Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
This Earl Moran original pastel features a cheeky, carhop waitress from the long-gone drive-in-diner era, providing car side service with a smile. This pastel was commissioned by Brown & Bigelow, a sample printed ink blotter is included in sale. Text reads in full A waitress leads a happy life, and sunshine fills her days. The outlook’s good the job is fine, because money grows on trays.
Artist: Earl Moran
A dazzling, acrobatic pin-up girl by Al Buell created on commission for the Osborne Calendar Company. This dramatic view is set against a big top trapeze backdrop and pops against the stark black backdrop. Original pin-up works by Al Buell are quite rare, and this fine original artwork exemplifies his unique and masterful style. This bright fresh oil on board comes very nicely framed and matted, condition is pristine.
Artist: Al Buell
A breathtaking and evocative sensual moonlit nude by Vaughan Alden Bass. The Veronica Lake look-alike is drenched in streaming moonglow rays in her dark colored boudoir. The unusual color palette employed by Bass gives the work a surreal glow. A stirring masterful work by this under valued and gifted pin-up artist and illustrator. This was gathered from the Saint Paul Estate of a 92 year old woman whose husband worked for the Louis F. Dow Calendar Company.
Artist: Vaughan Bass
A large, colorful, situationally challenged pin-up girl finds herself in a revealing moment deftly rendered by the infamous Edward D’ancona. This painting, entitled Handle With Care was commissioned by The Thos. D. Murphy Calendar Company; Red Oak Iowa and a large original archived published calendar of this image is included in the sale. A scarce surviving original work by this prolific American cheesecake maestro.
Artist: Edward D'Ancona
A luminous and glowing glamour girl painting by the well listed prolific pin-up illustrator and Hollywood Portrait artist Edward Runci. This fine oil-on-streched-canvas features a Haddon Sundblom/Gil Elvgren color palette and painterly technique. A formally posed beauty queen in purple gloves and fur with an orchid and a inviting smile awaits you. Condition, like the work, is flawless.
Artist: Edward Runci
Titled at turns “Toast of the Town” and “A Frame Worth PIcturing,” this 1954 Oil on Canvas is Gil Elvgren at his finest. The painting displays Elvgren’s unsurpassed mastery of composition, color, humor, and the female form. Elvgren’s favorite model, Myrna Hansen, is shown cheekily posed in garters, stockings, and heels by an artist’s easel. Scandalously, Hansen modeled for this pin-up while she was the reigning Miss USA. Describing her tenure as Elvgren’s muse, Hansen has said: “I just had to lift my skirt and say, ‘ahh.'”
Artist: Gil Elvgren
A crisply rendered Americana themed original commissioned calendar art oil painting, created for a Brown & Bigelow series titled The American Road. Bill Medcalf was the calendar company’s star artist and alongside Norman Rockwell created the enduring Americana view of the slow paced rural life. Through the years, Medcalf continued drawing the same boy, dog, and small town doctor, aging them slowly and gracefully. Calendars featuring the characters are included with sale.
Artist: William Medcalf
A large, art deco era, original pastel on illustration board by the well listed and prolific American Illustrator Warde Traver. This is an as of yet unidentified calendar or magazine commission. Image features a proud brightly colored deftly rendered peacock showing his bright plumage. Work is matted and framed in period green painted wood frame.
Artist: Warde Traver
Grapefruit Moon Gallery is proud to offer several scarce original paintings from the American Illustrator Charles Bosseron Chambers, including this large, dazzling, and spiritually evocative work titled Guardian Angel and Boy. Compositionally, this is a complex, stark, and questioning work. Thematically, the young boy–holding a model airplane–represents the machine age and ongoing industrialization. The angel is shown in a soft focused diffused and ethereal otherwordly world, while the boy is almost photo-realist in appearance. Their interaction calls into question the relationship between modernity and spirituality. Oil is titled on verso and framed in a wonderful carved gold gesso frame.
Artist: Charles Bosseron Chambers
This is a remarkable, new to the market, original 1959 Oil on Canvas by Gillette Elvgren. This stunning painting was used for a Brown & Bigelow Pin-up Calendar smartly titled T.V. Spectacular. This remarkable work personifies the appeal of Elvgren, with cleverly posed sexy cutie in garters and stockings precarious posed in a bright colorful outdoor setting. comes beautifully framed in a museum quality carved period frame, verso features original calendar company label. Condition is astounding as is the work.
Artist: Gil Elvgren
