eras brightest and biggest star.

Jean Harlow New Movie Cover

Artist: Charles Sheldon

A deftly rendered luminous pastel portrait of silent and early talkie legendary Hollywood film star Greta Garbo, created as the cover for the June 1934 issue of Screenland Magazine. One of the finest examples of cover portraiture we have ever come across by Charles Gates Sheldon who had a very prolific career creating stylized glamorous art deco Hollywood film star portraits for many of the leading jazz age movie magazine titles.

Greta Garbo

Artist: Charles Sheldon

An inventive and forward thinking “progress through industry” original gouache illustration painting by Theodore Haupt. This was commissioned by The New Yorker magazine and used as their May 2, 1931 cover. The imagery attempts to put a positive spin on the Great Depression using modernism, industry and the technological advances of the Machine Age as rallying points in this bustling New York City cityscape. Haupt illustrated forty four covers for The New Yorker between 1927 and 1933.

Industry

Artist: Theodore Haupt

An original published gouache illustration painting on board by the Connecticut painter and illustrator Robert Fawcett. The verso label states this was used in a Saturday Evening Post story titled the ‘Ghost Inn Society’. Signed in initials ‘RF’ and notated as Robert Fawcett on the Curtis Publishing Company verso affixed label. Outside the margins are centering spots for print usage. Image shows three women in discussion in a cluttered mid-century office done in a Norman Rockwell-like Americana illustrative style. Fine condition, well framed.

Ghost Inn Society

Artist: Robert Fawcett

In this nostalgic themed oil and graphite on board, Bill Medcalf offers a view of a sleigh arriving at a rural family home. Evoking memories of ancestral Christmases past, the scene features a smiling group of three generations of kin enjoying a snowy morning. The mustached man and woman holding a baby are featured in many images created by Medcalf, and presumably these were intended to become a year long calendar, which tells a story of a family through time.

Winter Wonderland

Artist: William Medcalf

An inventive and unique hand crafted Holiday Seasons Greeting Card from the F. Burtis Clayton Company who we believe were a commercial airbrush art studio. The cover features a streamlined airbrushed painting of a modernist silhouetted cityscape with planes, trains and automobiles ushering in the machine age. Nicely framed, this opens to reveal text and New Year’s wishes as would a more typical holiday card.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Artist: Unknown

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