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 rare original oil on canvas spicy pulp painting by Earle K. Bergey is an exciting recent estate find. Used as the cover of the October, 1935 issue of Pep Stories, this topless majorette pin-up girl exudes perhaps just a little too much “pep” as she winds up tumbling back-side-first into a large marching drum. This captures the exuberance […]
Artist: Earle K. Bergey
Created for the October, 1935 issue of the spicy pulp title La Paree, this is a rare surviving original cover painting by Earle K. Bergey. In this whimsical jazz-age art deco scene, a blonde flapper girl is attempting to choose who will get to play the part of her dream man. Vying for the title are a […]
Artist: Earle K. Bergey
A wonderful original pin-up painting by Irving Winer, who was active creating covers for the girlie magazine titles of the 1940s such as Titter, Wink and Beauty Parade. He is also remembered for his numerous published pin-up calendar images usually signed with the single word “Wyner”. In this work –an obvious homage to Rita Hayworth […]
Artist: Irving Winer
A precisely rendered very tight preliminary illustration by George Petty for a commissioned work which appeared as the January, 1947 Calendar page for a spiral bound True Magazine premium pin-up calendar. This is an airbrush painting on an illustration board with gouache detailing added in her skates, her nose, her bunny tail and other highlighted […]
Artist: George Petty
An original George Petty – Petty Girl small presentation pin-up drawing which was given to the Michigan area artist Robert Bushewicz a friend and colleague of Petty’s. In this well rendered colored graphite rendering, Petty choose to recreate one of his most iconic Petty Girls, this image first appeared in the pages of Esquire magazine […]
Artist: George Petty
A fresh-faced and fresh to market large format pin-up pastel illustration by the father of American pin-up, Rolf Armstrong, titled I’ll Say So. This flirtatious bathing beauty darling is one of the artist’s most iconic and popular enduring images. Created at the zenith of Armstrong’s artistic powers, this sassy brunette has a laser beam of a smile, and a sarong that […]
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
Rolf Armstrong created this Western-themed pin-up cowgirl pastel for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company in the early 1950s. The adorable Americana image was published as a calendar with the titles Come And Get It!, and Soups On! This original artwork has tremendous electric cobalt blue coloring as the artist captured the last fleeting minutes of light, imagining a dreamy, well-realized, wide […]
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
A stunning, patriotic World War II era pastel by famed American illustrator Bradshaw Crandell. This appeared as the cover of the April, 1942 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. Intriguingly, posed in the Navy uniform was a young Yale Law student and male model named Gerald Ford, who would go on to be the 38th president of the United States. The pretty […]
Artist: Bradshaw Crandell
A fresh to the market, sexy and spirited Gil Elvgren oil painting created in 1952 for The Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company and published under the title Some Help!(Down,Boy). In this view of the model as artist, a curvy brunette in Parisian inspired attire is interrupted in her quest to create her masterpiece by the antics of […]
Artist: Gil Elvgren
A sultry brunette in a form fitting, canary yellow number cools herself with a personal pinwheel hand fan in this original oil on board pin-up painting by Peter Driben. Created as the cover of the February, 1946 edition of Titter magazine–a post-war pulp title that promised Girls, Gags and Giggles. Titter bridged the gap between the spicy pulp […]
Artist: Peter Driben
