Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
A well executed and precise interior illustration by noted American Pulp artist Jerome Rozen, for the June 1936 edition of Redbook Magazine. Work retains verso label from the magazine and painting is initialed lower right and identified on the back label as Mr. Jerome Rozen.
Artist: Jerome Rozen
Grapefruit Moon Gallery is happy to offer an original gouache illustration likely used as the final preliminary study for the cover of the May 17th, 1930 Edition of Judge Magazine. Verso reads “Cover for Judge, Joseph Morgan.” Work is in a John Held Jr. jazz age, modernist style with a flapper girl enduring the attention of an over zealous Soda Fountain attendant. The smaller sight size leads us to believe this is not the completed cover, but it is the most fun you can have in the world of Illustration art for $850.00.
Artist: Joseph Morgan
An alarmingly beautiful art deco era original pastel pin-up illustration by Billy Devorss titled “Prize Winner”. A ravishing and radiant blond bathing beauty contestant winner in her slinky and current one piece suit and beach cape. One of the artist’s most successful and enduring creations. In original limed wood frame behind glass with a framing label from “M.Goldberg picture frames, 323 W. 45th St. N.Y. A rare surviving radiant work from Devorss’ most productive period, when his penthouse studio was in New York City’s prestigious Beaux Arts Building.
Artist: Billy DeVorss
A large and early Zoe Mozert pastel, used as commissioned calendar art in the early 1930s. This illustration is remembered as one of Mozert’s most enduring and well realized images. Featuring a fabulous flapper girl with idealized Jean Harlow like features in a stylish art deco turban, this is a colorful commissioned artwork recently unearthed from a Florida estate.
Artist: Zoe Mozert
A dazzling art deco era original oil on canvas by noted New York Illustrator Walter Beach Humphrey. Humphrey did 3 covers for The Saturday Evening Post in 1923. He also was a frequent cover contributor for Colliers , Liberty and Argosy Magazines. He currently has works on display at the Norman Rockwell Museum in their Toast of the Town exhibit. The model was the artist’s wife Connie Regina. I am assuming this was painted as a decorative work as I cannot imagine a cover it could have been used for with the possible exception of a Burlesque or Follies Bergere type program cover.
Artist: Walter Beach Humphrey
A humorous moment in the midst of the Great Depression is the subject of this Liberty Magazine (November 21, 1931) original cover painting by Leslie Thrasher. Titled “Second From The Right” the cover chronicles the continuing story of “Sandy and Lil”, who frequented the cover of Liberty magazine in scenes from their typically 1920s courtship, wedding and early married life. This artwork (as explained in short interior story) finds the couple’a finances wiped out in the recent stock market crash. A neighbor (a rich lawless bootlegger!) turns up with a pair of complimentary tickets to The Follies and Sandy finds a particular showgirl much to his liking “second to the right.”
Artist: Leslie Thrasher
A tense and action packed gunfight scene featuring a flapper era cowgirl is presented in this large and rare surviving Domingo F. Periconi oil painting. This artwork was commissioned by Dell publications as cover art for the June 1938 edition of Ace High Magazine, a western pulp. Work has printer’s verso notations and is initialed lower left and really is a defining example of 1930s pulp fiction.
Artist: Domingo Periconi
A poignant, large and decorative mural which reflects upon the devastation and loss caused by the Hartford, Connecticut floods of 1936. Workers from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) program provided flood relief, patrolling city streets, and rescuing Hartford residents in row boats. This large iconic artwork captures the Great Depression’s bleak urgency and despair in muted banal tones from within the temporary government shelter with newly widowed survivors and children reeling in the devastation.
Artist: Alton Tobey
A rare surviving cover painting by Harold H.W. McCauley for the September 1938 edition of Fantastic Adventures; Volume #1 issue #5. This is likely the earliest commissioned pulp cover illustration by the artist. A classic art deco depiction of the perils of the near future space age, as envisioned in the campy, naive era of the 1930s. The mild bondage, damsel in distress content provided an additional titillating shock at the newsstands which carried this early pulp/science fiction title.
Artist: Harold McCauley
This exceptionally large oil on canvas mural by Henry Clive was created for the long gone legendary Hollywood Boulevard haunt “The Jade Lounge.” Titled “The Buddha-Pest,” the image acted as a logo for the bar, with matchbooks and post cards created with its likeness to attract tourists. The Jade Lounge became a destination and this monumental painting remained a focal point of the restaurant for decades. Henry Clive executed several murals for Hollywood nightclubs, and for The Masquers Club, Hollywood’s oldest theatrical club.
Artist: Henry Clive
