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.
An other-worldly science fiction themed cover painting for the 1977 Ace Paperback edition of “The Silent Invaders” by Robert Silverberg. A well realized fantasy minded surrealist excursion into another dimension by the prolific and vanguard sci-fi artist Dan Ivan Punchatz. Work is nicely framed and comes with the published Ace paperback edition shown.
Artist: Don Ivan Punchatz
A modern, inventive, and vertically compressed nude by the New York artist Gilbert Stone dated 1978 and signed by the artist. The model was the artist’s wife Carol, who, like the artist, sadly died young. Before his career was cut short by his death in 1984, Stone’s work was exhibited around the world and included in public and private collections like the Joseph H. Hirshhorn Collection at the Smithsonian Institution, and the Brooklyn Museum. His illustrations appeared in publications such as Esquire, The London Times, Sports Illustrated, New York Magazine and Playboy, National Geographic, Art Voices, also as album covers and books, for which he received three Gold Medals from the Society of Illustrators, three Art Directors Awards and the Chicago Art Directors Club.
Artist: Gilbert Stone
A photo-realist, kinetic original oil on board by James Bama. This painting, created as a cover for Stag Magzine, illustrates the outlandish true story of Faustin Wirkus, an American soldier who became king of a small island off Haiti in 1906. Faustus was made famous in the 1930s book “The Magic Isle” and was a cult figure thereafter. Interior text reads in part “For five fabulous years, by order of the U.S. Marine Corps, he ruled the mid-ocean island- voodoo, personal harem and all.” Work is unsigned but article credits art by James Bama, magazine is included in sale.
Artist: James Bama
This dramatic and deftly rendered gouache was created as the cover for “Male” February 1966 “Yank Imposter In The Luftwaffe,” and reprinted as an interior 2 page spread in the June 1967 issue of “For Men Only” titled “10 Days To Bring In The Death Head General.” A remarkably tight work that shows Kunstler at his best, using an almost photo-realist technique to create tension, menace and fear.
Artist: Mort Künstler
An original gouache on board created for the cover of the September 1962 edition of For Men Only, illustrating the story Operation”Never-Talk:” Shocking Revenge of Norway’s Partisan Nymph. (A Smuggled-In Yank And A Wild Anti-Nazi Underground Girl by James S. Wagner. A large finely rendered scene of a bungled SS operation, with a trio of tightly wound American service men, a gathering of inebriated Nazi’s and a pair of scantily clad female secret agents acting as decoys.
Artist: Mort Künstler
An alarmingly disturbing and well rendered original gouache illustration by the highly regarded and prolific illustrator Mort Kunstler, this interior 2-page spread appeared in the August 1961 edition of Male Magazine, illustrating Martin Fass’s Million-Dollar Manhunt For A Cold War Nymph. The lurid, defining action-filled image captures the prevailing nihilism associated with the 1960’s “sweat magazine” art and envelope-pushing adventure fiction. Text reads “She was the top female agent of BACO-Europe’s anti-fascist Assassin’s League, and when she fell into enemy hands, the Yanks had two weeks to find her-or it was war in the Middle East.”
Artist: Mort Künstler
This original gouache noir illustration by well listed and prolific illustrator Mort Kunstler was used as the January 1968 edition of Male, illustrating Mario Cleri’s “Blonde Bandit in Black Lace.” An explosive sex kitten car chase that captures the prevailing nihilism associated with the 1960’s “sweat magazine” art and envelope-pushing adventure fiction, this is a tense and hyper-realistic pop-art time capsule.
Artist: Mort Künstler
An original and unusual painting by Paul Calle which illustrates The Warriors of Day by James Blish and was created as cover art for the work. This 1953 science fiction themed pulp appeared on Galaxy Fiction Novel #16. Nicely framed in a period gold gesso frame with the published pulp included in presentation.
Artist: Paul Calle
Gil Cohen created this expertly rendered, noir, hard boiled interior story illustration for the April 1963 edition of Male Magazine. The story this brings to life is titled The Combat Hero Who Survived Korea’s Worst Brainwashing. This typifies the lurid, envelope pushing work which earned Mens genre magazines the apt title The Post-War Pulps. Caption reads … “confess to your germ warfare crime”, they told him or die like an animal…” Work is nicely matted and framed in excellent condition.
Artist: Gil Cohen
A rare surviving original oil on canvas by the talented cover artist Harold or H.W. McCauley (1913-1977), who specialized in science fiction genre work. Exploring fantasy, adventure and space travel themes while maintaining a keen eye for the feminine guiles and allure of the pin-up girl, McCauley was a frequent cover illustrator for Fantastic Adventures between 1939 – 1942. He later illustrated covers for Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy.This work was first used as a cover in the underground 1947 Shaver Mystery Magazine, a fanatically coveted black & white sci-fi pulp devoted to the fantasies and cosmologies of writer/artist Dick Shaver.
Artist: Harold McCauley
