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.
This uninhibited and seedy painting by Raymond Johnson appeared as the cover of the 1953 Avon Books Paperback edition of The Untamed Wife Of Louis Scott. Originally published in 1950 under the title The Gift Of Glory, this W. Carrol Monroe novel told the story of Susan Scott, a dope fiend hedonist living a wanton life in post war America. Though […]
Artist: Raymond Johnson
A technically brilliant piece, this oil on masonite panel painting is an otherworldly science fiction creation by the American artist, illustrator, and writer Raymond Bayless. A finely detailed piece with spectacular space exploration imagery, it presents two space crafts passing soundlessly between asteroids. Planets sit in the distance as countless stars and far off galaxies […]
Artist: Raymond Bayless
With a sense of whimsy, and surreal emotionality, this oil on masonite panel painting is an otherworldly science fiction creation by the American artist, illustrator, and writer Raymond Bayless. A finely detailed piece with spectacular space exploration imagery, it presents a team of explorers in yellow space suits recently landed on an alien planet when […]
Artist: Raymond Bayless
A technically superb piece, this oil on masonite panel painting is a phantasmagorical science fiction creation by the American artist, illustrator, and writer Raymond Bayless. Finely detailed with fantastical, dream-like space exploration imagery, this painting illustrates a pirate ship navigating its way through the uncharted starry expanse of space. The rudders and masts steer the […]
Artist: Raymond Bayless
Boldly depicting a failed expedition to the Red planet, this oil on masonite panel painting is an otherworldly science fiction creation by the American artist, illustrator, and writer Raymond Bayless. A finely detailed piece with spectacular space exploration imagery, it presents a dilapidated spaceship that has crash landed onto the surface of Mars, its antennae […]
Artist: Raymond Bayless
With space opera style, this oil on masonite panel painting is an otherworldly science fiction creation by the American artist, illustrator, and writer Raymond Bayless. Finely detailed with fantastical space exploration imagery, the painting shows a collection of space ships, varying in technical prowess, that are trapped within an asteroid belt. Spidery alien creatures menacingly […]
Artist: Raymond Bayless
This striking and tense dramatic painting by Norman Saunders was created as cover art for the the October, 1950 issue of the pulp magazine 15 Story Detective; a Popular Publications title. The scene is a classic example of menace art – a heroic uniformed pretty blonde WAC soldier attempts to disarm a poison wielding femme fatale in an airplane hangar, unaware […]
Artist: Norman Saunders
Stanley Borack created this striking, evocative and finely rendered painting for the cover of the 1954 Dell Books paperback Silver Doll by Blair Treynor. A lurid pulp fiction page turner set in Sin City; the back cover slug advertises “the story of a man in the rackets; of the doll who wanted to keep him there, and the woman […]
Artist: Stanley Borack
The majestic Taj Mahal beckons in this extraordinary complex and detailed gouache painting by the prolific and influential American science fiction genre illustrator Chesley Bonestell. This dates to 1955 and while it represents a departure from the artist’s space art genre work, it perhaps rates as one of Bonestell’s finest paintings. The detail is so intricate it […]
Artist: Chesley Bonestell
This oil on board painting by Samson Pollen was created as cover art for the 1955 paperback Mambo To Murder, one half of the double sided Ace Double Novel D-109. Private eye Joe Moran, who had his license revoked for extracting “two fisted justice” is shown in a bleak urban hotel room lit by an outside […]
Artist: Samson Pollen
