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 well executed and precise interior illustration by noted American Pulp artist Jerome Rozen, for the June 1936 edition of Redbook Magazine. Work retains verso label from the magazine and painting is initialed lower right and identified on the back label as Mr. Jerome Rozen.
Artist: Jerome Rozen
A tense and action packed gunfight scene featuring a flapper era cowgirl is presented in this large and rare surviving Domingo F. Periconi oil painting. This artwork was commissioned by Dell publications as cover art for the June 1938 edition of Ace High Magazine, a western pulp. Work has printer’s verso notations and is initialed lower left and really is a defining example of 1930s pulp fiction.
Artist: Domingo Periconi
A rare surviving cover painting by Harold H.W. McCauley for the September 1938 edition of Fantastic Adventures; Volume #1 issue #5. This is likely the earliest commissioned pulp cover illustration by the artist. A classic art deco depiction of the perils of the near future space age, as envisioned in the campy, naive era of the 1930s. The mild bondage, damsel in distress content provided an additional titillating shock at the newsstands which carried this early pulp/science fiction title.
Artist: Harold McCauley
An original gouache on board created for the May 1962 edition of Male Magazine, illustrating “The Daring GI Raider Who Saved Our New Guinea Stronghold”. A large, finely rendered scene depicting a gun battle, with requisite yet inexplicable scantily attired native babes, as per the norm of the bizarre and lowbrow world of “The Sweats.”
Artist: Mort Künstler
A lurid and menacing presumably commissioned cover painting for an as of yet undetermined spicy pulp publication circa 1930s-40s. By the New York State artist George Lee Trimm, who worked as a cover artist for various Western Fiction Publishing [Red Circle] pulps C. 1935-1942. Trimm created commissioned murals for the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York and is listed in Who’s Who in American Art.
Artist: George Trimm
An extraordinary and experimental early work by Hannes Bok, featuring a bizarre surreal landscape with a young boy riding a prehistoric creature. Hannes Bok was the pseudonym of Wayne Woodard, a self taught artist who was fascinated by the luminous quality of Maxfield Parrish’s oil paintings.
Upon a visit from the impoverished teenage Bok, and impressed by the examples of Bok’s work, Parrish gave Bok an expensive set of oil paints and brushes to help the teenager build on his obvious gifts.
Artist: Hannes Bok
A strongly rendered, machine age/industrial revolution inspired modernist 1935 oil painting by Thomas Tyrone Comfort, used as the cover for The Los Angeles Herald & Express; Oct.19, 1936. Comfort worked as an art deco-era muralist and illustrator. His work evokes the spirit of the WPA movement, his brilliant career was cut short in 1939 when the artist passed away at the young age of 30.
Artist: Tyrone Comfort
An alternate cover for the October 1957 Issue of Imagination Science Fiction, by Lloyd Rognan, illustrating the interior story “You Can’t Buy Eternity” by Dwight V. Swain. This oil on canvas board original illustration differs from the published cover (which was also painted by Rognan) in several respects, notable the blond in peril on the published cover is envisioned in this rendering as a brunette. Which lends credence to the belief that a pulp cover artists life was not easy and was often subject to publishers whims and guidance. A published complete copy of the magazine is included in the sale.
Artist: Lloyd Rognan
A dark, macabre and cleverly rendered gouache cover illustration by Ed Emshwiller for The January 1956 Ellery Queens’s Mystery Magazine. An expertly rendered rare surviving example of this vanguard artist’s cover mastery and peculiar set of defining talents. A published example of the book is included in the sale and the work is beautifully matted and framed and ready to enjoy.
Artist: Emsh
A well rendered other-wordly original illustration painting for the 1974 First printing of a compilation of H.P. Lovecraft stories for Signet Paperbacks titled ” Night’s Yawning Peal. Work is initialed lower right and is by the well listed science fiction artist Don Ivan Punchatz.
Artist: Don Ivan Punchatz
