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 original gouache noir illustration by well listed and prolific illustrator Mort Kunstler was used as the January 1968 edition of Male, illustrating Mario Cleri’s “Blonde Bandit in Black Lace.” An explosive sex kitten car chase that captures the prevailing nihilism associated with the 1960’s “sweat magazine” art and envelope-pushing adventure fiction, this is a tense and hyper-realistic pop-art time capsule.
Artist: Mort Künstler
A charming and vanguard view of the generation gap which incited “The Jazz Age”. Boomerang, which in the 1910s was synonymous with backfire, was a key flashpoint term of the era, since the older generation found all their efforts to instill their Victorian values on their children failed drastically. This lovely watercolor work is by Rose O’Neill, the most famous and prolific female illustrator of the early 1900’s. She is best remembered for her creation the Kewpie doll.
Artist: Rose O'Neill
A beautiful historically inspired maiden with a sword amidst Moorish castles and architecture. A dazzling charcoal rendering by the Polish emigrant W.T. Benda, a frequent cover artist for Life, Hearst’s and The Shrine Magazine. Benda is perhaps best remembered today for his elaborate theater masks which made him the toast of New York City during the roaring 20’s jazz age. He also favored images of exotic European and Asian ingenues with mysterious foreign features and dress.
Artist: Wladyslaw Benda
A dark and deeply erotic Salmagundi Club Exhibited large oil on canvas by R.K. Ryland titled “Woodland Melodies.” Ryland was a celebrated New York based illustrator and fine artist who worked extensively creating modernist murals and posters for the 1939 New York World’s Fair. A work by Ryland illustrating that fair is on permanent display at the Wolfsonian Museum of Modernism in Miami. A large, defining example of the woodland nymph imagery that captivated 1920’s artists and illustrators.
Artist: Robert Ryland
This set of two pendant oil paintings is unusual within Wenzell’s oervre, both for its classical mythological subject and explicit eroticism. These two paintings were clearly conceived as a matched set; they present a “before” and “after” narrative. The first panel was published as a vignette in the March 26th, 1910 issue of Collier’s magazine but we don’t believe that the second work was created for publication. This pair was displayed in the Wenzell’s 1967 Maxwell Gallery (San Francisco) exhibition, “The Age of Elegance.” An illustrated program is included with sale.
Artist: Albert Wenzell
This wonderful, coy and large original pastel on board by Earl Moran was created as a commissioned illustration for Brown & Bigelow. The pin-up calendar image was published in the early 1950’s with the quip “Leading a parade Without a falter, is easier than leading A man to the altar.” Pastel is beautifully framed in a gold gilt fine museum frame and properly lined with printed tear sheet of published calendar included in sale.
Artist: Earl Moran
A whimsical pen and ink drawing by Heinrich Kley depicting a pair of crocodiles holding a tightrope for an art nouveau circus aerialist balancing with umbrella. Titled in the corner by the artist Seiltanz or “Rope Walk.” A fine example of Kley’s dazzling technical skills, work also visits the artist’s penchant for humanizing the animal kingdom. Beautifully framed and matted in a period fine gold gilt plein air aesthetic antique frame.
Artist: Heinrich Kley
A delightful early Rolf Armstrong original pastel in which the artist employs an impressionist and modern technique for the shadowing and details. This is a lovely and unusual transition piece from the period in Armstrong’s career where he began to shift from depicting winsome art nouveau beauties to the more dramatic and angular art deco flapper girls which defined his career. We have yet to find a printed version of this stunning original artwork by the father of American pin-up.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
A whimsical and dazzling watercolor by Heinrich Kley titled “Siche Rude Seiten;” loosely translated, “Our Unrefined Side”. THe splendid cast of characters captures the essence of this fondly remembered avant-garde, Jugendstil, German Expressionist artist. This is a rare full color example of the artist’s work, most surviving pieces by Kley are pen & ink drawings. Kley, whose work first appeared in “Die Jugend” in 1908 caught the eye of Walt Disney in 1937 and Kley inspired much of the animation of “Fantasia”. This evocative painting is rich in humor, technique and imagery.
Artist: Heinrich Kley
A technically dazzling pen & ink drawing by Heinrich Kley titled “Electrodämonen,” translated “Electric Demons.” A brooding and troubling satire on the machine age and ongoing industrialization. This captures Kley’s technical brilliance and foreshadows the later science fiction pulp drawings of Virgil Finlay. Kley, whose work first appeared in Die Jugend in 1908 caught the eye of Walt Disney in 1937 and Kley inspired much of the animation of Fantasia. This drawing appears as a full page plate in The Drawings of Heinrich Kley.
Artist: Heinrich Kley
