Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

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.

A whimsical snow scene pastel illustration by Rolf Armstrong which initially appeared as the cover for College Humor in December of 1929. This image was slightly altered by Armstrong and appeared again in 1936 as a Brown & Bigelow Calendar titled “The Call of the North”. The pastel was dedicated to Stan Fenelle another Brown & Bigelow artist by Armstrong and is a new to the market Saint Paul Minnesota estate find. Work is matted and framed in a period art deco era Newcomb-Macklin antique gold carved frame.

Call of the North

Artist: Rolf Armstrong

A snappy and sexy original pastel illustration by Earl Moran commissioned as a 1951 Brown & Bigelow calendar. Text reads “Here’s an extra addition you can hardly refuse; for this little gal is just covered in news…” Pastel is beautifully framed and condition is outstanding as is the image.

Covered In News

Artist: Earl Moran

A flirty, scandalous and new to the market cover illustration by Enoch Bolles, which appeared first as a cover for a 1930’s Young’s Magazine, and again made an appearance on a 1938 cover of Breezy Stories. Enoch Bolles excelled in these curiously proportioned Spicy Pulp, envelope pushing, angular modernist heartbreakers. This is a spectacular work which, like most Bolles’ offerings, is unsigned and is nicely framed and ready to hang.

Bathing Beauty in Sun Hat

Artist: Enoch Bolles

A large gouache illustration for the January 1961 edition of Stag Magazine. A daring night time rescue depiction illustrating the interior story “The Amazing GI Who Took Three Head Hunting Brides. A Pacific Island World War II entanglement complete with topless native women and native headhunters and a lone anglo-saxonized square jawed daring G.I.

Amazing G.I. Who Took Three Head Hunting Brides

Artist: Mort Künstler

A beautiful historically inspired maiden with a sword amidst Moorish castles and architecture. A dazzling charcoal rendering by the Polish emigrant W.T. Benda, a frequent cover artist for Life, Hearst’s and The Shrine Magazine. Benda is perhaps best remembered today for his elaborate theater masks which made him the toast of New York City during the roaring 20’s jazz age. He also favored images of exotic European and Asian ingenues with mysterious foreign features and dress.

A Benda Princess

Artist: Wladyslaw Benda

This wonderful, coy and large original pastel on board by Earl Moran was created as a commissioned illustration for Brown & Bigelow. The pin-up calendar image was published in the early 1950’s with the quip “Leading a parade Without a falter, is easier than leading A man to the altar.” Pastel is beautifully framed in a gold gilt fine museum frame and properly lined with printed tear sheet of published calendar included in sale.

Leading a Parade

Artist: Earl Moran

A delightful early Rolf Armstrong original pastel in which the artist employs an impressionist and modern technique for the shadowing and details. This is a lovely and unusual transition piece from the period in Armstrong’s career where he began to shift from depicting winsome art nouveau beauties to the more dramatic and angular art deco flapper girls which defined his career. We have yet to find a printed version of this stunning original artwork by the father of American pin-up.

An Orchid and a Smile

Artist: Rolf Armstrong

A large and new to the market, early 1950s pastel by Earl Moran, featuring the unlikely proportioned pin-up model Danice Daniels in a sexy, coy, playful, sex kitten pose that recalls Alberto Vargas’ work for the pages of Playboy Magazine during the era. Work is properly lined and housed in an attactive gallery frame. A fine example of Earl Moran’s masterful pastel work capturing his stylized ideals of feminine allure and temptation.

Portrait of Danice Daniels

Artist: Earl Moran

This original commissioned painting by female pin-up artist Ruth Deckard was titled A Pin Cushion by the Calendar Company that first published it, originally titled by the artist on verso A Bar Belle. Features a cheeky brunette winsome pin-up girl in a duck pin bowling alley “sit down strike” scene. This was a very popular and wildly produced calendar in the post WWII pin-up era, and we are happy to offer the original oil on canvas, a rare original surviving artifact from the era of “The Great American Pin-up.”

A Pin Cushion

Artist: Ruth Deckard

 

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