Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
This lighthearted cheesecake pin up illustration graced the January 1956 page of Bill Randall’s wildly popular “Randall’s Date Book” 12 page calendar series. For his “Date Book” commissions, Randall played off the success of the Brown & Bigelow Calendar company’s yearly Artist Sketch Pad pin up calendar, while adding his own charm and whimsy. Work […]
Artist: Bill Randall
This lighthearted cheesecake pin up illustration graced the January 1957 page of Bill Randall’s wildly popular “Randall’s Date Book” 12 page calendar series. For his “Date Book” commissions, Randall played off the success of the Brown & Bigelow Calendar company’s yearly Artist Sketch Pad pin up calendar, while adding his own charm and whimsy. Working […]
Artist: Bill Randall
A classic situational cheesecake pin up mishap unfolds in this original Louis F. Dow calendar painting by the Chicago area artist Charles Showalter titled “High & Dry.” The lovely nude is caught, high, and perhaps now dry after removing her clothes. Grapefruit Moon Gallery recently acquired this and several other Louis F. Dow published calendar […]
Artist: Charles Showalter
An unlikely red headed pin up girl fencing in her lingerie is the star attraction of this early rare surviving Gil Elvgren original pin up painting titled “Foil Proof.” Not sure lingerie offers the best protection during a sword fight, but this luscious lady is sure a treat for the eyes. Created for the Louis […]
Artist: Gil Elvgren
An original oil painting by Earl Moran for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company used as a March 1947 calendar girl with caption that read “My teacher says I’m quite advanced – For one so young in years. And that the answers that I know – Should vanish all my fears.” This image also appeared […]
Artist: Earl Moran
An unabashedly pure cheesecake situational pin up painting by Harry Ekman likely for The Shaw-Barton Calendar Company of Coshocton, Ohio. In this summertime sizzling scene, a pin up dream–clad only in the skimpiest negligee–finds herself at the fuse-box. The combination of the model’s attempt to keep cool with only a fan and her revealing see […]
Artist: Harry Ekman
Grapefruit Moon Gallery is delighted to offer Gil Elvgren’s original 1953 oil painting “Aw-Come On,” which was commissioned and completed for The Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company. One of the artist’s more enduring and popular pin-up images, this artwork features frequent model Myrna Hansen posed as a matador of sorts attempting to use her feminine wiles to persuade her disinterested poodle pup to take a turn in the ring.
Artist: Gil Elvgren
In this original oil on canvas painting by the prolific artist Forrest H. Clough, an aspiring French maid studies up on both her language skill and the art of seduction. From the suggestively placed feather duster to the silk stockings and garter costuming, this fresh to the market vintage calendar artwork presents a provocative, not so subtle take on the American pin up.
Artist: F. H. Clough
An original Gil Elvgren pin-up oil painting created in 1952 for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company of Saint Paul Minnesota. This curvy pin-up beauty appeared under the title “Hard To Suit,” a pun the copy department liked so much they used it again in 1954 to describe an Elvgren girl disrobing from her duck hunting garb to reveal lingerie. This is the prototypical Elvgren girl in a comically harrowing and skin revealing pin-up entanglement with the artist’s classic pursed lip expression that evokes surprise, embarrassment and provocation.
Artist: Gil Elvgren
This large scale, colorful cheesecake pin up painting features a Hawaiian hula girl serenaded by Rogue Magazine’s signature wolf and was created as cover art by Lloyd Rognan for an unidentified issue of the infamous early men’s magazine. Beginning with the first issue of Rogue, Rognan developed a series of these cartoonish little red riding hood inspired entanglements, and this example is particularly appealing. A classic example of mid-century hula girl Hawaiiana in which the magazine’s signature “Rogue Wolf” plays the part of the haole (or in this case howly?) in tourist shirt.
Artist: Lloyd Rognan
