Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
A large original pen & ink illustration by the important Belle Epoque era poster and book illustrator Louis Rhead. This likely was done for Harper’s or Century Magazine. A great large rendering in the Art Nouveau manner and a rare surviving original illustration work by the great New York based prolific and gifted illustrator and artist.
Artist: Louis Rhead
A pair of interior illustrations in pen & ink by Louis Rhead, from the 1924 edition of Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge. The drawings are on 2 separate sheets of watercolor paper which were mounted on one illustration board by Rhead. Works are nicely matted and framed in a period dark oak quarter sawn mission oak frame.
Artist: Louis Rhead
A bewitching and highly detailed pen and ink rendering by Louis Rhead used in the 1915 book publication of Lorna Doone. Caption Reads ” Lorna and John Ridd before Sir Ensor Doone…. Fools you are be fools forever, said Sir Ensor Doone, at last.” Beautifully matted and framed in an antique period fine wood gilt lined frame.
Artist: Louis Rhead
An electrifying, intense, and important original oil painting by Eric Pape for a 1928 Edition of Victor Hugo’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” A dark and macabre masterwork from a climactic mob scene in this brooding despairing tale, the work is featured as a full page color-plate on page 488 in the chapter “An Awkward Friend”. An artist signed hard cover edition of the book is included with the sale and the work is nicely matted and framed in a period frame behind glass.
Artist: Eric Pape
A haunting and epic large scale finely detailed and tonally impacting oil on canvas painting by Charles E. Chambers. An Orientalist Black Market alter scene that utilizes ochre and umber tones in a dark and menacing suspense filled manner. This was an interior illustration for “Sons” the second book in the Good Earth trilogy by Pulitzer Prize winning author Pearl S. Buck. This eerie and emotionally powerful image illustrates a pivotal scene in which the Wang family, having lost their fortune through opium promiscuity, is forced to sell their village estate and its contents, in a black market auction of sorts.
Artist: Charles Edward Chambers
An original interior art nouveau glamour creation by noted illustrator, Charles Sheldon. This image was commissioned for use as a fashion plate for the prestigious Woman’s Home Companion. Artwork is beautifully framed, shows some minor soiling and has one small area of paper loss on lower left in black charcoal strokes, an easy repair.
Artist: Charles Sheldon
A modernist abstract mixed media painting by Virgil Finlay, who was an important prolific American pulp and science fiction illustrator. Signed and dated 1965 lower right and titled on verso #51. Executed in a colorful and abstract manner with raised translucent areas, oil paint and pen and ink. Smartly framed and ready to hang.
Artist: Virgil Finlay
An original oil on board illustration used as the cover for Joker No.16 – a 1949 digest sized magazine advertising “More Snappy Cartoons – Smack Full of Laughter!” A leggy, busty and quintessentially Driben pin-up beauty is seen trying her hand at a little “sofa fission” as the caption will have you know. Illustration is in a fine state of conservation, nicely framed and matted in a period, wide profile, handsome, gesso art deco frame.
Artist: Peter Driben
A whimsical and delicately rendered oil on canvas by John Rae embodying the artist’s unique mix of pointillism and impressionism. Rae, a student of Howard Pyle, was commissioned to create this delightful painting in 1925 for a Cream Of Wheat advertisement titled “It’s a Busy World When You’re Five.” The image features a rollicking street scene with an organ grinder and monkey entertaining children and neighborhood pets. Seldom do original artworks come on the market that offer the chance to own a part of history, and we are delighted to be able to offer them.
Artist: John Rae
This Orson Lowell scene of a flapper couple ice yachting with the unexpected help of a pierrot deckhand was presumably created as a cover painting for Collier’s magazine.
Artist: Orson Lowell
