Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
This remarkable gouache pulp cover painting by Alex Schomburg appeared on the February, 1961 issue of the long running Ziff-Davis magazine Amazing Stories – Fact And Science Fiction. Though the work seems like pure fantasy at first glance, it is based on the real-life practice of both the American and Soviet space programs of sending mice, dogs, chimpanzees and animals into space to […]
Artist: Alex Schomburg
This Jean Oldham painting appeared as the cover for the April 1928 issue of The Dance magazine, showcasing the Spanish dancer and showgirl Trini in her costume from the Broadway hit “Take the Air.” The now-forgotten star shows off her opulent style and “famous feet” against a Moorish skyline in this art deco jewel of a painting. The Dance was a leading title during […]
Artist: Jean Oldham
A jovial, large format oil painting by Harold H.W. McCauley which appeared as the May 1955 cover of Imaginative Tales, a Greenleaf Publishing title. The image is a whimsical self-portrait, the artist appears as the 1950s everyman enjoying a night on the town after a hard day’s work. His wife sits atop his shoulders–a classic “Mac girl” pin-up bombshell getting […]
Artist: Harold McCauley
An action packed 1965 oil and tempura painting by Harry Schaare, that appeared as the cover of the Pyramid paperback Harlem Underground written by the author known as Ed Lacy. Lacy was a pseudonym for Leonard S. Zinberg who explored themes of racial prejudices and injustices throughout his fiction. In this work, Lee Hayes, a rookie policeman with youthful looks and […]
Artist: Harry Schaare
An evocative pin-up girl pulp cover watercolor painting by Malcolm Smith for the May, 1953 issue of Fate Magazine – True Stories Of The Strange And The Unknown. This was created to illustrate the interior story “Do You Hear Colors?” On the printed cover there were black musical notes applied, (likely on a separate transparency […]
Artist: Malcolm Smith
In this large, dramatic and darkly twisted oil on canvas, Fred Pfeiffer perfectly captures the menace and seduction associated with the post-hippie /post Manson family druggie scene, as depicted in counter-culture books and films which proliferated in the 1970s. The work appeared as the cover for the 1975 Bantam paperback The Fear Dealers, written by Jack W. Thomas, who specialized in these […]
Artist: Fred Pfeiffer
This tawdry and seductive original artwork was illustrated for use as the cover of the 1951 Cameo Books title The Loves of Alice Brandt, part of the publisher’s “love fiction” line. Cameo was an imprint of Detective House Publishers in New York which was a major producer of digest sized pulp novels during the period when this first appeared […]
Artist: Unidentified American Illustrator
A large, dazzling, spicy pulp, science fiction, space girl painting by Gabriel Mayorga, which appeared on the cover of the second issue of Super Science Stories in May, 1940. Very loosely illustrating the interior story “Juice” by L. Sprague De Camp, whose slug is worth repeating here in full… They discovered a new game in Lunar Center – a form of ping-pong, […]
Artist: Gabriel Mayorga
A pristine and important surviving Henry Clive illustration painting that appeared as the cover for the July 16, 1933 edition of The American Weekly, a Randolph Hearst publication. The magazine often commissioned Clive to create serialized images of enchantresses that shared a thematic thread. In this case, exotic maidens in the crossfire of cupid’s bow. Our […]
Artist: Henry Clive
An exceedingly rare surviving Henry Clive cover illustration from his 20+ years creating for The American Weekly. This painting was from a series done in 1934 titled, Darlings of the Poets. In this series, Clive illustrated the inspirations for leading poets and writers. This particular oil on canvas depicts “Lenore” as the lost and sorrowful inspiration behind The Raven as written by Edgar Allan Poe.
Artist: Henry Clive
