Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
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!
An expressive and lyrical gouache watercolor painting by the Russian-American artist and illustrator Vladimir Yaffe, who worked in New York City during the 1940s and was involved in the burgeoning WPA art movement there through the New Deal Federal Arts Project. His offerings included sculpture and architectural bas relief, and his works were exhibited at […]
Artist: Vladimir Yoffe
Bold, large and provocative, a sensational scandalous paperback cover painting by Rudy Nappi which was created for use as the cover of French Alley by Matthew Clay. Part of the Star Novels series of digest sized paperbacks released by Publication House, NYC, this steamy novel follows the proclivities of three young attractive women who endure heartbreak and discover rapture […]
Artist: Rudy Nappi
With irreverent humor, this original oil-on-board painting shows a horned satyr smoking a pipe distracted from his reading by a nude figure in the foreground. Dating to 1929-1930, when Ovid’s Ars amatoria was in the news quite a bit, with the city of San Francisco’s ban of the Ars amatoria in 1929 and its legalization for […]
Artist: Gaspano "Gus" Ricca
A well rendered and precise colorful interior gouache painting by one of our favorite art deco-era illustrators Herbert Paus that reflects the attention to detail and skill of the artists working during the Golden Age of Illustration. This large signed work depicts a son leaving his family’s pastoral cottage by carriage as his grieving mother looks on. A nostalgic look back at the well to do culture of pre-machine age American society.
Artist: Herbert Paus
A fabulous c. 1940s original pin up pastel by Earl Moran created for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company of Saint Paul, MN.
Artist: Earl Moran
A spectacular original oil painting on canvas-board of a pretty pin-up girl which was created by the Chicago-based female illustrator Pearl Frush for Grapette Soda, a brand with which the artist was closely associated. The luminous, all-American allure of the model provokes comparison to the Coca-Cola advertising illustrations being created by Haddon Sundblom, a colleague and mentor of the […]
Artist: Pearl Frush
In this humorous yet disturbing original illustration, artist Stan Galli captures the exasperation of an archetypical housewife in the baby boom years.
Artist: Stanley Galli
A darling and very Art Deco in aesthetic portrait of Mary Brian, the silent and early talkie era Hollywood film star. We do not have the specific usage of this oil on masonite painting but it was likely created as a cover for a late 1920s Hollywood Movie Magazine by the artist, who worked prolifically for a number of titles during the period. The china doll imagery was one which Clive favored, as it plays on the coquettish doll like charms of the flappers of the period. The painting is signed lower right and handsomely framed in a period wide profile antique frame behind glass.
Artist: Henry Clive
The Louis F. Dow Calendar Company of Saint Paul, Minnesota commissioned this pristine and rare surviving pin-up painting by Art Frahm for publication in their 1941 calendar line under the title “Three Point Landing.” The image shows an underdressed, startled redhead having an “oops” moment as her hammock string has broken causing her along with […]
Artist: Art Frahm
A subversive youth gone wild party scene original cover painting by Peter Driben likely used for a paperback book title published by the Novel Library imprint. During the 1950s a hedonistic bohemian fictional sub-culture existed where teens smoked reefer and engaged in orgiastic exploits while becoming addicted to heroin. In showing these delinquents pursuing their darkest sinful desires, the illustrators of the day seemed to take great joy and this is a prime example of this sort of homage to debauchery.
Artist: Peter Driben
