Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
A large, inspired, new to the market oil on canvas by Pal Fried; a smoldering reclining nude in a deeply erotic 1940s moment. Retains original ornate carved wood frame. The canvas is untouched and stamped on the verso and titled in the artist’s hand “Reclining Nude”. A fine well preserved luminous example of what this prolific European painter’s signature work.
Artist: Pal Fried
A wonderful nude mermaid themed Bill Layne Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company commissioned illustration, the second of two are offering at Grapefruit Moon Gallery. A 1950s-60s gouache on board created for one of this calendar company’s jewelry advertising accounts. This depicts a topless pin-up girl mermaid on a balance scale with a tray of freshly mined pearls surrounded underwater by a host of male atomic-age sea dwellers. The type of scene only Bill Layne could envision and execute. The whimsical charm predicts Layne’s later career in the animation department for Walt Disney feature films. We expect Bill Layne to become a wildly collected and important artist in years to come.
Artist: Bill Layne
Grapefruit Moon Gallery is delighted to offer a fresh (in all respects!) original oil on canvas pin-up painting by Vaughan Bass for The Louis F. Dow Calendar Company. A young strawberry-blonde nude bombshell with a curling iron readying herself for a night out on the town. A never on the market before fabulous estate find by this under valued and very talented and prolific calendar artist. Work is on original pine stretchers and in a very fine state of conservation, in all regards “The Great American Pin-up”.
Artist: Vaughan Bass
Grapefruit Moon Gallery is proud to offer a fine art nude oil painting by Pal Fried from the 1940s. This fresh estate find is titled on verso “Suzanne” and retains its handsome ornate gold painted gesso frame. A luminous example by this gifted and prolific Hungarian painter and illustrator.
Artist: Pal Fried
A rare surviving Edward Sheriff Curtis nude titled “Aphrodite”, (Spirit of the Sea)” circa 1920s, a blue-toned gelatin silver photograph. Signed with the Curtis LA copyright insignia in the negative on the image, accompanied by the original frame backing stamped Aphrodite, Curtis Studio, Los Angeles. One of 3 blue nudes Curtis did towards the end of his life and a coveted rare old original photograph. In a fine state of conservation with silvering in the emulsion along the photographs edges.
Artist: Edward Curtis
A ravishing and deeply erotic nude oil on canvas painting by Pal Fried. Perhaps the most beautiful and inspired Fried work we have seen. Beautifully framed and in a fine state of preservation, a monumental example by this noted and prolific artist and illustrator.
Artist: Pal Fried
A tense and clever, menace-themed, rare surviving cover painting for the January 1939 issue of Double Action Detective.. A Science Fiction/Spicy Pulp epic entanglement illustrating George Alden Edson’s story, The Midnight Murderer. This original oil-on-canvas painting is unsigned, we are of the strong belief that it was done Rudolph Zirm. A xeroxed color print of the pulp magazine cover proof is included in the sale.
Artist: Rudolph Zirm (attributed)
A dazzling art deco era original oil on canvas by noted New York Illustrator Walter Beach Humphrey. Humphrey did 3 covers for The Saturday Evening Post in 1923. He also was a frequent cover contributor for Colliers , Liberty and Argosy Magazines. He currently has works on display at the Norman Rockwell Museum in their Toast of the Town exhibit. The model was the artist’s wife Connie Regina. I am assuming this was painted as a decorative work as I cannot imagine a cover it could have been used for with the possible exception of a Burlesque or Follies Bergere type program cover.
Artist: Walter Beach Humphrey
This exceptionally large oil on canvas mural by Henry Clive was created for the long gone legendary Hollywood Boulevard haunt “The Jade Lounge.” Titled “The Buddha-Pest,” the image acted as a logo for the bar, with matchbooks and post cards created with its likeness to attract tourists. The Jade Lounge became a destination and this monumental painting remained a focal point of the restaurant for decades. Henry Clive executed several murals for Hollywood nightclubs, and for The Masquers Club, Hollywood’s oldest theatrical club.
Artist: Henry Clive
A macabre gouache rendering by Mahlon Blaine for an as of yet undetermined publication. A highly charged noir erotic scene depicting a Vaudeville era Burlesque performer in allegorical temptation scene. The devil, with serpent’s tongue is shown behind a nude dancer representing temptation. The two figures left and right are shown as stand ins for good and evil. Blaine was a unique talent, and counter culture avant-garde artist who worked outside of the confines of the mainstream.
Artist: Mahlon Blaine
