Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

original calendar art

A monumental and important original large pastel illustration on stretched canvas by James Ross Bryson, executed in 1914 for The Thos. D. Murphy Calendar Company of Red Oak Iowa under the title “Reverie in Green”. Bryson was an influential and supremely gifted and handsomely paid American Illustrator who earned a hefty $200.00 per commission for images of his risque for the day, modern enchantress themed Art Nouveau Maiden depictions. This work is housed in it’s original wide solid mahogany gold gilt lined antique frame and is properly lined behind glass.

Reverie in Green

Artist: J. Ross Bryson

A whimsical snow scene pastel illustration by Rolf Armstrong which initially appeared as the cover for College Humor in December of 1929. This image was slightly altered by Armstrong and appeared again in 1936 as a Brown & Bigelow Calendar titled “The Call of the North”. The pastel was dedicated to Stan Fenelle another Brown & Bigelow artist by Armstrong and is a new to the market Saint Paul Minnesota estate find. Work is matted and framed in a period art deco era Newcomb-Macklin antique gold carved frame.

Call of the North

Artist: Rolf Armstrong

A charming and well rendered 1954 oil on canvas painting created for an Ohleen Dairy Calendar by the Louis F. Dow Company. The artist is Vaughan Alden Bass, who specialized in pin-up art for this Saint Paul Minnesota gone but not forgotten Calendar giant. Of particular note in this lovely painting is the adorable bakelite crib toy in the lower right corner. verso canvas is dated 1954, and stretcher is marked with Ohleen Dairy, 1954 Line and Current in pen.

Sleeping Child With Crib Toy

Artist: Vaughan Bass

A snappy and sexy original pastel illustration by Earl Moran commissioned as a 1951 Brown & Bigelow calendar. Text reads “Here’s an extra addition you can hardly refuse; for this little gal is just covered in news…” Pastel is beautifully framed and condition is outstanding as is the image.

Covered In News

Artist: Earl Moran

This wonderful, coy and large original pastel on board by Earl Moran was created as a commissioned illustration for Brown & Bigelow. The pin-up calendar image was published in the early 1950’s with the quip “Leading a parade Without a falter, is easier than leading A man to the altar.” Pastel is beautifully framed in a gold gilt fine museum frame and properly lined with printed tear sheet of published calendar included in sale.

Leading a Parade

Artist: Earl Moran

A large and new to the market, early 1950s pastel by Earl Moran, featuring the unlikely proportioned pin-up model Danice Daniels in a sexy, coy, playful, sex kitten pose that recalls Alberto Vargas’ work for the pages of Playboy Magazine during the era. Work is properly lined and housed in an attactive gallery frame. A fine example of Earl Moran’s masterful pastel work capturing his stylized ideals of feminine allure and temptation.

Portrait of Danice Daniels

Artist: Earl Moran

This original commissioned painting by female pin-up artist Ruth Deckard was titled A Pin Cushion by the Calendar Company that first published it, originally titled by the artist on verso A Bar Belle. Features a cheeky brunette winsome pin-up girl in a duck pin bowling alley “sit down strike” scene. This was a very popular and wildly produced calendar in the post WWII pin-up era, and we are happy to offer the original oil on canvas, a rare original surviving artifact from the era of “The Great American Pin-up.”

A Pin Cushion

Artist: Ruth Deckard

A fabulous large and radiant original oil on canvas by the acclaimed American illustrator Edward Eggleston. This alluring, Edwardian attired glamour girl in luminous moonlight surround was a commissioned calendar artwork under the title The Sweetheart of Sigmi-Chi. Produced in 1919 this same image also appeared (with a riverboat superimposed above the subject’s right shoulder) under the title Dixie. This is one of many instances where an illustrator would reuse a central image to save time while working up a new piece for a competing calendar company. In this instance, Eggleston so seamlessly removed the paddle boat from the original artwork I wouldn’t have known it existed in that form if not for the image shown in Norm Platnick’s A Lady of Mystery: A Collector’s guide to Edward Eggleston.

Sweetheart of Sigma-Chi

Artist: Edward Eggleston

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.

Next Time

Artist: Earl Moran

 

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