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 sublime and richly rendered excursion along the low road, this gouache on illustration board was used as the front cover of Volume #1 Issue #6 of Rogue For Men an early Men’s magazine that was direct competition to Playboy for Men. A Post-war pulp artwork by Lester Bentley which illustrates the interior story by Robert Bloch titled So You’d Like to Have a Harem? Nicely matted and framed and ready to hang in your harem.
Artist: Lester Bentley
A fabulous large and radiant original oil on canvas by the acclaimed American illustrator Edward Eggleston. This alluring, Edwardian attired glamour girl in luminous moonlight surround was a commissioned calendar artwork under the title The Sweetheart of Sigmi-Chi. Produced in 1919 this same image also appeared (with a riverboat superimposed above the subject’s right shoulder) under the title Dixie. This is one of many instances where an illustrator would reuse a central image to save time while working up a new piece for a competing calendar company. In this instance, Eggleston so seamlessly removed the paddle boat from the original artwork I wouldn’t have known it existed in that form if not for the image shown in Norm Platnick’s A Lady of Mystery: A Collector’s guide to Edward Eggleston.
Artist: Edward Eggleston
This is original artwork by the legendary art nouveau illustrator, Raphael Kirchner. This piece was commissioned for a turn-of-the-century postcard. Kirchner was revered for his sensual and sexually-provocative “Kirchner Girls”. These appeared monthly in La Vie Parisienne, a notorious French publication. Kirchner was perhaps best known as a postcard illustrator. This is a wonderfully detailed, stylized art nouveau rendering of a pan flute playing maiden. It is matted in a stunning period frame.
Artist: Raphael Kirchner
Grapefruit Moon Gallery is delighted to offer a new to the market large Brown & Bigelow commissioned original pastel illustration by Earl Moran titled Next Time. The luminous model is of course Marilyn Monroe, before she was transformed into the platinum blonde bombshell movie star. Norma Jeane Baker was a frequent pin-up model for photographers and illustrators in the late 1940’s, and her alarmingly nude centerfold depiction in the first issue of Playboy Magazine in 1953 launched the sexual revolution. Works of this magnitude by Moran rarely come on the market and this is a unique opportunity to own a fantastic piece of American cultural history.
Artist: Earl Moran
This Earl Moran original pastel features a cheeky, carhop waitress from the long-gone drive-in-diner era, providing car side service with a smile. This pastel was commissioned by Brown & Bigelow, a sample printed ink blotter is included in sale. Text reads in full A waitress leads a happy life, and sunshine fills her days. The outlook’s good the job is fine, because money grows on trays.
Artist: Earl Moran
A dazzling, acrobatic pin-up girl by Al Buell created on commission for the Osborne Calendar Company. This dramatic view is set against a big top trapeze backdrop and pops against the stark black backdrop. Original pin-up works by Al Buell are quite rare, and this fine original artwork exemplifies his unique and masterful style. This bright fresh oil on board comes very nicely framed and matted, condition is pristine.
Artist: Al Buell
A breathtaking and evocative sensual moonlit nude by Vaughan Alden Bass. The Veronica Lake look-alike is drenched in streaming moonglow rays in her dark colored boudoir. The unusual color palette employed by Bass gives the work a surreal glow. A stirring masterful work by this under valued and gifted pin-up artist and illustrator. This was gathered from the Saint Paul Estate of a 92 year old woman whose husband worked for the Louis F. Dow Calendar Company.
Artist: Vaughan Bass
We are delighted to offer an extraordinary, large, masterfully executed and cleverly conceived oil on stretched canvas by Charles Bosseron Chambers. This is a dark take on the nude forest nymph theme which captivated the likes of Arthur Spear, Maxfield Parrish and Robert Atkinson Fox. In this work the nude nymph is visted by elfin eared musical satyrs which represent, to the deeply religious Chambers, the underworld of sensuality. This allegorical work is haunting and evocotive, the nude is rendered with great care and a mastery of the female form which is second to none. This is among the finest works we have offered; the painterly technique and technical expertise of C. Bosseron Chambers is masterfully harnessed in this work. Framed in a museum quality art deco aesthetic gallery frame. A haunting epic work that examines the allure of temptation and the temptation of allure.
Artist: Charles Bosseron Chambers
A large, colorful, situationally challenged pin-up girl finds herself in a revealing moment deftly rendered by the infamous Edward D’ancona. This painting, entitled Handle With Care was commissioned by The Thos. D. Murphy Calendar Company; Red Oak Iowa and a large original archived published calendar of this image is included in the sale. A scarce surviving original work by this prolific American cheesecake maestro.
Artist: Edward D'Ancona
A luminous and glowing glamour girl painting by the well listed prolific pin-up illustrator and Hollywood Portrait artist Edward Runci. This fine oil-on-streched-canvas features a Haddon Sundblom/Gil Elvgren color palette and painterly technique. A formally posed beauty queen in purple gloves and fur with an orchid and a inviting smile awaits you. Condition, like the work, is flawless.
Artist: Edward Runci
