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.
A large and radiant calendar girl pin-up pastel by Billy Devorss created for The Thomas D. Murphy Calendar Company of Red Oak Iowa. Devorss had a studio in New York City in the Beaux Arts Building and worked for many Calendar Companies of the day creating large format pastel illustrations of modernist fashionable attired heart-breakers in an inventive art deco manner.
Artist: Billy DeVorss
George Petty’s enormously successful career as an illustrator began in the mid-1920s painting magazine covers and images of beautiful girls for calendars. The creation that made him legendary debuted in the first issue of Esquire magazine in 1933. The “Petty Girl,” with her dreamy curves and witty banter, quickly became a popular symbol of the American male’s feminine ideal.Esquire produced two other calendars by Petty in 1955 and 1956. This painting appeared as the September Petty Girl in the 1956 Esquire calendar. Rendered in watercolor on board, nicely framed and ready to hang.
Artist: George Petty
An original graphite preliminary pin-up sketch by Rolf Armstrong of his favorite pin-up model Jewel Flowers. Nicely framed and matted with an original color snapshot of Jewel as posed by Armstrong in a wide brimmed straw sun hat from this specific setting, (likely taken by Rolf Armstrong himself). From the Jewel Flowers estate, gifted to Mike Wooldridge the co-author of Pin-up Dreams.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
Grapefruit Moon Gallery is ecstatic to offer Zoe Mozert’s 1950 pastel “Song of the Desert”. This is by all accounts the artist’s crowning achievement and most famous image. A luminous masterwork from the golden age of American pin up, it is one of the most widely circulated and printed pin-up images of all time. Enticingly, this is a self-portrait of Mozert, who made a name for herself both as the most famous female American illustrator of her day and a frequent model for her erotically charged illustrations.
Artist: Zoe Mozert
A spectacularly alluring, inquisitive and beautiful view of Myrna Loy, captured in her pre-code early career by the master of Hollywood photography George Hurrell. In a gentle sepia on a large format double weight semi-gloss paperstock, Hurrell captures the beauty of the young Myrna Loy, with her effortless art deco style, and emboldened flapper sensibility. This is blindstamped by Hurrell lower right, and inkstamped on verso. This is a hand printed gallery portrait never intended for distribution, and is a moving rare portrait.
Artist: George Hurrell
This is a unique and intriguing pair of original illustrations by Rolf Armstrong, created over the July 4th weekend in 1941, at the Brown & Bigelow holiday company retreat at Breezy Point Lodge in Northern Minnesota. Armstrong, and his favorite model, Jewel Flowers, were celebrities at the event, and Armstrong was called upon to create this impromptu view of Jewel in all-American sporting poses, as an instructional event. Jewel sat lakeside modeling, as Rolf depicted her first beneath a tent, then with a dog, then finally, holding a newly caught fish, similar to the prized walleye she caught at Breezy Point that weekend. These two pieces provide a rare look at the process Armstrong used to develop his iconic pin up creations, and come from the estate of Mike Wooldridge the co-author of “Pin-up Dreams” the well regarded and thoughtfully compiled monograph on the artist.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
From the estate of Mike Wooldridge, our friend sadly departed and deeply missed author, historian and advanced pin-up collector comes this new to the the market original pastel illustration by Rolf Armstrong. Pictured is Jewel Flowers, the artist’s favorite model and dear friend for decades. This beautiful pin up portrait dates to the war years of the 1940s and Jewel is depicted in a star spangled red, white and blue patriotic scarf as she readies herself to embark in an afternoon of sailing. Armstrong for several years in the early 1940s had a summer studio in Marblehead Mass, where he was able to combine his love of women, sailing and art and absorb the beautiful seaside imagery and bright vibrant colors associated with this historic beach town.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
A framed presentation grouping including a thumbnail pastel preliminary sketch by Rolf Armstrong and large format promotional gelatin silver photograph of Jewel Flowers as posed by Rolf Armstrong. These were created for a Brown & Bigelow Cowgirl themed Pin-up calendar titled “Try This” which first appeared in either 1949 or 1950. From the estate of Mike Wooldridge, the noted Armstrong scholar and collector. Mike befriended Jewel Flowers in the course of his research into Rolf Armstrong, and he acquired this directly from Jewel. This is charmingly framed in a rope adorned Western Americana wood frame behind glass and comes with the published B & B calendar of the finished pastel illustration. A unique and effective presentation of the work process of modeling, staging and creating a calendar commissioned pin-up pastel.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
A large and fresh (in all respects) original pastel illustration by Rolf Armstrong, the father of American pin up. Created in 1940 for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company and titled “Let’s Get Together” this features a streamlined modernist view of model Dorothy Conover in as close to a situational pin-up entanglement as Armstrong cared to venture. For many years this was in the collection of Armstrong model and confidante Jewel Flowers.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
This radiant, fabulously large original pastel by Rolf Armstrong was created in 1941 for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company. Titled “Figured To Win,” this original and previously undocumented beautiful illustration incorporates two of the artist’s great loves in life; sailing and Jewel Flowers. This pastel was owned for many years by Jewel herself, who was Armstrong’s favorite model and dearest friend for nearly two decades.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
