Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
Risqué and fetching maidens have always been popular artistic subjects and the perfect vehicle to advertise just about any product, add allure to any magazine, or brighten any calendar. In the 1930s, Rolf Armstrong and Billy Devorss’s Art Deco sophisticates were everyone’s dream girl. During World War II, George Petty and Alberto Vargas created patriotic lithe modernist heartbreakers for the pages of Esquire Magazine to keep servicemen company, and soon there was a calendar girl for every taste--whether you preferred the girl next door or the one from the wrong side of the tracks. In post-war America, the youthful spirit personified by Earl Moran’s cheesecake depictions of Marilyn Monroe reigned, and pin up and glamour art remained unflaggingly popular. Today, original pin up and glamour art is more coveted by collectors than ever, and its influence on contemporary fashion, art, and culture is everywhere.
This is a fabulous example of Gil Elvgren’s pin-up work for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company of Saint Paul, MN. This was created and published in 1955 with the title of Welcome Traveler and is one of the finest Elvgren paintings this gallery has offered. A pretty redhead perched on a tweed […]
Artist: Gil Elvgren
This is a beautiful, unique, and rare preliminary graphite drawing by Gil Elvgren for a Brown & Bigelow artwork, though it appears the final composition shifted somewhat, as this bears resemblance to a few different published pieces. Gil Elvgren took, on average, one week to complete each of the 400+ pin-up paintings he created […]
Artist: Gil Elvgren
[wp_paypal button=”buynow” name=”Nude Figure Study Sketch by Gil Elvgren” amount=”10500.00″ no_shipping=”2″ quantity=”1″ return=”https://grapefruitmoongallery.com/thank-you-for-your-order” cancel_return=”https://grapefruitmoongallery.com/your-order-was-not-processed” button_image=”https://grapefruitmoongallery.com/wp-content/buy-now.png” target=”blank”] This original fine art figure study by the pre-eminent pin-up illustrator comes from a collection of Gil Elvgren preliminary graphite drawings that we acquired which were found in a house in Sarasota, Florida where the artist once lived. With restraint […]
Artist: Gil Elvgren
An unpublished original pastel by Rolf Armstrong of model Dea Jamel Smith, a pretty young dancer from Julliard who Armstrong worked with extensively during the 1920’s and early 30s as she had the face and physique of the Roaring Twenties and the Jazz-age. This work was never published, we acquired it from the model’s descendants. Armstrong really excelled at these pastel close-up portraits, this is a lovely and fresh to the market example that captures the allure of the flapper girl effortlessly with a blue eyed flirty smile.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
An early cover pastel by Rolf Armstrong that served as the cover for The January 1916 issue of “American Magazine” featuring a lovely portrait of artist’s model Betty Lester. While Armstrong is best known today as “The Father of America Pin-up”, he created hundreds of covers for American magazines with titles as diverse as Photoplay, College Humor, The Saturday Evening Post and American Magazine.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
Marjorie, pin-up model and more This charcoal on paper sketch shows Marjorie Shuttleworth, one of Gil Elvgren’s favorite models in the 1960s in a gorgeous good girl portrait view. Along with modeling for some of Elvgren’s best pin-up paintings, Shuttleworth and Elvgren began a personal romantic relationship after the death of his wife Janet in […]
Artist: Gil Elvgren
A signed original pastel on illustration board from the late 1930’s by the artist and pin-up illustrator Cardwell Higgins of a modernist blonde showgirl.
Artist: Cardwell Higgins
A rare and never before on the market painting by Gil Elvgren, this exceptional piece is the epitome of pin-up calendar art!
Artist: Gil Elvgren
This remarkable, large, and colorful pastel by Billy Devorss was created for pin up calendar use and published under the title The Flame Girl.
Artist: Billy Devorss
World War II Home Front Honey by Rolf Armstrong Widely considered “The Father of American Pin-Up”, Rolf Armstrong‘s luminous portraits of famous actresses and idealized girls-next-door made him one of the highest paid commercial artists in America; his pictures are noted for their grace, vibrancy, and indescribable lifelike quality. During the 1940s, Armstrong created a […]
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
