Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
Willy Müller-Gera (1887-1981) was a German artist and illustrator whose work is visible in museums across Europe. Müller-Gera is known for his etchings and landscapes of the pastoral German countryside as well as apocalyptic renderings such as this work. Titled Faun this is an unusual finely detailed artwork in a modernist, art deco, avant-garde aesthetic. Nicely framed in a period art deco antique frame and ready to enjoy.
Artist: Willy Müller-Gera
The Circle Of Life is an art deco allegorical avant-garde pen & ink drawing by Cardwell Higgins. This early offering by the renowned illustrator recalls the erotic and stylized work of British artist Aubrey Beardsley while considering man’s relationship to mortality. This is part of a series of similarly exotic and provocative drawings Higgins created between 1927 – 1929, which would much […]
Artist: Cardwell Higgins
A haunting and menacing editorial political illustration by William Cotton, likely published in a late 1930s edition of Vanity Fair magazine. Pictured are the trio of Axis partners: Adolph Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Emperor Hirohito, with Hitler depicted as the larger and dominant evil force, strong-arming the other two dictators and controlling them as puppets. In […]
Artist: William Cotton
The seventh of ten mural concepts by Mahlon Blaine for a New York City public space designed by noted industrial designer Paul Ritter MacAlister. This work is stylistically a departure, a cubist abstract half man/half woman nude that guards or invites one into a passageway in a color palette and modernist style suggestive of Picasso.
Artist: Mahlon Blaine
The sixth of ten 1939 mural designs by Mahlon Blaine, which were intended to become murals for the studio or showroom of noted New York City industrial designer Paul MacAlister. A vacuum tube headed, praying mantis-like robot battles a cowering nude goddess in the ongoing saga of the menace of industry. Marked on verso design #6, this comes beautifully matted and framed from the estate of Paul Ritter MacAlister.
Artist: Mahlon Blaine
The fifth of ten 1939 mural designs by Mahlon Blaine, which were intended to become murals for the studio or showroom of noted New York City industrial designer Paul MacAlister. In this scene our nude goddess pours flower petals into the mouth of a robotic machine as a Buckingham Palace Royal Guard on horse cleverly protects her modesty. The adjoining stone masonry watches on in amusement as a bird of pray hovers above tied from a high building rafter that frames the scene. An inspired visionary artwork in a red, white and blue Americana color palette. Marked on verso design #5, this comes beautifully matted and framed from the estate of Paul Ritter MacAlister.
Artist: Mahlon Blaine
The fourth of ten 1939 mural designs by Mahlon Blaine, which were intended to become murals for the studio or showroom of noted New York City interior designer Paul MacAlister. In “The Toast of Manhattan” a nude goddess with serpents for hair pours a martini for a tuxedo clad robot as the adjoining stone masonry watches on disapprovingly. Even the tenements have eyes in this surrealist and inspired visionary artwork. Marked on verso design #4, this comes beautifully matted and framed from the estate of Paul MacAlister.
Artist: Mahlon Blaine
The third of ten gouache paintings created by Mahlon Blaine in 1939 under the pseudonym G. Christopher Hudson, offering a dark and pessimistically erotic take on the skyscraper landscape that was taking over Manhattan. In this scene a nude Medusa like creature ball dances with a robot in a high wire styled act on scaffolding high above the city. Blaine treated each individual painting in the series as its own completed stand alone artwork, with painstaking detail and inspired yet terrifying imagery.
Artist: Mahlon Blaine
In the late 1930s, avant garde illustrator Mahlon Blaine, working under the pseudonym G.Christopher Hudson created a series of illustrations which were intended to become murals for the studio or showroom of noted New York City interior designer Paul MacAlister. In this work, the second of the series, a mechanical bird menaces the Medusa-inspired nude goddess who cowers atop a stone robot in a patriotic American apple pie infused red, white and blue color palette.
Artist: Mahlon Blaine
In this work, the first of the series, and the image that was to greet visitors as they entered the room, a nude showgirl dancer does a sad burlesque, her shadow duplicated in silhouette in a Coney Island funhouse style. Both evoking and critiquing the sordid and semi-underground world of Depression-era girlie shows, the artwork lures the viewer into the underbelly of the city that is explored in the nine images that follow.
Artist: Mahlon Blaine
