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!
A curvy nude pin-up beauty in a red wide brimmed mid-century hat contently admires her reflection in this original pin-up painting by Harry Ekman. This was previously part of the collection of pin-up historian and author Charles Martignette and appears in the 1996 Taschen volume The Great American Pin-Up (page 153, plate #326) co-authored by Martignette and Louis K. […]
Artist: Harry Ekman
Sam Cherry created this romance-themed Western pulp painting for use as the June, 1943 cover of Thrilling Ranch Stories – Romantic Stories of The West. The image shows a pretty blonde sweetheart of the rodeo embracing a Wild West town sheriff, who grins as he contemplates his great luck. Not only did he seemingly get the girl, a bullet aimed at […]
Artist: Sam Cherry
A delicately rendered mixed media work by Edwin Georgi which illustrated an interior story in The Saturday Evening Post. A tense dramatic courtroom portrayal from 1959 which captures the Perry Mason/Earle Stanley Gardner American Pop Culture sensation which was resonating at the time this commissioned work appeared in the Post. The lovely Georgi girl is “Policewoman O’Keefe,” and this work confirms our suspicion that illustrators frequently created their finest works for this highly circulated and revered Curtis Publications slick mainstream magazine institution.
Artist: Edwin Georgi
A large, detailed, preliminary calendar illustration by Andrew Loomis for a 1944 calendar commission of the Dionne Quintuplets that was titled May Time for The Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company. The Dionne Quintuplets were a Great Depression-era pop culture sensation and cautionary tale. Their images were reproduced everywhere and cover articles appeared in Time and […]
Artist: Andrew Loomis
A large and important bustling published colorful gouache illustration painting by Willy Pogany for an interior story titled “Nero’s Temple On The Nile”, which appeared in the January 12, 1947 edition of Randolph Hearst’s American Weekly Magazine. An over the top opulant Egyptian themed costumed imagining of life in ancient Rome, which appeared with the […]
Artist: Willy Pogany
This luminous, expressive oil on masonite was created as an interior story illustration by beloved american artist Tom Lovell, which has verso notations which lead us to believe this was published in the May, 1947 edition of American Magazine, a title the artist frequently worked for. A young snappily attired couple are shown surrendering to the […]
Artist: Tom Lovell
An action packed damsel in distress fire rescue pulp cover painting by Sam Cherry for the February 1943 issue of Thrilling Ranch Stories – Romantic Stories of The West. A fearless square jawed handsome cowboy emerges from a burning building with a damsel in his arms, his pistol a blazin’, as our felled damsel struggles to regain […]
Artist: Sam Cherry
An unsigned oil on stretched canvas pulp cover painting for the December 1947 issue of the Thrilling Publications Western title Thrilling Western. A rugged square jawed handsome cowboy with a noose around his neck engages in a barbed wire shoot out illustrating the interior story Bullets and Salt by Bradford Scott. The stories tag-line as follows … When […]
Artist: Sam Cherry, Atrributed
A 1949 Western Americana cowgirl themed gouache on illustration board which comes directly from the archives of the 100-year-old San Francisco ad agency/lithography company “Stecher-Traung & Schmidt.” The work is in the style of George Petty, and Ben-Hur Baz. Among other noted artists Stecher-Traug employed Gil Elvgren, E.B. Segner & Mary Mayo. This commissioned illustration is dated and inkstamped in the lower corner but is unsigned. Work is beautifully framed and matted in a period ornate gesso frame.
Artist: Unknown
A large and technically adept colorful gouache illustration painting by Mario Cooper for an interior story titled “Secret Voice of The Desert Oracle“, which appeared in the August 13, 1950 edition of Randolph Hearst’s American Weekly Magazine. An over the top Egyptian themed costumed processional, which appeared in print with the following caption: “Cleopatra Probably […]
Artist: Mario Cooper
