Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

illustration

[wp_paypal button=”buynow” name=”Dancer And Pierrot by Charles Martin” amount=”3000.00″ no_shipping=”2″ quantity=”1″ return=”https://grapefruitmoongallery.com/thank-you-for-your-order” cancel_return=”https://grapefruitmoongallery.com/your-order-was-not-processed” button_image=”https://grapefruitmoongallery.com/wp-content/buy-now.png” target=”blank”]   A wonderful and rare surviving cover painting by the American artist Charles Martin (1848 – 1934), who was an active illustrator and editorial cartoonist on the East Coast in the early 20th century. This mixed medium illustration appeared as the cover […]

Dancer And Pierrot

Artist: Charles Martin

A richly layered painting by the renowned early 20th century American Illustrator Arthur Ignatius Keller, depicting the climactic romantic scene from Emerson Hough’s bestselling 1909 novel 54-40 or Fight. Keller was a prominent artist whose work was sought after by many of the leading authors of the day. He was known for his mastery of light, texture and feeling, and this rare frontispiece painting displays his stunning prowess and talent.

54-40 Or Fight

Artist: Arthur Keller

In part one of our blog series on Jewel Flowers, we explored how the model rose from teenaged North Carolina beauty queen to become muse and adored friend to illustrator and Father of American Pin-Up, Rolf Armstrong as well as how the pair’s keen eye for fashion translated into the gorgeous costumes seen in Armstrong’s pastels. […]

Jewel Flowers Behind The Scenes; Part 2

With irreverent humor, this original oil-on-board painting shows a horned satyr smoking a pipe distracted from his reading by a nude figure in the foreground.  Dating to 1929-1930, when Ovid’s Ars amatoria was in the news quite a bit, with the city of San Francisco’s ban of the Ars amatoria in 1929 and its legalization for […]

The Book of Ovid

Artist: Gaspano "Gus" Ricca

A well rendered and precise colorful interior gouache painting by one of our favorite art deco-era illustrators Herbert Paus that reflects the attention to detail and skill of the artists working during the Golden Age of Illustration. This large signed work depicts a son leaving his family’s pastoral cottage by carriage as his grieving mother looks on. A nostalgic look back at the well to do culture of pre-machine age American society.

The Cottage

Artist: Herbert Paus

A subversive youth gone wild party scene original cover painting by Peter Driben likely used for a paperback book title published by the Novel Library imprint. During the 1950s a hedonistic bohemian fictional sub-culture existed where teens smoked reefer and engaged in orgiastic exploits while becoming addicted to heroin. In showing these delinquents pursuing their darkest sinful desires, the illustrators of the day seemed to take great joy and this is a prime example of this sort of homage to debauchery.

The Make Out Room

Artist: Peter Driben

In this fun and detailed published pen & ink illustration, an arch of beautiful Brinkley girls hover over a young man who sludges through the trials of life: childhood, school, higher education, and finally employment in an endeavor to find success in the form of riches and finally, a beautiful Brinkley girl to call his […]

Success

Artist: Nell Brinkley

In this fun and detailed published pen & ink illustration, an ethereal Brinkley beauty finds herself enchanted by the musical renderings of her guitar-playing suitor during a moonlit, rooftop rendezvous that encompasses the youthful, carefree romance of the Jazz Age. Nell Brinkley, the “Queen of Comics” and successful American illustrator and comic artist, was known […]

If All the World and Love Were Young

Artist: Nell Brinkley

 

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