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Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

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Earl Moran

On the path to Hollywood and stardom, Marilyn Monroe began as an unknown calendar model for artist Earl Moran. Read about her 1940s brunette persona and the Gallery’s role in revealing the Monroe-Moran connection at the NY Daily News.

Marilyn Monroe Puts Grapefruit Moon Gallery in the News

Filed Under: Gallery Blog
Tagged With: Earl Moran, Marilyn Monroe
Added to Gallery: April 2, 2013

This sassy secretary pin up pastel was created by Earl Moran for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company in about 1940. The work appeared as a mutoscope card with the title “A Sweet Job”. Office girl pin-up depictions were common during the pre-WWII lean economic years of the Great Depression, and this is an inspired example of that genre. A published mutoscope card of the image is included in the sale.

A Sweet Job

Artist: Earl Moran
Price:  Sold

Filed Under: Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1940s, american, Brown & Bigelow, Earl Moran, erotic, Great Depression, jazz age, original calendar art, pin up, risque
Added to Gallery: September 14, 2012

Legendary American pin-up illustrator Earl Moran was one of the first to discover a muse in the iconic Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe. During the late 1940s Monroe famously worked as a pin-up model for the Blue Book agency, posing under her real name of Norma Jeane Dougherty. After Moran transitioned away from the hectic life of a calendar artist to focus on his fine art painting, he revisited Marilyn, who was by then a platinum blonde Hollywood bombshell, through an arrangement with The Aaron Brothers Galleries, Laguna Beach CA.

Marilyn Monroe in the Nude

Artist: Earl Moran
Price:  S O L D

Filed Under: Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1960s, american, boudoir, Brown & Bigelow, Earl Moran, erotic, fine art, Marilyn Monroe, nude, original calendar art, platinum blonde, risque, The Golden Gallery
Added to Gallery: August 10, 2012


This early original pin-up pastel which Earl Moran created for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company of Saint Paul Mn is a variation of the 1942 mutoscope card “Easy To Take”. It is unclear whether Moran liked his naughty nurse themed offering so much that he created this similarly styled image soon after its publication, or if this was Moran’s original idea, and Brown & Bigelow asked for him to turn from the French Maid homecoming piece seen here into an example of the popular candy striper pin up which was published as a hotcha girl image.

Easy to Take

Artist: Earl Moran
Price:  S O L D

Filed Under: Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1930s, 1940s, Brown & Bigelow, Earl Moran, erotic, french maid, original calendar art, pin up, risque
Added to Gallery: February 18, 2012

An original pastel sketch of an aquatically themed pin-up girl in a sailors cap by the prolific American pin-up artist Earl Steffa Moran. This is not a finished calendar pastel it was either a preliminary sketch for his 1941 Brown & Bigelow Calendar “I’ll be Seeing You” or was a presentation drawing given as a gift to a fan, friend or family member. This is 100% guaranteed to be an original pastel by Earl Moran; it is signed in the lower left corner and there is a verso note in the artist’s hand as seen on the back of the frame. Beautifully matted and framed behind glass and ready to enjoy.

Earl Moran Sailor Girl Sketch

Artist: Earl Moran
Price:  S O L D

Filed Under: Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1940s, aquatic, Brown & Bigelow, Earl Moran, Marilyn Monroe, pin up, sailor, study
Added to Gallery: May 7, 2011

A recently unearthed original pastel on illustration board, this never before seen artwork by Earl Moran was created for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company. The model is of course the young Blue Book agency pin-up model Norma Jeane Baker, who later transformed herself into Marilyn Monroe. Monroe posed for Moran during the late 1940’s and a pictorial of this collaboration appears in the July 2008 issue of Playboy Magazine. This pastel is a warm and radiant portrait of Monroe gazing seductively from a lush tropical moonlit setting. We are thrilled to be offering this monumental work.

Marilyn Monroe In Paradise

Artist: Earl Moran
Price:  S O L D

Filed Under: Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1940s, american, Brown & Bigelow, Earl Moran, Marilyn Monroe, moon, original calendar art, pin up, The Golden Gallery
Added to Gallery: November 11, 2008

A dazzling and erotic oil on canvas by Earl Moran of the platinum bombshell Marilyn Monroe in the nude. Dated 1960 on verso stretcher bar, and marked “Aaron Brothers #646″on back of canvas. During the 1940’s a radiant Norma Jean was Earl Moran’s favorite pin-up model and a number of Brown & Bigelow Calendar works were commissioned featuring the then unknown red headed pin-up model. Earl Moran left the hectic schedule and deadlines of a calendar illustrator in the late 1950’s and moved to California and started working exclusively in oils and created a series of boudoir posed erotically charged nude works that sold to patrons of the arts through an arrangement with The Aaron Brothers Galleries.

Marilyn Monroe in the Nude

Artist: Earl Moran
Price:  S O L D

Filed Under: Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1960s, american, boudoir, Earl Moran, erotic, fine art, hollywood, Marilyn Monroe, nude, pin up, platinum blonde, The Golden Gallery
Added to Gallery: September 28, 2008

A sassy and colorful glamour girl pastel rendering by Earl Moran, created for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company in the early 1950s. Caption reads “Whenever I dance with you alone, before I know it The evening’s flown.” Work is beautifully matted and framed and in a fine state of preservation, a 1954 Brown & Bigelow Calendar of image is included in sale.

Whenever I Dance…

Artist: Earl Moran
Price:  S O L D

Filed Under: Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1940s, american, Brown & Bigelow, Earl Moran, glamour, original calendar art, pin up
Added to Gallery: September 21, 2008

Perhaps the finest nude pin-up ever created, this Earl Steffa Moran pastel is a fresh midwest estate find. This luminous masterwork dates from Moran’s “Light & Shadow” period. Marketed under the title “Tomorrow’s Star,” the model was reported to be Jean Harlow. Six early nudes by Moran were packaged as a large format high end print folio which Brown & Bigelow gave as a premium gift to its most lucrative business accounts under the title “Running into Six Figures.” Many collectors site the folio as the high water mark of pin-up art.

Show Girl

Artist: Earl Moran
Price:  S O L D

Filed Under: Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1930s, art deco, Brown & Bigelow, Earl Moran, glamour, Great American Pin-up, Jean Harlow, nude, original calendar art, pin up, Running Into Six Figures, The Golden Gallery
Added to Gallery: August 6, 2008

A snappy and sexy original pastel illustration by Earl Moran commissioned as a 1951 Brown & Bigelow calendar. Text reads “Here’s an extra addition you can hardly refuse; for this little gal is just covered in news…” Pastel is beautifully framed and condition is outstanding as is the image.

Covered In News

Artist: Earl Moran
Price:  S O L D

Filed Under: Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1950s, american, Brown & Bigelow, Earl Moran, original calendar art, pin up, risque, The Golden Gallery
Added to Gallery: May 25, 2008

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    About Grapefruit Moon Gallery

    Grapefruit Moon Gallery, based in Minneapolis MN, specializes in vintage pin up and original illustration art.  We are the proud home of the Bunny Yeager archives.

    Since 2003, Grapefruit Moon Gallery has been a leading dealer of exclusive original paintings by Gil Elvgren, Alberto Vargas, Earl Moran, Rolf Armstrong and Henry Clive, as well as vintage photographs, prints, and period decorative arts in ceramic and metal.

    All artworks featured are original, accurately represented, and guaranteed to be the work of the named artist.

    Interested buyers may view pieces by appointment and we are happy to answer any questions you may have. [Contact Us]

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