Jewel Flowers; a diminutive gem of an artist’s model who was muse to Rolf Armstrong for half his career, and whose popularity at times threatened to surpass his. Armstrong began the 1940s known for vampy flappers and radiant pin-ups with art deco sophistication, a style that was waning in popularity at the time. His meeting with Flowers, an unknown […]
Brown & Bigelow
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.
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.
Artist: Earl Moran
This original published pin-up painting by Gil Elvgren appeared as a 1968 Brown & Bigelow calendar with the title “Swingin’ Sweetie”. A classic offering from the very tail end of the pin-up craze when the summer of love swept in a new style that wreaked havoc on earlier presentations of pin-up girl femininity. While some artists tried to respond to the […]
Artist: Gil Elvgren
A sassy and sexy bathing beauty pin-up painting by William Medcalf, a first tier pin-up artist and long-time illustrator for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company of Saint Paul, Minnesota. This preliminary work exhibits all of the illustrator’s abundant artistry and personality, and fully captures the allure of his finalized published calendar paintings.The painting is signed lower right […]
Artist: William Medcalf
A large, sultry original published pin-up calendar painting by the prolific and important American artist Fritz Willis. Willis was the last true star pin-up artist of the old guard, when illustrative pin-up reigned supreme in Men’s magazines and advertising calendars. The artist worked during the very tail end of the genre’s popularity. Showcasing a near-nude sex […]
Artist: Fritz Willis
A tremendous example of a Brown & Bigelow published pin-up painting by Ted Withers used in a Roman themed sketchbook calendar titled; Bella Roma – In The Artist’s Sketchbook. This painting, which appeared as the October 1960 calendar page, features Pax, the Roman goddess of peace and prosperity (and counterpart to the Greek goddess Eirene) […]
Artist: Ted Withers
A large preliminary rendering by Gil Elvgren of a work completed for Brown & Bigelow in 1948 with the title – “Do You Think I “No” Too Much ?” This image also appeared with the title “My Datebook’s Showing Signs Of Age”. This comes from a collection of Elvgren preliminary graphite drawings we acquired which […]
Artist: Gil Elvgren
A wonderful vignette styled oil on canvas illustration painting by Gil Elvgren showing a young, stylish and very much in love couple in a warm clinch. This is of unknown publication usage. It is signed in the lower right corner “Elvgren” but the signature has been overpainted (shortly after this was painted […]
Artist: Gil Elvgren
This is a beautiful, unique, and rare preliminary graphite drawing by Gil Elvgren for the completed Brown & Bigelow calendar artwork titled “Let’s Go Around Together.” This loose, fluid sketch shows a classic Elvgren pin-up flashing her shapely gams from her perch astride a carousel horse. Gil Elvgren took, on average, one […]
Artist: Gil Elvgren
