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 dark, macabre and cleverly rendered gouache cover illustration by Ed Emshwiller for The January 1956 Ellery Queens’s Mystery Magazine. An expertly rendered rare surviving example of this vanguard artist’s cover mastery and peculiar set of defining talents. A published example of the book is included in the sale and the work is beautifully matted and framed and ready to enjoy.
Artist: Emsh
This kinetic and bold original oil on canvas depicts a moment from choreographer and dancer Katharine Dunham’s seminal avant garde revue Bal Negre. With its unique color palate and unexpected perspective, the painting evokes the excitement of the Hot Jazz modern dance which reached its peak at the moment the artist moved to the United States. Pal Fried was known for his unsurpassed ability to capture the emotion of dance, and this painting proves his mastery with its physicality and vanguard beauty.
Artist: Pal Fried
A well rendered humorous gouache calendar painting for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar by prolific and well listed staff artist Bill Layne. This was used as an advertising calendar and is a published work. A precise depiction of what what Layne does best. Work is beautifully matted and framed in a maple gallery frame and ready to display.
Artist: Bill Layne
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A well rendered humorous gouache calendar painting for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar by prolific and well listed staff artist Bill Layne. This was used in their 1957 Calendar line and is a precise depiction of what what Layne does best. Work is beautifully matted and framed in a maple gallery frame and ready to display.
Artist: Bill Layne
A well rendered other-wordly original illustration painting for the 1974 First printing of a compilation of H.P. Lovecraft stories for Signet Paperbacks titled ” Night’s Yawning Peal. Work is initialed lower right and is by the well listed science fiction artist Don Ivan Punchatz.
Artist: Don Ivan Punchatz
An other-worldly science fiction themed cover painting for the 1977 Ace Paperback edition of “The Silent Invaders” by Robert Silverberg. A well realized fantasy minded surrealist excursion into another dimension by the prolific and vanguard sci-fi artist Dan Ivan Punchatz. Work is nicely framed and comes with the published Ace paperback edition shown.
Artist: Don Ivan Punchatz
From the double entendre school of classic pin-up art, Grapefruit Moon Gallery is proud to offer this original oil on canvas by Al Buell for The Osborne Calendar Company. Work is titled “Come and Get It”, and is pictured in “The Great American Pin-up” on page 107 color plate #209. This spirited surviving commissioned work is beautifully matted and framed and ready to hang. Al Buell was a prolific pin-up artist who was trained by Haddon Sundblom, and worked in the luminous commercial style of Sundblom and Gil Elvgren. He worked for numerous calendar companies throughout his career and contributed pin-ups for Esquire Magazine, additionally the artist created numerous Calendar Girls for the Coca-Cola company during the 1940’s – 50s.
Artist: Al Buell
Perhaps the finest nude pin-up ever created, this Earl Steffa Moran pastel is a fresh midwest estate find. This luminous masterwork dates from Moran’s “Light & Shadow” period. Marketed under the title “Tomorrow’s Star,” the model was reported to be Jean Harlow. Six early nudes by Moran were packaged as a large format high end print folio which Brown & Bigelow gave as a premium gift to its most lucrative business accounts under the title “Running into Six Figures.” Many collectors site the folio as the high water mark of pin-up art.
Artist: Earl Moran
A large scale and evocative interior story illustration by Herbert Morton Stoops; likely commissioned for Collier’s or Cosmopolitan magazine, both of for which the artist was a frequent contributor. A briskly composed hearth scene with broad brush strokes that ultimately creates a wonderful sense of urgency and movement. Stoops painted in a style much like Dean Cornwell and Howard Pyle, the artist has a high water mark at auction of just under $11,000.00 in 2001.
Artist: Herbert Stoops
A delightful pastel by Pearl L. Hill. This dates from the 1920’s and was presumably used as a cover for a period woman’s magazine (likely Modern Priscilla). A demure yet playfully-posed, modernist, roaring 20s flapper girl with short bobbed hair strikes a winning pose in this large, nicely matted and framed illustration. Hill created seven cover paintings in the early 1920’s for the prestigious “Saturday Evening Post.” Her illustrations modernized the American woman in glamorous art deco fashion.
Artist: Pearl Hill
