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 dramatic and suspenseful cover paperback painting by the prolific American Illustrator Harry Barton, where train tracks take on an ominous aura, and a deadly outcome appears likely. The cover of an early Ace Double Novel paperback titled Fear No More, written by Leslie Edgley. Illustration is nicely framed and matted behind glass and a […]
Artist: Harry Barton
An eerie underwater view of two Navy Frogman divers, this gouache cover painting by Ed Lafferty appeared on the cover of the August, 1951 edition of Popular Mechanics. The scene illustrates an interior story that showcases the groundbreaking movie set design work of Louis Witte, Hollywood’s “ace authority on celluloid warfare.” Handsomely matted and […]
Artist: Ed Lafferty
The Intruder is a rare surviving oil on canvas American Impressionist painting created in 1921 by Arthur Prince Spear. This underwater sea nymph scene was exhibited that year at Boston’s St. Botolph Club, and the Chicago area Rosenbach Galleries and The House of O’Brien, where it is believed to have been sold. Reviewing the St. […]
Artist: Arthur Prince Spear
An electric in color palette & execution original exhibited pastel by the Boston area artist Arthur Spear, who was equally adept with pastel and oils. This is titled on the verso The Young Diana in the artist’s hand, and was exhibited and likely sold at the Chicago gallery House of O’Brien during the 1920s. The image […]
Artist: Arthur Prince Spear
A haunting Art Deco in period Pre-Raphaelite in aesthetic watercolor fine art painting by the well listed artist Axel Linus titled Leto And Apollo. A favored lover of Zeus, Leto is known in ancient Greek mythology as the ideal of maternal sacrifice and love. Mother to both Apollo and Artemis, Leto was tormented […]
Artist: Axel Linus
One of the finest pastel pin-up illustrations ever created by Rolf Armstrong for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company, this appeared in 1940 with the title “The B & B Girl”. The model was Margery Crampton, Armstrong’s modernist streamlined muse and frequent sitter throughout the 1930s and early 1940s. Shortly after this pastel was […]
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
A gorgeous and very detailed framed preliminary graphite sketch by the legendary American pin-up artist Gil Elvgren, which was used in the making of the 1955 Brown & Bigelow calendar “Waiting For You”. As part of his process, Elvgren would pose a live model in his home studio and create a series of graphite sketches […]
Artist: Gil Elvgren
A large format, tightly rendered preliminary charcoal and pastel pin-up illustration created for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company, the finished pastel was titled That’s A Deal. It is boldly signed and dated 1947, a fine offering by the prolific American pin-up artist Rolf Armstrong. The Stan to whom the piece is inscribed is […]
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
Dating to the mid-1920s, this lavishly colored and provocatively composed gouache painting by the highly regarded illustrator Willy Pogany is a rare surviving example of his commissioned silent film artwork. During the roaring ’20s, Pogany, known as one of the most prolific and inventive artists of the decade, worked with a number of […]
Artist: Willy Pogany
A 1940s pin-up oil painting on masonite panel showing an erotically rendered on the wrong end of a situation bathing beauty. A blonde, young heart-breaker is seen blowing up an inner tube while her own pneumatic charms prove too much for her bikini top; focused on her task she seems unfazed by the classic cheesecake “oops” moment. […]
Artist: Irving Winer
