Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
An important and poignant oil painting by the very well listed American artist and illustrator Francis Luis Mora. This large and expressive artwork was created as the frontispiece for the December 1918 issue of Red Cross Magazine. As published this was set atop moving poetry by Sara Teasdale reflecting on the mighty suffering and loss WWI had inflicted on our country’s women. A complete copy of the printed magazine with illustrated work is included in the sale.
Artist: Francis Luis Mora
A moving and large Victorian era interior illustration presumably for the old LIFE magazine. An original grisaillle illustration by noted American illustrator C. Clyde Squires (1883-1970).
Artist: C. Clyde Squires
On offer here is an important avant-garde painting, acquired from the descendants of Frederick Waugh, which is stylistically in keeping with his work for The Clan Of Munes and appears to date to the same moment in the artist’s career. Using the same experimental techniques and playing with modernist abstraction, this eerie painting also hearkens back to Germanic fairy tales.
Artist: Frederick Judd Waugh
An exceedingly scarce and early Art Nouveau period original pastel portrait by Rolf Armstrong dated 1913. A crisply rendered serene take on a sad eyed solemn brown eyed lass. This pastel dates just one year later than his first published works of 1912 for Puck and Judge magazines. His signature had not yet become the stylized scripted font of which we are accustomed to seeing. I have yet to uncover the published version of this work, it was most likely commissioned as a sheet music cover or perhaps a cover for American Sunday Magazine, one of several periodicals willing to take a chance on the young emerging talent.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
A topical newspaper illustration (presumably for the Hearst Newspapers) confronting the dilemma of Eugenics. In the 1910’s-1920’s the United States was faced with the question of whether individuals should marry with a mind towards creating superior babies through genetic family planning. This cartoon finds this notion farfetched and we see love conquering science to the shock and delight of a couple now free to live as their hearts command. A very sophisticated topical take on a pre-eminent question of the early 20th century. This is a fantastically rendered en grisaille style pen and ink drawing with highlights. En grisaille was a popular style in the early 20th century for illustrations created for reprinting. In a stylish contemporary fine gilded wood frame.
Artist: Gustav Michelson
One of the earliest existing examples of Erté’s Art Deco cover illustrations for Harper’s Bazar, this gouache painting appeared in November 1918 under the title Les Bulles de Savon. The image showcases two chic Parisian ladies, icons of the new modernist turn, blowing bubbles in which are seen a parade of Edwardian and Art Nouveau fashions. A whimsical yet […]
Artist: Erté
Evoking Little Red Riding Hood with an ominous mood and maiden in brightly colored cape, this art nouveau winter-scape shows a determined maiden walking through a snow covered forest, a masterful example from belle époque artist extraordinaire Louis Rhead. Though Rhead, like many of the popular illustrators of the period, did illustrate a version of the […]
Artist: Louis Rhead
This majestic and otherworldly oil-on-board by the New York illustrator A.D. Rahn is a reflection on the decadence of the Broadway stage circa 1915. A beautiful and haughty blonde, whose bobbed hair and dropped waist gown evoke Irene Castle, is seen emerging from backstage with the help of a green imp, her own high […]
Artist: A.D. Rahn
In May of 1919, on the advice of Sam Kingston, general manager for Florence Ziegfeld, Alberto Vargas applied to be the in-house artist for the Ziegfeld Follies. The rest, as they say, was history. At only 24 Vargas had already established himself as a freelance illustrator of beautiful women, with a sophisticated style inspired by Raphael […]
Artist: Alberto Vargas
An allegorical angelic scene by noted American fine artist, muralist, and illustrator Charles Allen Winter titled “Liberty Unchained.” Our research leads us to believe this was an interior magazine illustration for Cosmopolitan, which ran a series of spiritually relevant writings by Roycroft founder and early twentieth century philosopher Elbert Hubbard under the title “Little Sermons”–all illustrated by Winter. Several of Winter’s “Sermons” paintings were then reproduced in Hubbard’s own publication “The Fra.” From the estate of Charles Martignette, the sadly departed author of the “The Great American Pin-Up.”
Artist: Charles Winter
