Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
An early cover pastel by Rolf Armstrong that served as the cover for The January 1916 issue of “American Magazine” featuring a lovely portrait of artist’s model Betty Lester. While Armstrong is best known today as “The Father of America Pin-up”, he created hundreds of covers for American magazines with titles as diverse as Photoplay, College Humor, The Saturday Evening Post and American Magazine.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
American Magazine cover art by Earl Christy This is a lovely pastel illustration by American artist and illustrator Earl Christy. Showing a delicate flapper beauty holding wispy flowers to her breast in classic romantic fashion, this was used as cover art for The American Magazine, May 1923. A complete issue of the magazine is included in […]
Artist: Earl Christy
A Christmas Cover Girl by J. Knowles Hare This depiction of a pretty brown eyed coquettish beauty posed under the mistletoe was created as a cover illustration created for the December 1917 Christmas edition of American Magazine. This lovely original J. Knowles Hare pastel is simply matted and framed under glass in a dark wood […]
Artist: J. Knowles Hare
A large American impressionist oil painting by the well listed illustrator Edmund Davenport. A frequent cover artist for a number of Golden Age of Illustration glossy magazine titles, Davenport excelled at this manner of romancing the celebratory moments of life without resorting to obvious sentimentalism. This well realized and luminous work utilizes an impasto technique and a lush fall color palette and was used as the cover for the November 1928 Thanksgiving cover for The American Magazine.
Artist: Edmund Davenport
This luminous, expressive oil on masonite was created as an interior story illustration by beloved american artist Tom Lovell, which has verso notations which lead us to believe this was published in the May, 1947 edition of American Magazine, a title the artist frequently worked for. A young snappily attired couple are shown surrendering to the […]
Artist: Tom Lovell
A rare and exceedingly beautiful gelatin silver, double weight gallery photograph of film star Myrna Loy by Laszlo Willinger. This image utilizes a mirrored table to capture the beautiful Loy in a double image. The mirror image was one of the most innovative trends in art deco photography, as it relied on the precision lighting and bold crisp costuming that typified the period. Large double-weight photographs such as this were never intended for widespread distributions, and were hand printed by the photographers themselves.
Artist: Laszlo Willinger
A deftly rendered cover painting for The American Magazine by Herbert Paus, who developed an inventive and entirely modernist, machine age, industrial aesthetic. A striking seaside beauty is depicted playing a concertina in this rare surviving original cover painting from the golden age of American illustration. Herbert Paus was a leading illustrator who contributed covers for Life, Collier’s, Leslie’s and the Woman’s Home Companion magazines.
Artist: Herbert Paus
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
