Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
Dating to the late 1930s, this breezy glamour girl pin-up advertising painting for Ovaltine shows off the vitalizing and energizing benefits of the classic malted milk powder. The foreground features a pretty young blonde embodiment of the active type, looking relaxed, youthful and refreshed in the hillside above a country club in India, during the late era of British rule. […]
Artist: Unknown
It’s easy to see how much talent and passion artists working in America’s Golden Age of Illustration brought to their jobs, but we rarely have windows into the daily commitment to submitting work for consideration, and the accompanying rejection that was part of the illustrator life. For all but a few famous names like Maxfield Parrish and Norman […]
A World War II-era illustration painting for the Nehi brand ginger ale Par-T-Pak. An early soda sold in quart size bottles intended to be shared, in this case by a breezy pin-up girl and her handsome enlisted beau. The saucy, double entendré tagline reads Neat Treat In The Heat! and as the flirtatious glance suggests, things are indeed about […]
Artist: Frederick Sands Brunner
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 […]
Artist: William Medcalf
A wholesome, all-American advertising illustration, this gouache on board features the iconic Elsie the Cow. Named one of the Top 10 Advertising Icons of the Century by Ad Age in 2000, Elsie the Cow has been among the most recognizable product logos in the United States. In this ad campaign, Elsie and her […]
Artist: Walter Early (attrib).
Grapefruit Moon Gallery just unearthed a small collection of original Campbell’s Soup Kids illustrations. These appeared as print ads in countless American mainstream publications such as The Saturday Evening Post in the 1930s. In this offering a Dolly Dingle-type character Campbell’s Soup Kid doubles as a railroad flagbearer with lantern ablaze attesting to the importance of the railroad in 20th century American history. Verso is stamped with a usage print date of 10/11/33. Painting is nicely matted and framed behind glass and ready to hang.
Artist: School of Grace Drayton
Nothing says “I’ve arrived” about a genre of art than its appearance on the walls of museums and galleries, and though it could be argued that illustration art is fashionably late to the party, its arrival is making a splash. Since the founding of Grapefruit Moon Gallery in 2003, we’ve seen a handful of touring exhibits […]
Grapefruit Moon Gallery had the honor and privilege of participating this past weekend in the 15th annual Twin Cities 20th Century Design Show and sale; featuring an eye popping building filled with antique Mission Arts & Crafts furniture, decorative collectibles and art pottery as well as Art Deco and Mid-Century Modern pieces. This was the first year the show […]
As purveyors of collectible illustrative works, we are often asked time and time again, “what is a lithograph?” It’s a printing process that you’ve probably encountered more times than you’re aware of. You see it heralded in museums as 18th and 19th century pieces of fine art. It was the covers of the magazines in […]
A bustling signed and dated 1925 original advertising gouache painting by noted Golden Age illustrator Henry Patrick Raleigh for Maxwell House Coffee. An opulent high society Great Gatbsy-esque scene which creates focal points around the coffee cups and serving platters in the hands of tony patrons and servers. Raleigh worked on Maxwell House’s print campaign […]
Artist: Henry Raleigh
