Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
This 1942 patriotic Petty Girl was the first of George Petty’s iconic pin up illustrations commissioned by the Ice-Capades, then in its second season and soon to become a cultural institution. Developed by RKO as a theatrical extravaganza on ice and held at Rockefeller Center in New York City, the event was wildly popular and the souvenir programs became a […]
Artist: George Petty
George Petty created this dynamic original pin-up painting as cover art for the souvenir program for the 1946 Ice-Capades (the sixth year of its production which took place in New York City at Rockefeller Center). The image shows a modernist winged pin-up girl deftly soaring through the air on figure skates against a blue background. This particular […]
Artist: George Petty
This Orientalist art deco avant-garde pen & ink drawing by Cardwell Higgins is an early work by the renowned illustrator that recalls the erotic and stylized work of British artist Aubrey Beardsley. This is part of a series of similarly exotic and provocative drawings Higgins created between 1927 – 1929, which would much later be marketed as a series of […]
Artist: Cardwell Higgins
A fabulous published erotic pin-up painting by Freeman Elliott for The Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company. The image appeared in 1948 as one of the two images in a double deck of playing cards put out by the calendar giant marketed with the title “Winning Aces”. From the Collection of Charles Martignette and Louis Meisel, the […]
Artist: Freeman Elliott
A breezy Jazz-Age American impressionist painting from the 1920s by the New York City illustrator artist, illustrator and anarchist Modest Stein. A young contemplative couple with a sense for fashion eye a possible future as one as they gaze out together over the Eastern seaboard. The artist worked extensively for romance themed titles for Street & […]
Artist: Modest Stein
Carmen, painted in 1929, is one of four monumental and epic, larger than life oil paintings created by Rolf Armstrong after his return from a yearlong excursion to Paris, where the artist was inspired by the fine art salon movement nudes which were on display in museums, galleries, and private homes throughout France. Known as the Paris […]
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
A pretty mid-century Whitcomb girl tries the scientific approach while frame shopping in this inventive published large format gouache illustration magazine by Jon Whitcomb, which appeared as an interior illustration in the January, 1950 edition of Ladies Home Journal. A copy of the issue is included in the sale. Handsomely matted and framed under glass in pristine […]
Artist: Jon Whitcomb
This dark and mesmerizing oil painting was created as cover art for the 1955 Pyramid paperback book title For I Have Sinned – The Confession Of A Paris Streetwalker by Ruth Sachs. The image shows a pretty brunette perched at her vanity as she readies herself to face the darkness hidden in Paris, the city of light. The […]
Artist: Attributed to Victor Olson
A bawdy smoking redheaded bad girl finds herself proverbially “on the fence” and garnering the attention of a pair of well articulated convincing hayseeds in this large and wonderful original paperback book cover illustration by Sam Cherry. Painted in the 1950s, an oil on illustration board which was created for an as of yet unidentified paperback title exploring […]
Artist: Sam Cherry
Stanley Borack created this striking, evocative and finely rendered painting for the cover of the 1954 Dell Books paperback Silver Doll by Blair Treynor. A lurid pulp fiction page turner set in Sin City; the back cover slug advertises “the story of a man in the rackets; of the doll who wanted to keep him there, and the woman […]
Artist: Stanley Borack
