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 1942 patriotic Petty Girl was the first of George Petty’s iconic pin up illustrations commissioned by the Ice-Capades, then in its second season and soon to become a cultural institution. Developed by RKO as a theatrical extravaganza on ice and held at Rockefeller Center in New York City, the event was wildly popular and the souvenir programs became a […]
Artist: George Petty
George Petty created this dynamic original pin-up painting as cover art for the souvenir program for the 1946 Ice-Capades (the sixth year of its production which took place in New York City at Rockefeller Center). The image shows a modernist winged pin-up girl deftly soaring through the air on figure skates against a blue background. This particular […]
Artist: George Petty
This Orientalist art deco avant-garde pen & ink drawing by Cardwell Higgins is an early work by the renowned illustrator that recalls the erotic and stylized work of British artist Aubrey Beardsley. This is part of a series of similarly exotic and provocative drawings Higgins created between 1927 – 1929, which would much later be marketed as a series of […]
Artist: Cardwell Higgins
This sexy oil-on-canvas pin-up painting by Walt Otto was created for and published in a 1961 12-page spiral bound pin-up calendar. The image shows a flirty blonde with dangerous curves seductively caught “sitting pretty,” with classic mid-century style. Though this is unsigned, it is guaranteed to be a published example by Walt Otto. We were able to […]
Artist: Walt Otto
A fabulous published erotic pin-up painting by Freeman Elliott for The Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company. The image appeared in 1948 as one of the two images in a double deck of playing cards put out by the calendar giant marketed with the title “Winning Aces”. From the Collection of Charles Martignette and Louis Meisel, the […]
Artist: Freeman Elliott
A breezy Jazz-Age American impressionist painting from the 1920s by the New York City illustrator artist, illustrator and anarchist Modest Stein. A young contemplative couple with a sense for fashion eye a possible future as one as they gaze out together over the Eastern seaboard. The artist worked extensively for romance themed titles for Street & […]
Artist: Modest Stein
Carmen, painted in 1929, is one of four monumental and epic, larger than life oil paintings created by Rolf Armstrong after his return from a yearlong excursion to Paris, where the artist was inspired by the fine art salon movement nudes which were on display in museums, galleries, and private homes throughout France. Known as the Paris […]
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
A bawdy smoking redheaded bad girl finds herself proverbially “on the fence” and garnering the attention of a pair of well articulated convincing hayseeds in this large and wonderful original paperback book cover illustration by Sam Cherry. Painted in the 1950s, an oil on illustration board which was created for an as of yet unidentified paperback title exploring […]
Artist: Sam Cherry
Grapefruit Moon Gallery is ecstatic to offer Sultana, the original Louis F. Dow commissioned calendar pin-up painting by Henry Clive. Created in 1925, Sultana is in all regards the artist’s signature and defining creation, featuring an exotic nearly nude dreamy enchantress in an Art Deco Egyptian fantasy dreamscape. This enchanting artwork is littered with sophisticated touches such as the Moorish architecture which glimmers behind Sultana as she releases a white dove. This timeless image was again issued in 1941 as a mutoscope card with the title Lucky Dove–a vintage calendar print and mutoscope card are included in the sale.
Artist: Henry Clive
An original early 1930’s oil on canvas illustration, presumably of exotic silent movie film star, Anna May Wong. Henry Clive did a series of oil paintings titled Enchantresses of the Ages for Randolph Hearst’s American Weekly Magazine of ethnic glamour portrait studies.
Artist: Henry Clive
