Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
A Christmas themed dazzling original calendar illustration by Bill Layne for The Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company. This was for a pharmacy drugstore account and appeared on a Christmas Holiday Calendar in 1953. Layne worked for Walt Disney in the art department creating story board graphics and design embellishments which is apparent here in his twinkling Tinkerbell fairy goddess depiction.
Artist: Bill Layne
A wonderfully inventive and unique early space-age (dated 1955) gouache calendar illustration by Bill Layne for the Royal 76 Gas Station chain. Showing the companies inventive and modernist machine age state of the art service station facilities. Uniquely embellished by the artist with his familiar elf figures and space exploration themes. Banner flag reads “Tickets Here For Cosmic Ray Absorber”. This is a tremendous futuristic work that should find traction among Petroliana collectors and space-age/atomic age lovers.
Artist: Bill Layne
A wonderful nude mermaid themed Bill Layne Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company commissioned illustration, the second of two are offering at Grapefruit Moon Gallery. A 1950s-60s gouache on board created for one of this calendar company’s jewelry advertising accounts. This depicts a topless pin-up girl mermaid on a balance scale with a tray of freshly mined pearls surrounded underwater by a host of male atomic-age sea dwellers. The type of scene only Bill Layne could envision and execute. The whimsical charm predicts Layne’s later career in the animation department for Walt Disney feature films. We expect Bill Layne to become a wildly collected and important artist in years to come.
Artist: Bill Layne
The finest example of a Bill Layne Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company commissioned illustration we have had to offer. A 1950s-era gouache on board titled “Pearl Gardens, for Cultivated Pearls”. Created for one of this calendar company’s jewelry advertising accounts, the image depicts a pair of topless pin-up girl mermaids in an underwater oyster mine with a host of male atomic-age sea dwellers. The type of scene only Bill Layne could envision and execute.
Artist: Bill Layne
An original Brown & Bigelow commissioned illustration presumably for a jewelers’ calendar advertisement. Bill Layne was best known for his humorous “hillbilly” renderings which blended in shapely pin-up girls and elves. During the later years of Brown & Bigelow’s long run, Layne was one of their star illustrators.
Artist: Bill Layne
