Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
Publishers of depression-era pulp magazines, post war men’s adventure and girlie magazines, and lurid paperback titles all used risqué, action-packed illustrations to make their offerings jump off the newsstands in the highly competitive market for readers attention. Cover art pushed the boundaries of what was allowable in a heavily-censored era, coming up with increasingly deviant and outlandish portrayals of sex, violence, and perilous escapes from danger. Today, these works—which provide an intriguing peek into the shadow side of 20th century American culture—are studied by historians and coveted by collectors.
A futuristic and important rare surviving science fiction themed mixed medium illustration by Edward Emshwiller used as the cover for the first sci-fi anthology compiled by Gnome Press under the title “Science Fiction Terror Tales” in 1955. Beautifully framed and matted behind glass and signed “Emsh” lower middle with the artists ink-stamped address on the verso.
Artist: Emsh
A haunting and technically masterful painting on board by science fiction and pulp illustrator Hannes Bok, the first artist to win the prestigious Hugo Award. In 1954, Bok contributed this image for the back cover plate of Destiny – No.10, the early sci-fi fanzine published to coincide with the 12th World’s Science Fiction Convention in San Francisco. In that usage, the Tolkien-esque martian illustrates the the Richard E. Geis poem “Kill Me Earthmen.” This is titled on verso “Sentry” and is dated 1944 lower left.
Artist: Hannes Bok
This very rare illustration is possibly the only surviving pin-up girl, non-menace themed spicy pulp cover painting ever offered for sale by H.J. Ward. This was created for the spicy pulp title “Tattle Tales” and was published as either the March 1937 or June 1937 edition. Hugh J. Ward was a prolific pulp cover artist who has enjoyed much recent acclaim. At a recent 2010 auction, one of Ward’s damsel in distress cover paintings (August 1936 Spicy Mystery Stories) fetched $143,400.
Artist: H. J. Ward
An original illustration created for the December 7, 1959 edition of Life Magazine by legendary comic artist Frank Frazetta showing the Al Capp studio characters Daisy Mae and L’il Abner.
Artist: Frank Frazetta
A spectacular surviving pulp cover painting by Norman Saunders for the Popular Publications August 1952 issue of New Detective Magazine, Volume #18 Issue #1. Saunders masterfully employs an extreme perspective and palette to give the scene an intense sense of danger, tension and drama. During the 1950s heyday of pulp magazines, literally hundreds of titles would be competing for customers any given month and publishers used Saunders dramatic, erotic, and intense covers to give their magazines the edge they needed to attract potential buyers at the newsstand.
Artist: Norman Saunders
This is an early and large oil on canvas by Norman Saunders created as cover art for Dell publications, but never used. An electrifying, spicy pulp era entanglement with all the essential pulp elements of peril, danger, terror with erotic excitement. A damsel in distress is held in bondage as assorted toughs and thugs have it out amongst themselves guns-a-blaze in this art deco scene. Set against the backdrop of a machine-age steamroom, filled with modernist and industrial gadgets, this both speaks to the peril of gangsterism in the Great Depression 30s and the dark side of progress.
Artist: Norman Saunders
This large scale, colorful cheesecake pin up painting features a Hawaiian hula girl serenaded by Rogue Magazine’s signature wolf and was created as cover art by Lloyd Rognan for an unidentified issue of the infamous early men’s magazine. Beginning with the first issue of Rogue, Rognan developed a series of these cartoonish little red riding hood inspired entanglements, and this example is particularly appealing. A classic example of mid-century hula girl Hawaiiana in which the magazine’s signature “Rogue Wolf” plays the part of the haole (or in this case howly?) in tourist shirt.
Artist: Lloyd Rognan
A classic bad girl paperback cover illustration by the gifted and prolific Rafael DeSoto for the 1951 Signet Book release of Frances Clippinger’s Elinda (The Satellite). Text reads “She Knew All The Tricks – And Used Them”. There has been a recent interest in this era of paperbacks by historians and savvy art collectors, previous auction records by the leading cover artists such as Rudy Nappi, Raymond Pease and James Avati have been recently obliterated as selections from the Charles Martignette collection have found their way to auction.
Artist: Rafael DeSoto
A gritty Western pulp cover painting by Walter Baumhofer- “The King of Pulps”-created for the May 1933 issue of Dime Western magazine. The image is a humorous wink at the spicy pulp world featuring a tied-up bondage-posed beauty looking askance at the stereotypical cowboy card game scene she finds herself trapped in. 1933 marked the peak in popularity of the short-lived spicy pulp genre, which gleaned much of its success from eye-catching, drama-filled, damsel-in distress covers similar to this.
Artist: Walter Baumhofer
A south of the border Latin themed large and colorful original pulp cover painting by Rudolph Belarski for the long running magazine Argosy; June 18, 1938. Illustrates the interior story “Senor Coyote” written by Frederick Schiller Faust under the pen name Max Brand. Rudolph Belarski produced many fantastic covers for the pulps he specialized in Aviation themed depictions, his covers were ablaze with color and adventure.
Artist: Rudolph Belarski
