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.
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An original 1946 commissioned oil on canvas by the female American Illustrator and occasional pin-up artist E.B. Segner. Created for the Louis F. Dow Calendar Company, (the Saint Paul Minnesota rival and competitor of Brown & Bigelow) whose roster of artists included Billy Devorss, Gil Elvgren, Henry Clive and Jules Erbit. Work is nicely framed in a newer gallery frame on original pine stretchers with notations from the Calendar Company.
Artist: E. B. Segner
A sassy and colorful glamour girl pastel rendering by Earl Moran, created for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company in the early 1950s. Caption reads “Whenever I dance with you alone, before I know it The evening’s flown.” Work is beautifully matted and framed and in a fine state of preservation, a 1954 Brown & Bigelow Calendar of image is included in sale.
Artist: Earl Moran
A wonderfully conceived and deftly executed art deco original risque artwork from Rolf Armstrong’s short tenure in Hollywood. This large pastel dates to 1932 and is a rare nude by the Father of American pin up. This transcendent work was unearthed in the late 1990s in the estate of a one of Armstrong’s former models. This important piece was exhibited at a solo show of the artist’s work in 1999 at the Bruce R. Lewin Gallery in New York City. A program from the exhibition featuring “The Blue Nude” is included with sale.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
A charming pastel by Jules Erbit, the versatile prolific American illustrator who worked for all of the major calendar companies during his long career. Exclusively a pastel artist, Erbit created a few nudes for the Thomas D. Murphy Calendar Company but his signature genre featured the Erbit girl, a generally wholesome, gregarious and approachable beauty. This artwork is a wonderful example of his Good Girl Art style. A published tear sheet of calendar is included in sale.
Artist: Jules Erbit
A large and early bathing beauty themed pin-up illustration in pastel by K.O. Munson, the gifted and prolific illustrator who worked many years for The Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company. This is an early work note the stylized signature and 1940’s glamour girl pose. Work is in fine condition and properly lined behind glass in an attractive period wide profile gold gesso frame.
Artist: K. O. Munson
From the double entendre school of classic pin-up art, Grapefruit Moon Gallery is proud to offer this original oil on canvas by Al Buell for The Osborne Calendar Company. Work is titled “Come and Get It”, and is pictured in “The Great American Pin-up” on page 107 color plate #209. This spirited surviving commissioned work is beautifully matted and framed and ready to hang. Al Buell was a prolific pin-up artist who was trained by Haddon Sundblom, and worked in the luminous commercial style of Sundblom and Gil Elvgren. He worked for numerous calendar companies throughout his career and contributed pin-ups for Esquire Magazine, additionally the artist created numerous Calendar Girls for the Coca-Cola company during the 1940’s – 50s.
Artist: Al Buell
Perhaps the finest nude pin-up ever created, this Earl Steffa Moran pastel is a fresh midwest estate find. This luminous masterwork dates from Moran’s “Light & Shadow” period. Marketed under the title “Tomorrow’s Star,” the model was reported to be Jean Harlow. Six early nudes by Moran were packaged as a large format high end print folio which Brown & Bigelow gave as a premium gift to its most lucrative business accounts under the title “Running into Six Figures.” Many collectors site the folio as the high water mark of pin-up art.
Artist: Earl Moran
Jewel Flowers was Armstrong’s favorite model and closest personal friend. She passed away last year and is fondly remembered and sorely missed by the pin-up and illustration art community. Her zesty, sexy spirit, and the kinship between the artist and model are clearly visible in this wonderful pastel.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
An original 1961 Oil on Canvas by Gilette Elvgren commissioned for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company and published under the title “A Neat Package”. A sexy Elvgren pin-up that explores the silk stockings and garters scenario that the artist is best known for. For those of you not keeping track, recent auctions have seen Elvgren’s pin-up works for Brown & Bigelow topping $200,000.00 at auction on more than one occasion with a high water mark of $262,900.00 this June.
Artist: Gil Elvgren
A monumental and important original large pastel illustration on stretched canvas by James Ross Bryson, executed in 1914 for The Thos. D. Murphy Calendar Company of Red Oak Iowa under the title “Reverie in Green”. Bryson was an influential and supremely gifted and handsomely paid American Illustrator who earned a hefty $200.00 per commission for images of his risque for the day, modern enchantress themed Art Nouveau Maiden depictions. This work is housed in it’s original wide solid mahogany gold gilt lined antique frame and is properly lined behind glass.
Artist: J. Ross Bryson
