Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
Our Gallery previously sold this pastel in April of 2015; we are very pleased to offer it again for sale! Grapefruit Moon Gallery is delighted to offer one of the finest Earl Moran pastels ever available for sale. Titled Now, This Is Just Between You And Me, this showcases the young Blue […]
Artist: Earl Moran
This cover painting by Tom Beecham for True Strange magazine is comprised of a montage of Marilyn Monroe imagery.
Artist: Tom Beecham
This 1948 Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company commissioned pastel by Earl Moran is a large and defining example of American pin up. A pretty blonde pin-up girl is posed on a mid-century modern Heywood Wakefield office desk with a phone in one hand. The title “Call Again” is a witty take on an office secretary and her private hours. Condition is pristine in a custom made lined gallery frame with fitted corners behind ultraviolet glass. A 1948 Brown & Bigelow advertising calendar of the image is included with sale.
Artist: Earl Moran
On the path to Hollywood and stardom, Marilyn Monroe began as an unknown calendar model for artist Earl Moran. Read about her 1940s brunette persona and the Gallery’s role in revealing the Monroe-Moran connection at the NY Daily News.
Legendary American pin-up illustrator Earl Moran was one of the first to discover a muse in the iconic Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe. During the late 1940s Monroe famously worked as a pin-up model for the Blue Book agency, posing under her real name of Norma Jeane Dougherty. After Moran transitioned away from the hectic life of a calendar artist to focus on his fine art painting, he revisited Marilyn, who was by then a platinum blonde Hollywood bombshell, through an arrangement with The Aaron Brothers Galleries, Laguna Beach CA.
Artist: Earl Moran
An original pastel sketch of an aquatically themed pin-up girl in a sailors cap by the prolific American pin-up artist Earl Steffa Moran. This is not a finished calendar pastel it was either a preliminary sketch for his 1941 Brown & Bigelow Calendar “I’ll be Seeing You” or was a presentation drawing given as a gift to a fan, friend or family member. This is 100% guaranteed to be an original pastel by Earl Moran; it is signed in the lower left corner and there is a verso note in the artist’s hand as seen on the back of the frame. Beautifully matted and framed behind glass and ready to enjoy.
Artist: Earl Moran
Simply stated, Thanks for the Orchid, is the finest Joyce Ballantyne artwork to come on the market. Commissioned by Brown & Bigelow in 1955, the luminous quality of the image and the detail and texture of the brush strokes display the impact of Elvgren’s teachings and collaboration on Ballantyne, if they do not indeed betray the hand of Gil Elvgren. Ballantyne worked closely with Elvgren for the better part of a decade, and it has often been suggested that he ghost painted some of her best work.
Artist: Joyce Ballantyne
A recently unearthed original pastel on illustration board, this never before seen artwork by Earl Moran was created for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company. The model is of course the young Blue Book agency pin-up model Norma Jeane Baker, who later transformed herself into Marilyn Monroe. Monroe posed for Moran during the late 1940’s and a pictorial of this collaboration appears in the July 2008 issue of Playboy Magazine. This pastel is a warm and radiant portrait of Monroe gazing seductively from a lush tropical moonlit setting. We are thrilled to be offering this monumental work.
Artist: Earl Moran
A dazzling and erotic oil on canvas by Earl Moran of the platinum bombshell Marilyn Monroe in the nude. Dated 1960 on verso stretcher bar, and marked “Aaron Brothers #646″on back of canvas. During the 1940’s a radiant Norma Jean was Earl Moran’s favorite pin-up model and a number of Brown & Bigelow Calendar works were commissioned featuring the then unknown red headed pin-up model. Earl Moran left the hectic schedule and deadlines of a calendar illustrator in the late 1950’s and moved to California and started working exclusively in oils and created a series of boudoir posed erotically charged nude works that sold to patrons of the arts through an arrangement with The Aaron Brothers Galleries.
Artist: Earl Moran
Grapefruit Moon Gallery is delighted to offer a new to the market large Brown & Bigelow commissioned original pastel illustration by Earl Moran titled Next Time. The luminous model is of course Marilyn Monroe, before she was transformed into the platinum blonde bombshell movie star. Norma Jeane Baker was a frequent pin-up model for photographers and illustrators in the late 1940’s, and her alarmingly nude centerfold depiction in the first issue of Playboy Magazine in 1953 launched the sexual revolution. Works of this magnitude by Moran rarely come on the market and this is a unique opportunity to own a fantastic piece of American cultural history.
Artist: Earl Moran
