Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
An explosive, apocalyptic WWII battle scene rages in this lurid large format illustration painting by Bruce Minney which appeared as the cover for the October 1963 edition of For Men Only magazine. With its strong jawed GIs and busty damsels with dynamite, the cover slug line of “playgirls turned killers…” sexploitive narrative is on full display, […]
Artist: Bruce Minney
With a human sacrifice as the central conflict, a high octane tribal fight scene, and lurid bondage damsel in distress subject matter, this Bruce Minney artwork–which appeared as the cover for the June 1970 edition of New Man Magazine–captures all of the subversive allure of the Men’s magazine genre. Loosely illustrating the interior story, “Smash the Latins’ Jungle Combine […]
Artist: Bruce Minney
A daring gang of female POWs rappel down a wall of a secret “Nazi Sex Stalag” atop the perilous heights provided by Germany’s notorious Liecht castle, with the help of the “G.I. master escaper” Sergeant Howard Lester. This tense and taut hyper dramatic interior illustration scene by Bruce Minney is a classic example of men’s […]
Artist: Bruce Minney
This underworld, barroom image shows a head-turning femme fatale with the sort of bad-girl good looks that spell bad luck, this pulp fiction paperback cover painting was deftly painted by Harry Barton in 1955 for the cover of the Ace Double Novel The Squeeze. As the tag line announces this unlucky redhead…”Played With Death To Get The Man She […]
Artist: Harry Barton
Grapefruit Moon Gallery is delighted to offer the original 1941 lurid gouache painting by Bill Fleming which appeared as the cover for the early Dell Vest Pocket Paperback book Marihuana, written by Cornell Woolrich under the pen name of William Irish. The cover slug says it all- “A Cheap and evil girl sets a hopped […]
Artist: Bill Fleming
A wildly erotic and revealed pin-up girl cover painting by the well regarded and prolific American illustrator and cover artist Paul Rader, for the 1960 Midwood Book titled “The Blonde”. Part of what is today considered the golden age of lesbian pulp fiction, “The Blonde” tells the story of a tormented working girl who finds […]
Artist: Paul Rader
A lustful, original cover painting by Rudy Nappi for the 1959 Tower paperback cover titled A Strange Kind of Love, by Lawrence Block, written under his early pseudonym Sheldon Lord. Billed as a “daring tale of the love life of a writer and his most unusual mistress,” Block has described the story as that of […]
Artist: Rudy Nappi
This original oil painting on canvasboard was created as the paperback cover for the 1953 Popular Library publication of Afraid In The Dark by Mark Derby. A lurid page turner with tag line that reads “Vengeance and Passion in Exotic Malaya.” Our research leads us to believe this was painted by Raymond Johnson, painting is […]
Artist: Raymond Johnson
In the rubble of a war-torn central square in what appears to be Cuba, a ravishing blonde in form fitting red sweater stands unscathed, and seemingly victorious. This unsigned gouache painting comes from a collection of works we recently acquired that date to the early years of Saga Magazine. Saga was a lurid Men’s title that thrived in the post-war pulp, low brow magazine market of the early 1950s. On the back of one of the pieces within the collection was a verso tag which read “attributed to Valigursky – For Saga Magazine 40’s – 50s.”
Artist: Ed Valigursky (attributed)
A direct and gritty, highly sexualized unsigned gouache on illustration board painting from a collection of works we recently acquired that are believed to come from the early years of Saga Magazine. Saga was a lurid Men’s title that thrived in the post war pulp low brow magazine market of the early 1950’s. This is a typical sweat magazine take on the old folklore tale of the farmer’s daughter. When we purchased this collection one of the old frames had a label on the back that read “attributed to Valigursky – For Saga Magazine 40’s – 50s.”
Artist: Ed Valigursky (attributed)
