Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
A large, inspired, new to the market oil on canvas by Pal Fried; a smoldering reclining nude in a deeply erotic 1940s moment. Retains original ornate carved wood frame. The canvas is untouched and stamped on the verso and titled in the artist’s hand “Reclining Nude”. A fine well preserved luminous example of what this prolific European painter’s signature work.
Artist: Pal Fried
A ravishing and deeply erotic nude oil on canvas painting by Pal Fried. Perhaps the most beautiful and inspired Fried work we have seen. Beautifully framed and in a fine state of preservation, a monumental example by this noted and prolific artist and illustrator.
Artist: Pal Fried
A macabre gouache rendering by Mahlon Blaine for an as of yet undetermined publication. A highly charged noir erotic scene depicting a Vaudeville era Burlesque performer in allegorical temptation scene. The devil, with serpent’s tongue is shown behind a nude dancer representing temptation. The two figures left and right are shown as stand ins for good and evil. Blaine was a unique talent, and counter culture avant-garde artist who worked outside of the confines of the mainstream.
Artist: Mahlon Blaine
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.
Artist: Earl Moran
From the double entendre school of classic pin-up art, Grapefruit Moon Gallery is proud to offer this original oil on canvas by Al Buell for The Osborne Calendar Company. Work is titled “Come and Get It”, and is pictured in “The Great American Pin-up” on page 107 color plate #209. This spirited surviving commissioned work is beautifully matted and framed and ready to hang. Al Buell was a prolific pin-up artist who was trained by Haddon Sundblom, and worked in the luminous commercial style of Sundblom and Gil Elvgren. He worked for numerous calendar companies throughout his career and contributed pin-ups for Esquire Magazine, additionally the artist created numerous Calendar Girls for the Coca-Cola company during the 1940’s – 50s.
Artist: Al Buell
A flirty, scandalous and new to the market cover illustration by Enoch Bolles, which appeared first as a cover for a 1930’s Young’s Magazine, and again made an appearance on a 1938 cover of Breezy Stories. Enoch Bolles excelled in these curiously proportioned Spicy Pulp, envelope pushing, angular modernist heartbreakers. This is a spectacular work which, like most Bolles’ offerings, is unsigned and is nicely framed and ready to hang.
Artist: Enoch Bolles
A dark and deeply erotic Salmagundi Club Exhibited large oil on canvas by R.K. Ryland titled “Woodland Melodies.” Ryland was a celebrated New York based illustrator and fine artist who worked extensively creating modernist murals and posters for the 1939 New York World’s Fair. A work by Ryland illustrating that fair is on permanent display at the Wolfsonian Museum of Modernism in Miami. A large, defining example of the woodland nymph imagery that captivated 1920’s artists and illustrators.
Artist: Robert Ryland
A whimsical and dazzling watercolor by Heinrich Kley titled “Siche Rude Seiten;” loosely translated, “Our Unrefined Side”. THe splendid cast of characters captures the essence of this fondly remembered avant-garde, Jugendstil, German Expressionist artist. This is a rare full color example of the artist’s work, most surviving pieces by Kley are pen & ink drawings. Kley, whose work first appeared in “Die Jugend” in 1908 caught the eye of Walt Disney in 1937 and Kley inspired much of the animation of “Fantasia”. This evocative painting is rich in humor, technique and imagery.
Artist: Heinrich Kley
A technically dazzling pen & ink drawing by Heinrich Kley titled “Electrodämonen,” translated “Electric Demons.” A brooding and troubling satire on the machine age and ongoing industrialization. This captures Kley’s technical brilliance and foreshadows the later science fiction pulp drawings of Virgil Finlay. Kley, whose work first appeared in Die Jugend in 1908 caught the eye of Walt Disney in 1937 and Kley inspired much of the animation of Fantasia. This drawing appears as a full page plate in The Drawings of Heinrich Kley.
Artist: Heinrich Kley
A bizarre and macabre artwork by one of our favorite illustrators Mahlon Blaine titled on verso “A Fish Story.” A mermaid Medusa-like nude rendered in a pastel colored palette with an unusual size and configuration that leads us to believe this was created as a left-hand page interior illustration in a pulp magazine such as Weird Tales. When reproduced we imagine text would have been blocked around the right edge of this highly creative image.
Artist: Mahlon Blaine
