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 large, signed, oil on canvas painting by prolific and influential New York City illustrator James Montgomery Flagg titled “At The Stork Club”. A prohibition/speakeasy-era, exhibited, large format illustration inviting us in behind the doors of New York City’s legendary Stork Club. Exhibited in 1976 at the Columbus Museum of Arts and Crafts in Columbus Georgia as well as the Berry-Hill Galleries on 5th Avenue in New York.
Artist: James Montgomery Flagg
A dark, masterfully suspenseful, photo-realist in technique painting by noted American illustrator and avant-garde filmmaker Douglass Crockwell. This menacing oil on board was likely used as an interior illustration in an American slick magazine such as The Saturday Evening Post, or Colliers. Crockwell was a gifted and precise artist, his advertising accounts included Coca-Cola, GE and US Steel.
Artist: Douglass Crockwell
A deftly rendered, intricate, highly decorative oil on canvas painting by noted Brandywine School illustrator Arthur E. Becher, a student of Howard Pyle. An East Indian Minstrel performs magic feats to the delight of his adoring harem in this Orientalist Golden Age of Illustration depiction. Becher’s work appeared in numerous magazine titles after the turn of the last century; Scribner’s and Leslie’s most notably. He also created full color bookplates for such titles as “Long Live the King” and an 1914 adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” by P.F. Collier & Sons.
Artist: Arthur Becher
This original 1942 oil-on-board artwork by well listed female artist Bettina Steinke was commissioned for a United States Government WWII poster titled “Keep ‘Em Flying”. The image also became popular as a calendar art print titled “When They Came Marching Home” for The Louis F. Dow calendar company during the years of World War II and the immediate post-war period. The image became one of the enduring pictures of a changing America during wartime, featuring a victory girl nurse and armed forces servicemen working together to protect the nation.
Artist: Bettina Steinke
A crisply rendered jazz-age take on Adam & Eve and temptation within The Garden of Eden; this was created for the important 1932 Random House hardcover edition of George Gershwin’s Song-Book. This gouache painting illustrated the 1926 Gershwin song “Do Do Do” from the musical “Oh Kay”. A recent New York City Christie’s auction for a leather bound signed and numbered first edition of the songbook signed by both Alajalov and Gershwin brought $4207.00 with buyers premiums illustrating the significance and historic beauty of this unique pairing of talents.
Artist: Constantin Alajalov
“Racing the Sun” is a rare surviving oil on stretched canvas painting by Ruehl Frederick Heckman, created for the Thomas D. Murphy Calendar Company. During the 1930s Heckman executed a series of five paintings for this storied calendar company, all featuring bold aviation progress and industrial themes. These works ponder the collision of the industrial revolution’s streamlined machine age aesthetic with previous generations traditional and more pastoral ways.
Artist: Ruehl Frederick Heckman
An inspired and inventive take on the biblical epic of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Blaine was a unique talent, and counter culture avant-garde artist who worked outside of the confines of the mainstream. A life-long bohemian, his work became increasingly sexual and marginalized from the norm of illustration art, and as time went on he counted the magician Dunninger among his closest friends, and most important patrons. His eerie and erotic style bore witness to his fascination with dark arts.
Artist: Mahlon Blaine
An inventive stylized colorful dated gouache advertising painting by Cardwell Higgins for “Aris Britland Doeskin” gloves. An inventive color palette and attention to fashion style details make this a compelling and inventive example. A tear sheet of the printed work from the artist’s scrapbook is included in the sale.
Artist: Cardwell Higgins
An early fabulous pen & ink drawing by Cardwell Higgins in the art deco manner titled “Siamese Dancers”, possibly a commissioned work for use by Paramount Films where the artist was under contract in the late 1920s. Higgins completed a series of like minded costumed art deco pen & ink drawings between the years of 1927 – 1929 that were re-marketed as a series of limited edition art prints under the guidance of Charles Martignette in 1979. The work is finely matted and framed behind glass in a handsome art deco black and silver fine gallery frame.
Artist: Cardwell Higgins
A large, signed and dated oil on canvas by noted and prolific Golden age illustrator Ralph Pallen Coleman. The work was commissioned for a 2 page spread in the November 1933 edition of Redbook Magazine, illustrating the Military-themed melodrama “Rank and File” by Charles L. Clifford and Mary C. McCall, Jr. The published edition of Redbook is included in the sale and the painting is nicely framed and ready to hang.
Artist: Ralph Coleman
