Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
Hidden within the lush romanticism of Nell Brinkley’s beautiful pen & ink comic illustration “Cupid Catching Butterflies” is a forward thinking depiction of the new flapper woman of the 1920s. In pearls and marcel wave, the bow-lipped brunette sits besides a winged cupid who is drawing heart shaped butterflies nearer and nearer to her net. The Brinkley girl, as these iconic idealized beauties came to be known, will have no trouble catching a beau in this scene.
Artist: Nell Brinkley
Six Brinkley girls, each with distinct style and personality, are shown in a classroom, preparing to take their knowledge of the geography of beauty out into the wider world. A map, at the time, was slang for a beautiful face, and there is no question that these maps would lead to men’s hearts across the country. Created as a stand alone cartoon for an unidentified Hearst publication, this pen & ink on board illustration contains all the elements that made Nell Brinkley the pre-eminent female cartoonist of the early 20th century.
Artist: Nell Brinkley
Shortly after cementing her reputation as a rising ingenue in Hollywood with the role of Wendy in Peter Pan, Mary Brian became one of the most in-demand heroines of the silent film era. In this sweetly romantic, yet sophisticated portrait of the beauty queen, Eugene Robert Richee, the Paramount Pictures studio photographer (best known for his portraits of Louise Brooks) showcases her complex allure.
Artist: Eugene Robert Richee
A delightful New years Day 1917 illustration in pen & ink by noted female artist and illustrator Nell Brinkley titled Happiness A Plenty. This finds the New Years Baby scene adapted to a young couple who are finding the joys of home and hearth that much more appealing with their new born cherubic smiling infant welcomed into the world. Signed lower middle and matted and framed in a simple black wood frame.
Artist: Nell Brinkley
A large early artwork by Howard Chandler Christy used as a book plate in The Man in the Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart, copyright 1909 Bobbs-Merrill Publishing Company. This illustrated the chapter titled “The Woman in The Next Car.” A very fine and impressive painting in a handsome fumed quarter sawn oak antique frame. Published book included with sale.
Artist: Howard Chandler Christy
This Raphael Kirchner Ziegfeld Follies pastel is a newly unearthed piece of New York City theater history, and a once in a generation find. Part of a suite of five illustrations which feature the erotic and luminous showgirls who starred in the legendary theater revue Ziegfeld Follies and made the name synonymous with images of the most beautiful, brazen and sensuous women in early 20th century New York. This portrait of Vivienne Segal hung in the lobby of the historic Century Theater until it shut its doors in 1936.
Artist: Raphael Kirchner
A large ethereal and transcendent fantasy themed pastel by Frederick Stuart Church firmly planted in the then dominant Art Nouveau movement. Four angelic maidens emerge from graceful flowing lines conjured mid flight, the artwork highlights the artist’s soothing and decorative palette and imaginative sense of composition.
Artist: Frederick Stuart Church
A large and fabulous original illustration painting by Eric Pape used in “The Fair God” by Lew Wallace as a bookplate (page 462, with the caption “She gave him the signal”).
Pape is best remembered as a prolific illustrator of children’s books and historical fantasies, as well as an artistic contributor to Scribner’s, Cosmopolitan, and Century Magazine. After opening his own illustration school in 1898, he taught N.C. Wyeth, whose style is influenced by Pape’s own.
Artist: Eric Pape
In Willy Pogany’s dazzling oil on board artwork, an Art Nouveau maiden finds herself in the summer foliage conversing with a little bird. This whimsical scene was created for and used as the front cover of Metropolitan Magazine, July 1916. This artwork marks the best period in Pogany’s prolific and well remembered long and successful career. A stylized belle-epoque, tightly rendered work that features a vibrant color palette and intricate use of the free-flowing forms that came to define the Art Nouveau aesthetic.
Artist: Willy Pogany
This Raphael Kirchner Ziegfeld Follies pastel is a newly unearthed piece of New York City theater history, and a once in a generation find. Part of a suite of five illustrations which feature the erotic and luminous showgirls who starred in the legendary theater revue Ziegfeld Follies and made the name synonymous with images of the most beautiful, brazen and sensuous women in early 20th century New York. This portrait of Justine Johnstone hung in the lobby of the historic Century Theater until it shut its doors in 1936.
Artist: Raphael Kirchner
