Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
Rainbow Jewel Flowers This is a fun, c. 1950, unpublished pastel illustration by the Father of American Pin-Up, Rolf Armstrong. This well-rendered whimsical sketch features the artist’s muse and lifelong friend Jewel Flowers in an ethereal gown bursting with a kaleidoscope of rainbow colors. Armstrong created this pastel for Flowers as a gift and it […]
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
Adorable Jewel Flowers This is a beautiful, c. 1950, unpublished pastel illustration by the Father of American Pin-Up, Rolf Armstrong. This well-rendered sketch features the artist’s muse and lifelong friend Jewel Flowers wearing a glamorous yellow gown and her mega-watt beaming smile. The pose and layout of this sketch bears a resemblance to Armstrong’s published […]
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
Rolf Armstrong’s Final Brown & Bigelow Calendar Art This is an absolutely adorable pastel thumbnail sketch by the Father of American Pin-Up, Rolf Armstrong. Featuring the artist’s muse and lifelong friend Jewel Flowers, this pastel preliminary sketch would become the published calendar art titled “All Smiles”, which was Armstrong’s last commissioned work for Brown & […]
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
A charming and warmly fraternal charcoal portrait of Jewel Flowers dated 1945, that was inscribed by the American artist Rolf Armstrong and given to the models parents – Mr. & Mrs. Colton Flowers. As a teenager Jewel Flowers was crowned “Miss Lumberton, North Carolina”, she moved to New York City at 17 after graduating […]
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
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. […]
Earlier this year, the Society of Illustrators inducted American illustrator and pin-up artist Rolf Armstrong into their Illustrator’s Hall of Fame. Since 1958, the Society of Illustrators has elected to its Hall of Fame artists recognized for their distinguished achievement in the art of illustration. Artists are elected by former presidents of the Society and […]
Jewel Flowers; a diminutive gem of an artist’s model who was muse to Rolf Armstrong for half his career, and whose popularity at times threatened to surpass his. Armstrong began the 1940s known for vampy flappers and radiant pin-ups with art deco sophistication, a style that was waning in popularity at the time. His meeting with Flowers, an unknown […]
Rolf Armstrong created this Western-themed pin-up cowgirl pastel for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company in the early 1950s. The adorable Americana image was published as a calendar with the titles Come And Get It!, and Soups On! This original artwork has tremendous electric cobalt blue coloring as the artist captured the last fleeting minutes of light, imagining a dreamy, well-realized, wide […]
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
Rolf Armstrong created this pastel titled “Come On In” for the Brown and Bigelow Calendar Company in 1941. The model is Jewel Flowers, Armstrong’s favorite subject and close friend. Originally, this pastel included the full body of the model, sitting in a pool with a Scottish Terrier. At some point, this illustration (like several other examples by Armstrong that have recently surfaced), was cut down to appear as a portrait. This was possibly altered by the artist himself, as Armstrong would rework and alter his pieces in the cases he retained physical possession of the originals, in order to reuse them for a second commission.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
A unique and inventive, large and luminous original pin-up pastel calendar illustration created for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company of Saint Paul Minnesota. This was used as a 1958 calendar titled “Moonglow”. The model is Jewel Flowers and this is rendered in an electric cobalt blue palette with the model catching the golden hues afforded by a moonlit night. The work is pictured in “The Great American Pin-up” on page 98 plate #95.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
