1940s

A rare surviving original oil on canvas by the talented cover artist Harold or H.W. McCauley (1913-1977), who specialized in science fiction genre work. Exploring fantasy, adventure and space travel themes while maintaining a keen eye for the feminine guiles and allure of the pin-up girl, McCauley was a frequent cover illustrator for Fantastic Adventures between 1939 – 1942. He later illustrated covers for Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy.This work was first used as a cover in the underground 1947 Shaver Mystery Magazine, a fanatically coveted black & white sci-fi pulp devoted to the fantasies and cosmologies of writer/artist Dick Shaver.

The Shaver Mystery Magazine Pulp Cover

Artist: Harold McCauley

This large, innovative and sophisticatedly composed gouache by Alexander Sharpe Ross was created as an interior illustration for the April 1949 Cosmopolitan Magazine story The Small Vice of Alicia Crispin by Cynthia Hathaway. Ross was a leading American illustrator of the time and worked as cover artist for Good Housekeeping, The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal and Colliers. Along with a handful of key illustrators—Coby Whitmore, John Whitcomb, Al Parker, Norman Rockwell—Ross helped create an indelible image of Americans in the post WWII decades.

The Small Vice of Alicia Crispin

Artist: Alex Ross

A rare surviving original charcoal-and-graphite illustration by United States Navy Man McClelland Barclay. The lovely woman is “Eve Witney” from Brazil, an incarnation of a recipient of Y.W.C.A. war relief. Presumably this image was used as a poster design/brochure in a fund raising or awareness raising campaign showing the international reach of the Y.W.C.A. The image is from a series of Four Reasons Why You Should Give to the Y.W.C.A. World Emergency Funds.

Eve Witney Brazil

Artist: McClelland Barclay

A spicy-pulp genre, risque, color pin-up illustration by Bob Holaday titled Yeh! Cancel Volume 3-4-5-6-7-8-9… This would appear to be an interior gag cartoon for a Titters or Eyeful type girly magazine, known for iconic cheesecake and military humor and pin-up nose-art images, and wildly popular from the 1930s Jazz Age through the post World War II era.

Yeh! Cancel Volume 2-3-4…

Artist: Bob Holaday

A defining patriotic themed large original pastel by the father of American Pin-up Rolf Armstrong created for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar company. A fetching bathing beauty with modern features and build strikes a celebratory pose in front of a red, white and blue beach umbrella in this World War II-era pin-up In The Pink. The model was Margery Crampton and the appeal of this bright large work is universal.

In The Pink

Artist: Rolf Armstrong

A bright, fresh and new to the market original pastel pin-up illustration by Earl Steffa Moran, comissioned for a late 1940s Brown & Bigelow calendar. A winsome young pretty idealized redhead in a Hawaiian flavored sarong. 2 small printed B & B marked calendars featuring “Feature Attraction” are included with sale. Pastel is properly lined and behind glass in a fine museum quality handsome gold gilt carved frame.

Feature Attraction

Artist: Earl Moran

A skillfully executed, sexy and coyly posed nude interior scene. This lovely piece is a large oil on canvas by the painter and portraitist Frederick Elwood Wallace a very well listed Virginia artist (1893-1958). His portraiture is seen in numerous museums and government offices, and he is listed in Davenports, Who’s Who In American Art, The Artists Bluebook, and countless other art references. Work retains its original wood faux painted frame. A nice, fresh, new to the market Texas Estate find.

Reclining Nude With a String of Pearls

Artist: Frederick Wallace

A large, masterfully rendered, noir dramatic interior illustration by Cecil Calvert Beall. From the illustrated serialization of Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu, published by Collier’s Magazine in 1948. Comes with a copy of the published magazine, artwork is beautifully framed in a period gold gesso ornate frame. Story caption reads “In a dazzling, crackling flash, Nayland Smith saw a lump of solid steel not melt, but disentigrate, vanish! A pinch of gray powder alone remained.”

Shadow Of Fu Manchu

Artist: C. C. Beall

A large original commissioned pin-up genre pastel on illustration board by Knute O. Munson for a 1949 Brown & Bigelow Calendar titled Top Service Is Delivered. This was given to a store owner in Tulsa Oklahoma decades earlier by the regional Brown & Biglelow salesman there as a reward for advertising with his company. It is cleverly signed on the falling package by the artist.

Top Service is Delivered

Artist: K. O. Munson

A signed and dated ’40 by B.W. Rockey cover for Lariat Story a western themed long running pulp publication. Rockey is an illustration artist who did several classic pulp covers of Western, Gangster and Detective themes. Works from his estate surfaced in Kansas City in 1996. The Medium is oil on canvas mounted on board with printer’s notations on the reverse. Work is beautifully framed and in excellent condition.

Lariat Stories Western Pulp Cover

Artist: B. W. Rockey

« Previous Page