Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
A decorative and extreme Art Deco/Machine Age pen and ink advertising drawing by Cardwell Higgins for the 1927 Cadillac Convertible. Work is signed and dated lower right and beautifully framed and matted behind glass; from the estate of Charles Martignette. Higgins was an accomplished draftsman and had a keen eye for design and graphics as seen in this smartly rendered work.
Artist: Cardwell Higgins
This electric and inventive progress-through-industry themed gouache painting by Mahlon Blaine is signed and dated 1955. The image dramatizes the industrial era with a shirtless industrial worker forging steel in a machine-age apocalyptic scene that draws its light and intensity and sense of movement from the fire’s sparking glow emitted from within an ominous furnace.
Artist: Mahlon Blaine
Who–Who’s There? is a large and genre defining oil on board pin-up painting by Edward Eggleston, which was published by the American Art Works calendar company in the early 1930s. This is a rare surviving published calendar painting by the New York artist, created in an impressive light and shadow technique, capturing an art deco nude […]
Artist: Edward Eggleston
For sale is an original painting by Erle Loran, titled Light Operator. Signed and dated in the lower right corner,with an Oakland, California exhibit label on verso.
Artist: Erle Loran
This dramatic, futuristic sci-fi interior pulp illustration was created by Harold McCauley for an as-of-yet unidentified Ziff-Davis title.
Artist: Harold McCauley
Joseph Pignone created this haunting and just mesmerizing gouache illustration painting for the July 1934 cover of Radio-Craft magazine. In this visually commanding original cover illustration from the machine age era of science and industry and modernist design aesthetics, a blind flapper girl with short bobbed hair holds a radio device that was created to guide the blind. Includes a printers proof tear sheet of the published magazine.
Artist: Joseph Pignone
Harry Barton painted this steamy gouache illustration for use as the cover of 1952’s Tender Hearted Harlot by Val Munroe. Published as a pulp digest, novella length story that takes place on the San Francisco waterfront and follows the proclivities of the young, bold and beautiful Ginny Parrish who… “is a gambler to the core – but the one thing she won’t bet on is love…” Sounds like a real page turner! The painting is in pristine condition and has been nicely matted and framed under glass, a copy of the published digest is included in the sale.
Artist: Harry Barton
A streamlined and modernist look at the attractions and Futurama-inspired architecture that graced the 1939 – 1940 New York World’s Fair. This tremendous and bustling work is by the noted muralist, illustrator, and fine artist Andre Durenceau, who was hired with much fanfare to create murals for the Metals Building at this fair. […]
Artist: Andre Durenceau
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
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
