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 scale and evocative interior story illustration by Herbert Morton Stoops; likely commissioned for Collier’s or Cosmopolitan magazine, both of for which the artist was a frequent contributor. A briskly composed hearth scene with broad brush strokes that ultimately creates a wonderful sense of urgency and movement. Stoops painted in a style much like Dean Cornwell and Howard Pyle, the artist has a high water mark at auction of just under $11,000.00 in 2001.
Artist: Herbert Stoops
A delightful pastel by Pearl L. Hill. This dates from the 1920’s and was presumably used as a cover for a period woman’s magazine (likely Modern Priscilla). A demure yet playfully-posed, modernist, roaring 20s flapper girl with short bobbed hair strikes a winning pose in this large, nicely matted and framed illustration. Hill created seven cover paintings in the early 1920’s for the prestigious “Saturday Evening Post.” Her illustrations modernized the American woman in glamorous art deco fashion.
Artist: Pearl Hill
A large, masterfully rendered, noir dramatic interior illustration of a startled beauty by Cecil Calvert Beall. From the illustrated serialization of Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu, published by Collier’s Magazine, June 12, 1948. Artwork is beautifully framed in a period gold gesso ornate frame. Story caption reads : “Camille lay on a heap of coarse canvas piled up in a corner of what seemed to be a large warehouse. There was a smell of dampness and decay in the air.”
Artist: C. C. Beall
This Raphael Kirchner Ziegfeld Follies pastel is a newly unearthed piece of New York City theater history, and a once in a generation find. Part of a suite of five illustrations which feature the erotic and luminous showgirls who starred in the legendary theater revue Ziegfeld Follies and made the name synonymous with images of the most beautiful, brazen and sensuous women in early 20th century New York. This portrait of Justine Johnstone hung in the lobby of the historic Century Theater until it shut its doors in 1936.
Artist: Raphael Kirchner
A fashionable demure art nouveau maiden with a parasol is leered at by an Edwardian gent in a wig with opera glasses in this gouache illustration which dates from 1910 – 1920. The work is unsigned and is mindful in style of the works which appeared in Vogue and Vanity Fair Magazines. This is beautifully framed in a carved wood gesso antique frame.
Artist: Unknown
A charming and well rendered 1954 oil on canvas painting created for an Ohleen Dairy Calendar by the Louis F. Dow Company. The artist is Vaughan Alden Bass, who specialized in pin-up art for this Saint Paul Minnesota gone but not forgotten Calendar giant. Of particular note in this lovely painting is the adorable bakelite crib toy in the lower right corner. verso canvas is dated 1954, and stretcher is marked with Ohleen Dairy, 1954 Line and Current in pen.
Artist: Vaughan Bass
A charming and vanguard view of the generation gap which incited “The Jazz Age”. Boomerang, which in the 1910s was synonymous with backfire, was a key flashpoint term of the era, since the older generation found all their efforts to instill their Victorian values on their children failed drastically. This lovely watercolor work is by Rose O’Neill, the most famous and prolific female illustrator of the early 1900’s. She is best remembered for her creation the Kewpie doll.
Artist: Rose O'Neill
This set of two pendant oil paintings is unusual within Wenzell’s oervre, both for its classical mythological subject and explicit eroticism. These two paintings were clearly conceived as a matched set; they present a “before” and “after” narrative. The first panel was published as a vignette in the March 26th, 1910 issue of Collier’s magazine but we don’t believe that the second work was created for publication. This pair was displayed in the Wenzell’s 1967 Maxwell Gallery (San Francisco) exhibition, “The Age of Elegance.” An illustrated program is included with sale.
Artist: Albert Wenzell
A whimsical and dazzling watercolor by Heinrich Kley titled “Siche Rude Seiten;” loosely translated, “Our Unrefined Side”. THe splendid cast of characters captures the essence of 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. Kley, whose work first appeared in “Die Jugend” in 1908 caught the eye of Walt Disney in 1937 and Kley inspired much of the animation of “Fantasia”. This evocative painting is rich in humor, technique and imagery.
Artist: Heinrich Kley
A technically dazzling pen & ink drawing by Heinrich Kley titled “Electrodämonen,” translated “Electric Demons.” A brooding and troubling satire on the machine age and ongoing industrialization. This captures Kley’s technical brilliance and foreshadows the later science fiction pulp drawings of Virgil Finlay. Kley, whose work first appeared in Die Jugend in 1908 caught the eye of Walt Disney in 1937 and Kley inspired much of the animation of Fantasia. This drawing appears as a full page plate in The Drawings of Heinrich Kley.
Artist: Heinrich Kley
