Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

Sorry, It's Sold

Welcome to Grapefruit Moon Gallery. Here you will find an archived visual history of past sales. Pretty to look at, some are quite old; but when they're in here, consider them sold!

A rare surviving fresh estate find; an original pastel cover created for The American Weekly from a series titled, Visions Of An Artist, circa 1937. This particular series seems to artistically “feminize” natural disasters and this piece is aptly titled “Maid of the Mist”. Beautifully matted and framed in a period, vintage gesso, antique frame as seen. This was unearthed in California recently and was in the estate of Patricia Lake, the rumored illigitimate daughter of Hearst and his long time mistress and confident, Marion Davies.

Maid of the Mist

Artist: Henry Clive

A boldly executed rare surviving art deco cover illustration by noted American artist, Frank McIntosh. McIntosh is best known for his Hawaiian-style menu art for Matson Line cruise ships. He was the main cover illustrator for Asia magazine from 1925-1934. Today these issues are in great demand because of their exceptional stylized art deco covers. A rare opportunity to buy an original McIntosh cover illustration painting.

Japanese Musicians

Artist: Frank McIntosh

A wonderful commisioned Brown and Bigelow “Calendar Girl” original pastel by Earl Moran, for an August 1956 Calendar, titled NOW’S THE TIME FOR DREAMS OF YOU, A PLEASURE FINE AND WONDROUS TOO… Classic American pin-up imagery, a seated, Marilyn Monroe-esque, redhead reclining in a diaphonous, green silk nightgown. Sale includes a color, printed calendar page and a mutoscope card of image as seen. In period gesso wood frame, nicely and professionally double matted and ready to hang.

August 1956 Pin Up Calendar Girl

Artist: Earl Moran

An original art deco pastel by noted cover illustrator and sometimes pin-up creator, Victor Tchetchet. Illustrating the interior story by John Erskine titled Thargelia. Face is very Rolf Armstrong-esque. A worn tear sheet of the cover is included in the sale, nicely framed and double matted in a vintage gesso period frame.

Thargelia

Artist: Victor Tchetchet

A winsome and exceedingly scarce original cover illustration for an as of yet un-identified Spicy Pulp Magazine . Looks alot like the creations of Peter Driben and she is costumed like an Enoch Bolles Film Fun girl . Painting is artist signed, a fresh estate find and really a definitive example of this highly collected American Art genre.

A Spicy Pulp Pin Up Girl Illustration

Artist: Winer

An original illustration for the famed American Weekly The Saturday Evening Post ( page 32 April 8, 1961 issue) . A noir pulp-like rendering for the story by William Forrest, titled “DYNAMITE – That was his name. And no trucker ever dared to cross him — until now…” Robert McCall, 81, came to public attention in the early 1960s as the illustrator for LIFE magazine’s memorable series on the future of space travel. McCall’s heroic artwork is on permanent exhibit at many prestigious institutions including the National Gallery of Art, and he has done murals for the National Air & Space Museum, the Pentagon, EPCOT, and Johnson Space Center. His work for movies includes the landmark

His work for movies includes the landmark 2001:A Space Odyssey, The Black Hole, Tora! Tora! Tora!, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Bob’s work has been featured in virtually every popular magazine in the past thirty years.

Dynamite

Artist: Robert McCall

This large original circus motif oil painting was painted by famed illustrator Karl Godwin for Ethyl Gasoline captioned … ” Ethyl controls The Giant Power Of Gasoline … ” And is signed lower left. Godwin was a painter, illustrator and etcher from Canada who studied with Charles Hawthorne and Sigguard Skou, at the ASL of New York City. An August 27, 1932 issue of Liberty Magazine with this piece as the inside cover advertisement is included in the sale.

The Elephant

Artist: Karl Godwin

An exotic Far East-themed interior illustration for the January 30th 1949 edition of Randolph Hearst’s American Weekly Magazine. Caption reads: ” Queen Supi-Yaw-Lat and her wicked mother prodded the hen-pecked King to torture anyone who might be a rival.” Framed in a gold wood suitable frame as seen.

The Dragon Throne Returns To Mandalay

Artist: Jules Gottlieb

A wonderfully executed interior illustration for a story by Eustace Cockrell titled Compliments of R. Smith. Depicting a Christmas gift given to the gentleman center in the form of a race horse. Caption reads: “He won de second at Sunnyside Downs,” Refugee said ” Merry Christmas, Mr. Willie “. A large crisply-rendered pastel nicely framed and matted in it’s original gesso frame. Retains original Collier’s Magazine verso identification label and a full copy of the published magazine is included in the sale.

Compliments of R. Smith

Artist: Martha Sawyers

 

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