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!
This playfully spirited and sexy original oil on canvas pin-up painting by Edward Runci was published by the Shaw-Barton Calendar Company in 1947 with the title “Wish You Were Here.” The artist was an outstanding painter of pin-ups during the 1940s and 50s whose smooth style was much admired by his contemporaries. Unlike the majority of other […]
Artist: Edward Runci
In this original oil on canvas pulp painting by Harold McCauley, used as the cover for the November, 1954 pulp digest, Imaginative Tales #2, a near nude runaway pin-up girl seductively rides a speeding red bullet – with the next stop being the moon… Created to illustrate an interior serialized novella story by Charles F. […]
Artist: Harold McCauley
This oil on canvasboard painting by Harold (H.W.) McCauley was created for use as the cover for the 1959 Nightstand digest pulp novel Carnival of Lust by J.X. Williams. In this offering a near-nude harem girl flirtatiously eyes a martini drinking genie. The painting is a dynamic and well-rendered example by this prolific and gifted American illustrator, and a great artifact […]
Artist: Harold McCauley
From a recent east coast estate auction, Grapefruit Moon Gallery is delighted to have acquired a previously unseen collection of American Impressionist oil paintings dating to the 1940s and executed in a WPA, Regionalist, and often times stark Ashcan School design aesthetic. These are the work of the important American photo-journalist Alfred Statler, who was […]
Artist: Alfred Statler
A well-crafted, stylish, and eye-catching cover painting by the renowned pin-up calendar artist and commercial illustrator Fritz Willis. This was used as a cover for a Shipstads & Johnson Ice Follies program in the early 1960s. In many regards Willis was the last of the great American pin-up artists; he brought pin-up imagery, poses and styles into the mod era and embraced changing ideals of femininity without being revisionist or nostalgic. In all regards, Willis shone in these yearly Ice Follies commissions as he excelled at costuming and seemed to enjoy capturing the evolving pop culture styles of the moment.
Artist: Fritz Willis
This trio of images by Thornton Utz was created to illustrate a single story in the flagship Curtis Publishing magazine The Saturday Evening Post. With a bold mid-century modern aesthetic and the dry brush gouache technique popular in glossy magazines in the 1950s, the set presents an enticing take on American femininity as idealized during the Cold […]
Artist: Thornton Utz
In this moody yet nostalgic casein-on-board illustration painting, the artist John Berkey, best remembered today as one of the leading figures of the golden era of science fiction, shows his versatility. Most identified with his posters for the original Star Wars film, Berkey was a technically brilliant commercial illustrator and his vision is what we see in our […]
Artist: John Berkey
A beautiful original painting by the noted female artist and illustrator Edna Crompton presumably used as cover art for The Redbook Magazine.
Artist: Edna Crompton
This circa 1925 oil on canvas by F.R. Harper was used as calendar art by The American Art Works Calendar Company. For sale at Grapefruit Moon Gallery.
Artist: F. R. Harper
A haunting and menacing editorial political illustration by William Cotton, likely published in a late 1930s edition of Vanity Fair magazine. Pictured are the trio of Axis partners: Adolph Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Emperor Hirohito, with Hitler depicted as the larger and dominant evil force, strong-arming the other two dictators and controlling them as puppets. In […]
Artist: William Cotton
