1910s

Six Brinkley girls, each with distinct style and personality, are shown in a classroom, preparing to take their knowledge of the geography of beauty out into the wider world. A map, at the time, was slang for a beautiful face, and there is no question that these maps would lead to men’s hearts across the country. Created as a stand alone cartoon for an unidentified Hearst publication, this pen & ink on board illustration contains all the elements that made Nell Brinkley the pre-eminent female cartoonist of the early 20th century.

A Map of the Heart

Artist: Nell Brinkley

A deftly rendered, intricate, highly decorative oil on canvas painting by noted Brandywine School illustrator Arthur E. Becher, a student of Howard Pyle. An East Indian Minstrel performs magic feats to the delight of his adoring harem in this Orientalist Golden Age of Illustration depiction. Becher’s work appeared in numerous magazine titles after the turn of the last century; Scribner’s and Leslie’s most notably. He also created full color bookplates for such titles as “Long Live the King” and an 1914 adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” by P.F. Collier & Sons.

Minstrel Entertains a Harem

Artist: Arthur Becher

Before her tenure as the reigning queen of Hollywood society, and her long-standing position as mistress of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, Marion Davies was among the most beautiful of Florence Ziegfeld’s glorified American girls. Here, she is a delicate princess captured at the height of her beauty by Alfred Cheney Johnston, who had as much a part of creating the Follies reputation as Ziegfeld himself.

Follies Princess Marion Davies

Artist: Alfred Cheney Johnston

Before her tenure as the reigning queen of Hollywood society, and her long-standing position as mistress of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, Marion Davies was among the most beautiful of Florence Ziegfeld’s glorified American girls. Here, she is shown in lavish showgirl costuming, an ethereal beauty in soft focus view by Campbell studio. This double weight gallery portrait is blindstamped by photographer lower right.

Follies Girl Marion Davies

Artist: Campbell Studios

A delightful oil on canvas by Eugenie Wireman likely used by the Curtis Publishing Company as a Christmas magazine cover circa 1910 – 1920. Wireman studied under Howard Pyle and worked as a Brandywine school illustrator creating children’s book illustrations, magazine covers, and advertising art for many Golden Age of Illustration magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post. A delightful view of a young child enjoying the spoils of a bountiful Christmas Morning, with great imagery and antique toy laden fanciful nostalgic appeal.

Christmas Morning

Artist: Eugenie Wireman

A delightful New years Day 1917 illustration in pen & ink by noted female artist and illustrator Nell Brinkley titled Happiness A Plenty. This finds the New Years Baby scene adapted to a young couple who are finding the joys of home and hearth that much more appealing with their new born cherubic smiling infant welcomed into the world. Signed lower middle and matted and framed in a simple black wood frame.

Happiness A Plenty

Artist: Nell Brinkley

A delightful, whimsical early oil on board painting by Henry Clive, one of our favorite American Illustrators. This dates from 1916-1920 and was likely created as cover art for Randolph Hearst’s American Weekly Magazine. Featuring a cute and perky flapper in pirate girl garb, this a rare surviving example by this gifted and influential, prolific illustrator. Work is nicely framed in a period 1930s limed wood frame.

An Art Deco Pirate Girl

Artist: Henry Clive

A vignette style interior illustration by Charles Chambers for an as of yet undetermined American slick magazine, featuring a damsel being rescued from rising waters in a precarious flood zone destination. This style of vignette painting likely had text overlaid in in the final printed version. The white painted expanses upper left and lower right would become part of the story developments and turns, to keep the 1920s magazine reader glued to the adventure and action in the story.

From the Flood

Artist: Charles Edward Chambers

A large early artwork by Howard Chandler Christy used as a book plate in The Man in the Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart, copyright 1909 Bobbs-Merrill Publishing Company. This illustrated the chapter titled “The Woman in The Next Car.” A very fine and impressive painting in a handsome fumed quarter sawn oak antique frame. Published book included with sale.

The Woman in the Next Car

Artist: Howard Chandler Christy

This Raphael Kirchner Ziegfeld Follies pastel is a newly unearthed piece of New York City theater history, and a once in a generation find. Part of a suite of five illustrations which feature the erotic and luminous showgirls who starred in the legendary theater revue Ziegfeld Follies and made the name synonymous with images of the most beautiful, brazen and sensuous women in early 20th century New York. This portrait of Vivienne Segal hung in the lobby of the historic Century Theater until it shut its doors in 1936.

Vivienne Segal: Ziegfeld Follies Century Girl

Artist: Raphael Kirchner

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