A delightful original pastel by Charles Sheldon of a lavishly-attired Gloria Swanson posed in the style of a Follies Showgirl, bathed in red light. Double matted and framed in a period art deco gesso wood painted frame.
Artist: Charles Sheldon
Pin-Up & Glamour Art
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.
An exceptional pastel rendering of a Gloria Swanson in blue glamorous Follies showgirl manner by Charles Sheldon. Pastel is double matted and framed in a museum quality carved wood frame.
Artist: Charles Sheldon
An alarmingly beautiful art deco era original pastel pin-up illustration by Billy Devorss titled “Prize Winner”. A ravishing and radiant blond bathing beauty contestant winner in her slinky and current one piece suit and beach cape. One of the artist’s most successful and enduring creations. In original limed wood frame behind glass with a framing label from “M.Goldberg picture frames, 323 W. 45th St. N.Y. A rare surviving radiant work from Devorss’ most productive period, when his penthouse studio was in New York City’s prestigious Beaux Arts Building.
Artist: Billy DeVorss
A large and early Zoe Mozert pastel, used as commissioned calendar art in the early 1930s. This illustration is remembered as one of Mozert’s most enduring and well realized images. Featuring a fabulous flapper girl with idealized Jean Harlow like features in a stylish art deco turban, this is a colorful commissioned artwork recently unearthed from a Florida estate.
Artist: Zoe Mozert
A dazzling 1920s art deco illustration painting of a beautifully costumed, formally attired maiden at an evening summertime patio engagement. Work is stylistically mindful of Edward Eggleston and Gene Pressler who created countless similar fanciful colorful and ornamental images for calendar companies of the era. It is our belief that this too was a published calendar image. Work is beautifully matted and framed in a handsome gesso art deco period frame.
Artist: Eyre
A dazzling and scarce surviving commercial pin-up illustration by Pearl Frush Brudon, a successful female illustrator who worked in gouache and watercolors with a unique and spectacular photo realism to her works. A lovely red headed seductress of the 1940s appears in soft focus in this luminous work, signed lower right with the artist’s married name.
Artist: Pearl Frush
A rare surviving original cover painting by Enoch Bolles which appeared as the cover for the June 1945 Issue of Breezy Stories an envelope pushing, spicy pulp publication of much notoriety. This was most likely painted earlier than the published date noted here, as the magazine was in the practice of re-using existing artwork for its covers and the style and imagery mark this as coming from the 1930s, when Bolles produced his most inventive and important work.
Artist: Enoch Bolles
A recently unearthed original pastel on illustration board, this never before seen artwork by Earl Moran was created for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company. The model is of course the young Blue Book agency pin-up model Norma Jeane Baker, who later transformed herself into Marilyn Monroe. Monroe posed for Moran during the late 1940’s and a pictorial of this collaboration appears in the July 2008 issue of Playboy Magazine. This pastel is a warm and radiant portrait of Monroe gazing seductively from a lush tropical moonlit setting. We are thrilled to be offering this monumental work.
Artist: Earl Moran
A well rendered, colorful and new to the market Al Buell oil painting on board likely for an Interior story in Redbook Magazine. Al Buell did frequent images for leading Calendar Companies creating glamorous pin-up depictions, he also glorified the American Girl in period magazines. Work is framed and signed lower left.
Artist: Al Buell
A large and early commissioned pin-up painting by Gil Elvgren for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company titled “Finders Keepers.” This 1945 oil on canvas was painted in a larger format than Elvgren standardly used, and this is by all accounts a desirable and classic example of the Great American Pin Up by the undisputed master, featuring bold bright colors, and a wholesome yet sexy appeal. The canvas is relined and this painting was previously sold by The American Illustrators Gallery in New York.
Artist: Gil Elvgren
