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Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

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1940s

      In this signed oil on illustration board painting by William Medcalf, a breezy young blonde pin-up dream girl is seen contently sipping Grapette Soda on a bustling summer day as a man in the background prepares a sailboat, presumably to take her out for a lovely day on the lake. This large […]

Carefree Summer – Grapette Soda Girl

Artist: William Medcalf

Filed Under: Pin-Up & Glamour Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1940s, advertising, Bill Medcalf, Golden Age, Grapette Soda, original illustration art, pin up, Soda Advertising, The Golden Gallery, William Medcalf
Added to Gallery: July 6, 2015

A deliriously sexy and important surviving pin-up painting by Haddon Sundblom, created in the 1940s for the U.O. Colson Calendar Company of Paris, Illinois. A pretty blonde nude model admires her abundant beauty in an aptly titled vanity mirror, with unique to this artist skin tones and brush strokes in alla prima, that are unequaled in […]

Reflections Of Me

Artist: Haddon Sundblom

Filed Under: Pin-Up & Glamour Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1940s, Colson Calendar Company, Gil Elvgren, Golden Age, Haddon Sundblom, nude, original calendar art, pin up, risque, The Golden Gallery
Added to Gallery: June 22, 2015

A precisely rendered very tight preliminary illustration by George Petty for a commissioned work which appeared as the January, 1947 Calendar page for a spiral bound True Magazine premium pin-up calendar. This is an airbrush painting on an illustration board with gouache detailing added in her skates, her nose, her bunny tail and other highlighted […]

Petty Girl Skater Bunny

Artist: George Petty

Filed Under: Pin-Up & Glamour Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1940s, George Petty, ice skating, pin up, Playboy Bunny
Added to Gallery: May 4, 2015

A genre defining girl in peril, menace themed pulp cover painting by the prolific and gifted American illustrator Peter Driben, this appeared as the cover for the December 1941 issue of Expose Detective True Crime Cases. Illustrating the interior story The Scarlet Sinner’s Final Exit, this lurid, large and rare surviving pulp cover painting has it all. Beautifully framed and in a fine state of conservation.

The Scarlet Sinner

Artist: Peter Driben

Filed Under: Paperback & Pulp Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1940s, american, damsel in distress, Expose Detective, lingerie, lurid, menace, Peter Driben, pulp
Added to Gallery: March 12, 2015

A fresh-faced and fresh to market large format pin-up pastel illustration by the father of American pin-up, Rolf Armstrong, titled I’ll Say So. This flirtatious bathing beauty darling is one of the artist’s most iconic and popular enduring images. Created at the zenith of Armstrong’s artistic powers, this sassy brunette has a laser beam of a smile, and a sarong that […]

I’ll Say So

Artist: Rolf Armstrong

Filed Under: Pin-Up & Glamour Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1940s, Brown & Bigelow, original calendar art, original illustration art, Original pastel, pin up, Rolf Armstrong, The Golden Gallery
Added to Gallery: February 28, 2015

    A sultry brunette in a form fitting, canary yellow number cools herself with a personal pinwheel hand fan in this original oil on board pin-up painting by Peter Driben. Created as the cover of the February, 1946 edition of Titter magazine–a post-war pulp title that promised Girls, Gags and Giggles. Titter bridged the gap between the spicy pulp […]

Central Cooling

Artist: Peter Driben

Filed Under: Pin-Up & Glamour Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1940s, american, magazine cover, Peter Driben, pin up, pulp, risque, The Golden Gallery, Titter
Added to Gallery: December 18, 2014

  An intensely colored, dramatic and moody, mixed media illustration work by Edwin Georgi, Date With Death, which illustrated an interior story by Leslie Ford in The Saturday Evening Post. The image shows a favorite Georgi theme, the moment of discovery of betrayal in a love triangle. A complete edition of the February 12, 1949 Saturday Evening […]

Date With Death

Artist: Edwin Georgi

Filed Under: Illustration & Advertising Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1940s, Edwin Georgi, macabre, noir, The Saturday Evening Post
Added to Gallery: December 2, 2014

    A dramatic and suspenseful cover paperback painting by the prolific American Illustrator Harry Barton, where train tracks take on an ominous aura, and a deadly outcome appears likely. The cover of an early Ace Double Novel paperback titled Fear No More, written by Leslie Edgley. Illustration is nicely framed and matted behind glass and a […]

Fear No More

Artist: Harry Barton

Filed Under: Paperback & Pulp Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1940s, damsel in distress, Harry Barton, noir, original cover art, paperback, pulp
Added to Gallery: November 29, 2014

    A large format, tightly rendered preliminary charcoal and pastel pin-up illustration created for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company, the finished pastel was titled That’s A Deal. It is boldly signed and dated 1947, a fine offering by the prolific American pin-up artist Rolf Armstrong. The Stan to whom the piece is inscribed is […]

That’s A Deal

Artist: Rolf Armstrong

Filed Under: Pin-Up & Glamour Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1940s, Brown & Bigelow, original calendar art, original illustration art, pin up, Rolf Armstrong
Added to Gallery: October 13, 2014

    A 1940s pin-up oil painting on masonite panel showing an erotically rendered on the wrong end of a situation bathing beauty. A blonde, young heart-breaker is seen blowing up an inner tube while her own pneumatic charms prove too much for her bikini top; focused on her task she seems unfazed by the classic cheesecake “oops” moment. […]

The Blow Out

Artist: Irving Winer

Filed Under: Pin-Up & Glamour Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1940s, art deco, erotic, Irving Winer, original illustration art, pin up
Added to Gallery: September 24, 2014

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