Paperback & Pulp Art

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.

Harry Barton painted this steamy gouache illustration for use as the cover of 1952’s Tender Hearted Harlot by Val Munroe. Published as a pulp digest, novella length story that takes place on the San Francisco waterfront and follows the proclivities of the young, bold and beautiful Ginny Parrish who… “is a gambler to the core – but the one thing she won’t bet on is love…” Sounds like a real page turner! The painting is in pristine condition and has been nicely matted and framed under glass, a copy of the published digest is included in the sale.

Tender Hearted Harlot

Artist: Harry Barton

This original gouache cover painting by Mort Kustler appeared on the June 1959 cover of Male magazine, illustrating an interior story titled “Madame Penal”. The cover slug text says it all: “Dramatic saga of the young woman who ruled the Middle East’s Cafard Compound, and of the handful of Americans and 1500 starved and broken wretches forced […]

Madame Penal

Artist: Mort Kunstler

An explosive World War II battle scene rages in this published Bruce Minney illustration. A Nazi submarine has crashed ashore and brought the fight to land in this lurid piece that is a quintessential example of the style coming out of men’s magazines of this period. With three U.S. Navy soldiers wounded and down for the […]

Man’s World Nazi Battle Scene

Artist: Bruce Minney

With psychedelic, folk art, and art nouveau inspired style, this fine art surreal nude by Ted Coconis captures a nude erotic goddess dancing above the clouds, surrounded by smaller figures that draw on iconography from a number of different cultures. The cherub and bear and foreshortened men who gloat behind her, all suggest something […]

Above the Clouds

Artist: Ted Coconis

This dazzling and otherworldly painting by Virgil Finlay appeared on the cover of the July 1954 issue of Fate magazine, a special issue solely focused on the powers of Hypnotism. A scarce original pulp cover illustration from this long running title, this was for many years part of the storied collection of Robert Weinberg. Work is nicely matted and framed […]

How To Hypnotize

Artist: Virgil Finlay

This large signed oil painting with an erotic science fiction/fantasy theme was exhibited at 1976’s OrlandoCon, an event that in many ways seems to be the template for todays Comic Con. McCauley was featured as an honored guest at the Florida comic convention, and unveiled previously unseen works that were either painted and unpublished in […]

The Queen of The Apes

Artist: Harold McCauley

This dark and mesmerizing oil painting was created as cover art for the 1955 Pyramid paperback book title For I Have Sinned – The Confession Of A Paris Streetwalker by Ruth Sachs. The image shows a pretty brunette perched at her vanity as she readies herself to face the darkness hidden in Paris, the city of light. The […]

For I Have Sinned

Artist: Attributed to Victor Olson

This oil on illustration board Pyramid Books paperback cover painting was created by by Victor Olson for a 1953 edition of Houseboy by Edison Marshall written under the nom de plum Walton Fairbank (ostensibly because of the controversial topic of interracial relationships explored in the title).The story was originally written as a Jim Crow title in the late […]

Houseboy

Artist: Victor Olson

Unquestionably, Carney’s Burlesque was one of the weirder cover offerings from the lurid sleaze paperback publishers Uni-books; a reissue of a British pulp story that changed both the name of the protagonist and author to Steve Harragan. Uni-books created the private eye Harragan character out of thin air, the only thing connecting him from one adventure […]

Carney’s Burlesque

Artist: Walter Popp

A signed gouache on illustration board painting by Harry Barton, created as the cover for Dorine Clark’s 1959 novel Hell Cat. This original artwork is a prime example of the boundary pushing, subversive imagery that helped draw readers to the taboo and lurid stories put out by pulp paperback publishers. These titles often pushed the boundaries of […]

Hell Cat

Artist: Harry Barton

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