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 breezy pin-up calendar illustration by Fitz William Boynton depicts a sassy redheaded flapper girl with bobbed red hair enjoying a day at the beach with Scottie dog in tow. A vintage salesman sample of the calendar image is included in the sale – image was titled “Adorable”. As long time pin-up collectors and dealers, […]
Artist: Fitz Boynton
Price: $2,500.00 $1,750.00
Bunny Yeager, the pre-eminent female pin-up photographer of the 20th century took this pin-up self-portrait in 1953.
Artist: Bunny Yeager
Price: $2,850.00 $1,995.00
This self portrait gelatin silver pin up photograph is for sale at Grapefruit Moon Gallery, from the estate of Bunny Yeager.
Artist: Bunny Yeager
Price: $3,000.00 $2,100.00
Using a self-timer, Bunny Yeager shot this photo that shows her photographing Lori Shea, seen seated in a negligee and seated by an open window.
Artist: Bunny Yeager
Price: $1,900.00 $1,330.00
Described as “the world’s greatest pin-up photographer” by Diane Arbus, and best-remembered for her iconic collaborations with Bettie Page, Yeager began her career as a model, and her comfort on both sides of the lens is one of the skills she leaned on to bring out a level of comfort and naturalness which few […]
Artist: Bunny Yeager
Price: $1,800.00 $1,260.00
Early pin-up pastel illustration by Earl Moran, created for Brown & Bigelow and used in a 1930s Richlube Motor Oil advertising calendar.
Artist: Earl Moran
Price: $15,000.00 $10,500.00
A fabulous c. 1940s original pin up pastel by Earl Moran created for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company of Saint Paul, MN.
Artist: Earl Moran
Price: $14,500.00 $10,150.00
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
Price: $6,500.00 $4,550.00
This originalartowrk by Cardwell Higgins shows a beautiful brunette pin up showgirl which appeared onthe May, 1937 issue of Modern Girl Book Magazine.
Artist: Cardwell Higgins
Price: $5,500.00 $3,850.00
A dazzling original 1942 pastel on illustration board by Weston Taylor, commissioned by the C. Moss Calendar company for a pin-up calendar that was titled “Disconnected”. This is a classic art deco entanglement from pin-up’s best era, when flirty and coyly posed young flapper girls found themselves in precarious and risque situations that defy logic and often times words. Work is vivid, well rendered and in a fine gallery frame. Two archived vintage calendar prints of image included in sale. The Great American Pin-up personified.
Artist: Weston Taylor
Price: $7,500.00 $5,250.00
An original oil on board illustration used as the cover for Joker No.16 – a 1949 digest sized magazine advertising “More Snappy Cartoons – Smack Full of Laughter!” A leggy, busty and quintessentially Driben pin-up beauty is seen trying her hand at a little “sofa fission” as the caption will have you know. Illustration is in a fine state of conservation, nicely framed and matted in a period, wide profile, handsome, gesso art deco frame.
Artist: Peter Driben
Price: $6,500.00 $4,550.00
This Jane Russell inspired Americana cheesecake pin up illustration graced the September 1957 page of Bill Randall’s “Randall’s Date Book” calendar.
Artist: Bill Randall
Price: $5,500.00 $3,850.00
