Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
We have for your consideration an evocotive and stirring aquatic themed oil on canvas by the well listed American Illustrator Douglass Crockwell. This original advertising illustration was created for Red & White Food, and was a take off on the classic tale Moby Dick by Herman Melville. This original artwork was kept in the company’s archives and presented to an employee by the name of William E. Krapf in 1940 as the gallery label attests.
Artist: Douglass Crockwell
A delicately rendered and stylized watercolor on illustration board by the well listed commercial illustrator Alex Luders. This is a remarkable work of an art deco era harem girl enchantress entranced in a sexy exotic veiled scarf dance. The artist Alex Luders did much commercial Hollywood advertising poster art for Fox Films including Shirley Temple and Jack Holt’s starring turn in the 1935 feature film The Littlest Rebel. This is presumed to also be a commissioned work for an as of yet undetermined art deco era movie campaign.
Artist: Alex Luders
This is a most unusual screen printed serigraph created with the pochoir technique. This original mixed media work features a severe high art deco scene and is pencil signed by the very well listed Vogue magazine cover artist Helen Dryden. Beautifully framed in a handsome gesso period original 1930s art deco frame.
Artist: Helen Dryden
A fantastic WPA-themed interior illustration from the February 1931 issue of American Magazine. A Union president riles up a group of miners for an epic David versus Goliath style battle, from the seat of a stylish touring coupe. Herbert Paus was a gifted and prolific illustrator, known for his highly technical & visionary watercolor industrial illustrations. He designed World War One posters and illustrated numerous covers for Liberty, Popular Science, Life, Delineator, & Collier’s magazines. Like Edward Penfield, Paus was for many years an illustrator for Hart Shaffner and Marx clothiers. An enthusiastic modernist, he worked prolifically creating defining and iconic images of American industrialization. His commissions included Goodyear Tires and Willy’s Automobiles.
Artist: Herbert Paus
A colorful, bright and decorative art deco era original gouache illustration painting, created for print use by an as of yet unidentified fruit/produce company. A handsome shirtless native effortlessly navigates a tropical waterway in a fruit filled gondola. In style and execution, this work is reminiscent of many of the Travel Magazine covers commissioned for print use of the same era. Nicely matted and framed in an art deco period silver gesso handsome wood frame.
Artist: E. B. Segner
A stylish art deco era smartly rendered original gouache illustration painting created as Raleigh Cigarettes advertising. A flirty idealized modern couple spark up more than a conversation with a prominently featured cigarette. This work of some of the George Petty stylized advertising illustrations for “Acme Beer” and “Chesterfield Cigarettes” of the same era. Nicely matted and framed in an art deco period gesso handsome wood frame.
Artist: E. B. Segner
A large and never-before-seen original pastel by Rolf Armstrong, this Green River Soda advertisement features a glamorous pin-up girl. This original pastel was found among other pastels and old lithographs in an abandoned Milwaukee, Wisconsin warehouse building. Decades earlier, the structure had served as headquarters for the “A. C. Schulz” lithography company. Although this piece is unsigned (this is true of much advertising art), it was undoubtedly created by the hand of Rolf Armstrong and is sold as an attributed painting.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
An alarmingly beautiful and decorative work by the undisputed king of illustration art Alberto Vargas / Varga. This is a large early (pre Esquire Magazine) pastel by this Peruvian born master. This art deco era original glamour pin-up pastel was used as calendar art in 1935 by The Joseph Hoover & Sons Calendar Company under the title Summertime. In pristine untouched original condition. An original salesman sample copy of the original published calendar print is included with sale.
Artist: Alberto Vargas
This stylized pastel portrait of a dashing high society fashionable blonde with bright red lips is bright, colorful, fresh and new to the market. The 1930s era portrait was most likely used for print ads for a beauty product in American glamour magazines. A large seductive example of Rolf Amstrong’s unsurpassed pastel work. A winsome idealized vision of American feminine beauty by The Father Of American Pin-up.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
A glamourous and serene large rendering of long reigning screen star siren Loretta Young in pastel done for a cover of Romantic Story Magazine by noted Brown & Bigelow pin-up artist and prolific cover illustrator Zoe Mozert. Mozert executed over 400 covers for such titles as Screen Book, True Romance, True Confessions and Randolph Hearst’s American Weekly. Titled on verso Letters and in fine print the letter is addressed to Louis B. Meyer Paramount film head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Artist: Zoe Mozert
