Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

american

This refined pastel portrait of film legend Mary Astor by the American illustrator Rolf Armstrong dates to 1933, during the artist’s brief tenure as a Hollywood portraitist. The elegant and understated large format artwork reflects Armstrong’s desire to move away from the rigid demands and deadline driven style of his in demand career as America’s leading calendar artist. In 1931, Armstrong moved from New York to the West coast and started an independent fine art company “Armstrong Art Services.”

Mary Astor Hollywood Portrait

Artist: Rolf Armstrong

A well-crafted, stylish, and eye-catching cover painting by the renowned pin-up calendar artist and commercial illustrator Fritz Willis. This was used as a cover for a Shipstads & Johnson Ice Follies program in the early 1960s. In many regards Willis was the last of the great American pin-up artists; he brought pin-up imagery, poses and styles into the mod era and embraced changing ideals of femininity without being revisionist or nostalgic. In all regards, Willis shone in these yearly Ice Follies commissions as he excelled at costuming and seemed to enjoy capturing the evolving pop culture styles of the moment.

Ice Follies

Artist: Fritz Willis

This 1949 Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company commissioned pin-up pastel is one of the finest examples by Earl Moran we have encountered. A redheaded heart-breaker on a then state of the art mid-century modern phone asks the viewer and the caller to “Remember Me?” in a classic pin-up entanglement loaded with double entendre. Earl Moran was a master of light and shadow and this large and commanding artwork is a monument to his talent.

Remember Me?

Artist: Earl Moran

This 1948 Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company commissioned pastel by Earl Moran is a large and defining example of American pin up. A pretty blonde pin-up girl is posed on a mid-century modern Heywood Wakefield office desk with a phone in one hand. The title “Call Again” is a witty take on an office secretary and her private hours. Condition is pristine in a custom made lined gallery frame with fitted corners behind ultraviolet glass. A 1948 Brown & Bigelow advertising calendar of the image is included with sale.

Call Again

Artist: Earl Moran

A delicately rendered mixed media work by Edwin Georgi which illustrated an interior story in The Saturday Evening Post. A tense dramatic courtroom portrayal from 1959 which captures the Perry Mason/Earle Stanley Gardner American Pop Culture sensation which was resonating at the time this commissioned work appeared in the Post. The lovely Georgi girl is “Policewoman O’Keefe,” and this work confirms our suspicion that illustrators frequently created their finest works for this highly circulated and revered Curtis Publications slick mainstream magazine institution.

The Girl from the Mimosa Club

Artist: Edwin Georgi

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 […]

Gondola In Venice

Artist: Tom Lovell

A 1949 Western Americana cowgirl themed gouache on illustration board which comes directly from the archives of the 100-year-old San Francisco ad agency/lithography company “Stecher-Traung & Schmidt.” The work is in the style of George Petty, and Ben-Hur Baz. Among other noted artists Stecher-Traug employed Gil Elvgren, E.B. Segner & Mary Mayo. This commissioned illustration is dated and inkstamped in the lower corner but is unsigned. Work is beautifully framed and matted in a period ornate gesso frame.

A Cowgirl Shooter

Artist: Unknown

An intoxicating and erotic reclining nude by the well-listed artist Harold Mott-Smith. Born in Hawaii, Harold Mott-Smith was a painter who lived in Paris from 1894-1906. He studied at the Academie Julian with Jean Paul Laurens, and exhibited in 1894 with the Boston Art Club as well as Paris Salon. After returning to New York, Mott-Smith worked for GE, illustrating calendars and painting portraits of Thomas Edison. This captivating oil on canvas dates from his early Hawaiian career and showcases his sensuous style.

Hawaiian Art Deco Nude

Artist: Harold Mott-Smith

 

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