Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
A finely executed dated 1927 pen & ink illustration on board by Cardwell Higgins with inventive art deco style. A Persian attired Orientalist showgirl is depicted in a burlesque vaudeville-era Ziegfeld Follies inspired theatrical production. The work recalls the erotic and stylized pen & ink works of British artist Aubrey Beardsley.
Artist: Cardwell Higgins
An inspired and outrageous, entirely hand painted and created paper-mache decorative mask by Hannes Bok, this captures an exuberant, outlandish Art Deco Egyptian – Orientalist style. One of our favorite illustrators, Bok was born Wayne Woodard and grew up in Duluth Minnesota. As an adult, the artist carved out a meager living as an illustrator and “part time astrologer”. What we love most about Bok is his steadfast idealism and refusal to conform to the whims and rigors of publishing trends. Not surprisingly Bok died penniless in New York City. As today’s collectors and scholars unearth the lost history of the pulps the star of Hannes Bok burns brighter than at any time during his long and prolific career.
Artist: Hannes Bok
Along with its companion work “Ye Chiselers” (previously sold through Grapefruit Moon Gallery), Clive created this masterwork for the tavern of The Masquers Club, a historic and fascinating Hollywood institution. A reclining redheaded flapper is seen consorting with a Persian genie of sorts, illustrating the verse from the Rubaiyat which is inscribed on the mural.
Artist: Henry Clive
In 1917, Theda Bara was the biggest draw for Fox studios, and a movie star whose popularity was surpassed only by Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford. In this photograph by Albert Witzel, hand colored and printed she is seen posed in an early iteration of her Cleopatra headdress, with flowing deep black hair. Inscribed to Tom Mix, the cowboy superstar, who in 1917 had just joined Bara as a headlining performer for Fox studios, this came from Mix’s collection.
Artist: Albert Witzel
A hauntingly beautiful, erotically charged, reclining nude pastel by Rolf Armstrong from his very best period. This nude was never published and dates from right around 1930; a seductive light and shadow meditation that finds Armstrong contemplating the “temptation of allure” and “the allure of temptation” in this jazz-age, art deco erotic rendering of a veiled showgirl finding the light.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
A deftly rendered, intricate, highly decorative oil on canvas painting by noted Brandywine School illustrator Arthur E. Becher, a student of Howard Pyle. An East Indian Minstrel performs magic feats to the delight of his adoring harem in this Orientalist Golden Age of Illustration depiction. Becher’s work appeared in numerous magazine titles after the turn of the last century; Scribner’s and Leslie’s most notably. He also created full color bookplates for such titles as “Long Live the King” and an 1914 adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” by P.F. Collier & Sons.
Artist: Arthur Becher
Doris Niles was a premiere ballerina and concert dancer, known primarily for her Spanish-inspired pieces, and one of the shining beauties of the New York stage. Her flamboyant continental costume and dramatically posed stance in this portrait by Nikolas Muray, capture the dancer’s unique and refined sensibility. Muray, one of the masters of the modern expressive style, chronicled the New York dance world in the art deco jazz age, and his expert eye is on display to fine effect in this seductive view.
Artist: Nickolas Muray
An exquisitely posed, unusually delicate view of Myrna Loy, by Elmer Fryer, the Hollywood glamour photographer who had perhaps the best sense of modernist style and fashion. This unusual view features Loy in blonde wig in her role as Sophie the dancer in “Bride of the Regiment.” An early view of the star, who would come to be known for her sassy wit and hard nosed sexuality in the Nick & Nora Thin Man series.
Artist: Elmer Fryer
The smoldering temper, and exotic sensuality of Lili Damita attracted as much attention in pre-code Hollywood as her films, and this Greta Garbo inspired photograph by Elmer Fryer captures her unusual attractions. This large format, double weight sepia gallery portrait features the French beauty in ornate art deco headdress, and displays Fryer’s sophisticated eye.
Artist: Elmer Fryer
In 1929 Myrna Loy was an unknown actress and dancer in Hollywood, attracting attention for her darkly exotic beauty and sophisticated hard edged acting. This photograph, from the lavish Vitaphone early talkie “Show of Shows” features Loy in an orientalist jazz age view by Fred R Archer that predicts her iconic turn in The Mask of Fu Manchu. This is an exceedingly rare and beautiful view of the Hollywood icon.
Artist: Fred Archer
