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 colorful and festive original gouache painting by the prolific Hungarian artist Willy Pogany for an as of yet undetermined interior book plate illustration. A courting scene with a knight and princess assembled in a far away idyllic surround. The verso is notated with “pg. 26” this was a published work it is boldly signed lower right and nicely matted with a silk mat and framed behind glass.
Artist: Willy Pogany
A whimsical roaring twenties stylized art deco pen & ink illustration by John Held Jr. for “Dutton’s Au Revoir Boxes”. Framed with the original box label this was created for, a nautically themed work with a sailor and his flapper girl sweetie. The Park Avenue, New York company manufactured durable boxes that were to be used in cruise ship travel. From the Charles Martignette estate.
Artist: John Held, Jr.
A large scale impressive oil on stretched canvas by noted New York City illustrator Howard Chandler Christy titled “Surrender of the Blockhouse, Spanish-American War”. A boldly rendered impressionist work that depicts one of the war’s climactic battle scenes of 1898. Signed lower left and framed with a title plaque. Stretcher bar bears the notation “Oct. Cover.” This is a defining example of the artist’s historically impactful work that deftly shows Christy’s expertise in making battle scenes come to life.
Artist: Howard Chandler Christy
A luminous and sensational oil on canvas by Charles Edward Chambers, a masterful magazine and advertising illustrator of the jazz age. Chambers created this remarkable, highly sensuous Polynesian enchantress scene as a commissioned interior magazine illustration, likely for Cosmopolitan where he was under exclusive contract for many years. This uninhibited and erotic island dance scene is one of Chambers’ finest paintings, and a masterful example of early 20th century exoticism in illustration.
Artist: Charles Edward Chambers
A dazzling, large oil on canvas painting by frequent Saturday Evening Post cover artist Frederic Stanley. This wild prohibition-era, Charleston-dancing, Roaring Twenties flapper girl celebrates a Loew’s Theatre New York Policeman’s Ball Burlesque show. This is a wonderfully rendered artwork and a piece of New York history originally owned by Eve Green, the first wife of hotel magnate Harry Helmsley. Created for the cover of the program associated with this 1926 review, this important work showcases the 1920s jazz-age aesthetic of Manhattan’s bustling Vaudeville/Burlesque social scene.
Artist: Frederic Stanley
A fine and rare surviving original pastel by Charles Sheldon of the young and lovely Jean Harlow from her early years around the time of her breakthrough role in Howard Hughes’ epic film of 1930 Hells Angels.
Artist: Charles Sheldon
A wonderful nude mermaid themed Bill Layne Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company commissioned illustration, the second of two are offering at Grapefruit Moon Gallery. A 1950s-60s gouache on board created for one of this calendar company’s jewelry advertising accounts. This depicts a topless pin-up girl mermaid on a balance scale with a tray of freshly mined pearls surrounded underwater by a host of male atomic-age sea dwellers. The type of scene only Bill Layne could envision and execute. The whimsical charm predicts Layne’s later career in the animation department for Walt Disney feature films. We expect Bill Layne to become a wildly collected and important artist in years to come.
Artist: Bill Layne
A large whimsical 1963 Calendar commissioned gouache painting for The Louis F. Dow Calendar Company signed “Arnquist” a pseudonym which allowed Bill Layne (who was under contract with Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company) to also get paid for calendar works he created for the rival Saint Paul Minnesota competing calendar company. A printed tear sheet of the painting titled “Cat Nap” used as a calendar page March 1963 is included in the sale. This work features a xylophone and a band of mice as the central components as a snoozing cat gets his whiskers trimmed in blissful oblivion to the happenings. Nicely matted and framed and ready to enjoy.
Artist: Bill Layne
The finest example of a Bill Layne Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company commissioned illustration we have had to offer. A 1950s-era gouache on board titled “Pearl Gardens, for Cultivated Pearls”. Created for one of this calendar company’s jewelry advertising accounts, the image depicts a pair of topless pin-up girl mermaids in an underwater oyster mine with a host of male atomic-age sea dwellers. The type of scene only Bill Layne could envision and execute.
Artist: Bill Layne
The second work from a pair of 1920s gouache paintings by the Minneapolis Minnesota artist Lee Mero, titled “Land O’ the Sky Blue Water.” This retains its brightly colored pin striped art deco enamel painted wood frame. This was likely a commissioned work for the Buzza Motto Company who prospered during the Roaring 20s Jazz Age years providing prints, plaques, bridge tallies and menu books that captured the style and aesthetics of the burgeoning modernist art deco movement. This beautiful depiction of northern Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes glory captures the fascination with Native American culture with an Indian Chief in a birch-bark canoe and blue heron birds that are indigenous to the area.
Artist: Lee Mero
