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 rare surviving early signed cover painting by Enoch Bolles for the October 1925 issue of Film Fun Magazine. A delightful modernist flapper girl envisioned as only Bolles could see, titled “Port ‘O Dreams”. Painting is initialed lower middle and in a fine state of preservation. Recent auction records for this artist have topped $30,000.00 and as collectors know his original cover works are very scarce.
Artist: Enoch Bolles
A fresh to the market (and fresh in subject matter) 1940s original pin-up painting by Edward D’Ancona, created for the Louis F. Dow Calendar Company. Titled “Downstairs Maid” this is really a spirited rendering with an overtly erotic theme. For those of you keeping score, this commissioned cheesecake “Americana gone wrong” genre of pin-up art is white hot currently. This is by all accounts a defining example. This published illustration painting is in a very fine state of conservation, nicely matted and framed and ready to hang in your gallery, library or home.
Artist: Edward D'Ancona
A Grecian inspired, fantasy themed, mixed media illustration that was used by the Thos. D. Murphy Calendar company for a 1930 calendar titled The Glory That Was Ancient Greece. This whimsical yet erotic Grecian maiden themed work consists of a heavily tinted photograph of the two Grecian adorned beauties by L.G. Woolenden and an elaborate garden landscape painting by Rudolph Ingerle that envelopes the photographic element. This team of enterprising calendar art talents created numerous works under the pseudonym L. Goddard Surviving original L Goddard artworks are quite rare and spectacular, and among our favorite examples of fantastical and escapist art deco/Great Depression calendar illustration. A large printed calendar from the Thomas D. Murphy calendar company archives is included in the sale.
Artist: L. Goddard
A delightful and rare surviving Art Frahm pin-up Calendar oil painting likely commissioned by The Joseph Hoover Calendar Company. This was from the collection of the late Charles Martignette, co-author of “The Great American Pin-up”. Verso indicates the work was done by Vaughan Bass but it is clearly initialed lower left by Art Frahm and is the work of Frahm without question. This was likely mislabeled years ago by a Calendar Company printer or office worker.
Artist: Art Frahm
A well rendered and rare surviving 1920s original oil on board illustration by the prolific New York artist Charles M. Relyea. Featuring an art deco Indian Maiden this is a fine example of American calendar art and was a widely published image titled “Chums” which evokes the allure of the Indian Maiden and wonderfully captures the Depression-era popular fascination with exotic-themed escapism.
Artist: Charles Relyea
A large and well rendered oil painting by William Medcalf, likely created for The Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company. This dates from the 1940s to early 50s; an era of situationally challenged cheesecake themed entanglements. In this instance, a red head bathing beauty has been startled (or perhaps merely amused) by a green frog. William Medcalf was a leading and prolific illustrator who worked in a variety of styles. His surviving pin-up commissions are especially coveted and this is a fresh-to-the-market, masterful work.
Artist: William Medcalf
An erotic and sensational pin-up painting by Mayo Olmstead presumably created for The Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company. The work is mixed media on a Crescent illustration board with pastel used for the central figure and skin tones and oil or acrylic applied in an impasto textured bold technique to the border areas creating an alarming and lively composition. Olmstead was known for his good girl styled beauties, this sun burned she devil on the other hand is entirely of another vernacular.
Artist: Mayo Olmstead
A smartly rendered late 1960s to 1970s gouache illustration painting by Mayo Olmstead presumably created for a Brown & Bigelow pin-up calendar. Olmstead, along with Fritz Willis, Clair Fry, and Bill Layne, was the Saint Paul, Minnesota calendar company’s star staff illustrator during the tail end of the pin-up craze, when a more modern and contemporary idealized beauty was preferred. A classic example of what is now referred to as “Good Girl Art” or GGA by pin-up collectors and pop culture scholars.
Artist: Mayo Olmstead
This fresh and dazzling Gil Elvgren oil on canvas painting titled “Pot Luck” is a rare surviving commissioned work for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company, St Paul MN. This image graced calendars in 1961 and also served as the 6 of clubs in the “52 American Beauties” playing card series. The entire deck featured Elvgren pin-up beauties, a fact that demonstrates the incredible popularity of this iconic artist. With its sin city scenario, and Kim Novak/Marilyn Monroe inspired seductress at the one armed bandit, this is exciting, risque and unquestionably one of the most desirable Elvgren artworks to come to market. Recent auction records on the artist top out at $262,900 and on July 15th 2009, 3 Brown & Bigelow original calendar pin-ups closed at $215,100.00, $191,200.00 and $143,400.00 after spirited bidding. Elvgren is without a doubt the most important pin-up artist in American history and this is by all accounts a masterwork and an Elvgren painting for the ages.
Artist: Gil Elvgren
Grapefruit Moon Gallery is honored to offer this rare and exceptional original pastel illustration which Henry Clive created for the cover of the Valentines Day edition (February 13, 1937) of “The American Weekly.” Part of Clive’s “Vision of an Artist” series of covers for this Randolph Hearst publication, these Visions illustrated forces of nature such as the tornado and (in this case) Aurora Borealis as mythical images of femininity. The concept of women as natural phenomenon and even natural disasters is something Clive took a personal interest in, as his 6 failed marriages will attest. This enchanting and inventive depiction titled “The Aurora” features favorite Clive model and Randolph Hearst mistress Marion Davies as the goddess of the northern lights, radiating over a polar ice cap.
Artist: Henry Clive
