Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

1910s

Another fine original artwork from the storied Cream of Wheat advertising archives. An original watercolor on illustration board by B. Cory Kilvert titled Lest We Forget. This large and decidedly quaint image borrows from The American Arts & Crafts aesthetic which was firmly rooted into American culture in 1907, when this image first saw light as a full page magazine ad in hundreds of popular publications such as The Saturday Evening Post. Responding to fussy, over ornamented Victorian tastes, the Arts & Crafts movement artists evoked scenes of Dutch mills and serene pastoral views presented in contrast to modern industrialization. This unique and delightful hearth and home image from this iconic advertising campaign is surely one of the most enduring images from this long running series.

Lest We Forget

Artist: B. Cory Kilvert
Price:  $7,500.00

A bewitching and highly detailed pen and ink rendering by Louis Rhead used in the 1915 book publication of Lorna Doone. Caption Reads ” Lorna and John Ridd before Sir Ensor Doone…. Fools you are be fools forever, said Sir Ensor Doone, at last.” Beautifully matted and framed in an antique period fine wood gilt lined frame.

Lorna & John Ridd Before Sir Ensor Doone

Artist: Louis Rhead
Price:  $950.00

An original interior art nouveau glamour creation by noted illustrator, Charles Sheldon. This image was commissioned for use as a fashion plate for the prestigious Woman’s Home Companion. Artwork is beautifully framed, shows some minor soiling and has one small area of paper loss on lower left in black charcoal strokes, an easy repair.

Edwardian Fashion Queen

Artist: Charles Sheldon
Price:  SOLD

A sophisticated, topical Orson Lowell pen & ink drawing featuring a Japanese soldier bowing before a mythically inspired goddess of death (named by Lowell Mortise, a play on the latin word for death) with the caption So Sorry – have made mistake. The age of this piece, which dates to the first years of the 20th century, makes this by all accounts a commentary on the massive casualties ensued during the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905, a war Japan won, but at a human price much too high.

The Spoils of War

Artist: Orson Lowell
Price:  $1,500.00

Dating to approximately 1910, this large and expertly rendered gouache painting likely was used as magazine advertising art for Kodak Cameras in American weekly magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post. This bears a Forbes Litho Company of Boston ad agency verso label and bears the name of “Thompson” on the back of the illustration board, the artist is unidentified at this point. Titled “Vacation Requirement” this is great early 20th century advertising Americana treasure with a stylish Edwardian attired family cooling off at the beach.

Vacation Requirement

Artist: Unknown
Price:  $2,950.00

A stunning, highly detailed, bizarre, and erotic work by the brilliant illustrator Fortunio Matanio. This historically accurate and technically remarkable drawing depicts a climactic scene from Machiavelli’s The Prince. Text on verso reads “Gio Matteo Curing the daughter of Amedia.” The scene depicts an erotic yet twisted exorcism, which is both incredibly intricate and almost photo-realistic in composition. This most likely was created to accompany an excerpt from Machiavelli’s Renaissance masterpiece printed in Britannia & Eve Magazine.

Gio Matteo Curing the Daughter of Amedia

Artist: Fortunio Matania
Price:  Sold

A large, inventive, and whimsical oil painting featuring a nude goddess disguised within a snow covered mountain landscape. Signed by the well-listed artist Sigurd Skou, verso is titled “Hills in Norway.” Skou was born in Norway and studied with Anders Zorn in Stockholm and Paris. Throughout his career he traveled extensively and truly lived the artist’s life staying active in bohemian circles in New York, France and Chicago.

Hills in Norway

Artist: Sigurd Skou
Price:  $4,500.00

A stiring and patriotic moving World War I era original illustration by noted American illustrator C. Clyde Squires (1883-1970) who was born in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1883. His work was published in Western Romances, LIFE, and Womans Home Companion. Signed lower right “C. Clyde Squires.” Measures 17 x 24 inches unframed, framed 18 1/2 x 25 1/2 inches. Painted on artist’s board, very good condition, framed behind glass.

Meeting The Kind Nurse

Artist: C. Clyde Squires
Price:  Sold

A whimsical and stylized rare original gouache painting on illustration board by Anne Harriet Sefton a.k.a. Fish; this was the cover for The April 1919 edition of Vanity Fair Magazine published by Conde Nast. Work is in the humorous yet refined swinging youth style that came to personify the art deco Jazz Age. Painting is silk matted and beautifully framed in a period antique gold gilt wood frame under glass.

The Gondola Ride

Artist: Anne Harriet Fish
Price:  Sold

 

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