Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

original cover art

An original gouache cover painting for the notorious French publication La Vie Parisienne. The long running, humorous and racy magazine chronicled the exploits and sexual proclivities of sassy and free spirited French follies showgirls and their often dim witted suitors in risque, breezy, spicy pulp-like fashion. Maurice Milliere was a frequent contributor of cover illustrations. Fans on both sides of the Atlantic were familiar with the adventures of our delightful bobbed hair cover girl “Fanny” who appeared in a variety of humorous and or scandalous poses. Text translates to Our Huntresses: How the ladies make their powder speak.

Our Huntresses

Artist: Maurice Milliere

A smartly conceived and modern jazz age oil-on-canvas painting of a ravishing Jeanette MacDonald, the cover for The New Movie Magazine, June 1932. Executed in a high glamour, severe art deco style by the American Illustrator McClelland Barclay. Work is a defining example by this talented and prolific artist and comes beautifully framed in an ornate gold gilt American Arts & Crafts fine museum quality carved frame. A lost treasure from the golden age of Hollywood glamour and elegance.

Jeanette MacDonald

Artist: McClelland Barclay

Teen-Age Gangs was created by Rafael Desoto as cover art for a 1954 Popular Library Paperback Book written by Dale Kramer and Madeline Karr. A gritty defining example which shows a bleak sensationalized, youth gone wild culture, which was to captured the moral panic over juvenile delinquency that was a focal point of American culture […]

Teen-Age Gangs

Artist: Rafael Desoto

A large American impressionist oil painting by the well listed illustrator Edmund Davenport. A frequent cover artist for a number of Golden Age of Illustration glossy magazine titles, Davenport excelled at this manner of romancing the celebratory moments of life without resorting to obvious sentimentalism. This well realized and luminous work utilizes an impasto technique and a lush fall color palette and was used as the cover for the November 1928 Thanksgiving cover for The American Magazine.

Thanksgiving Day Harvest

Artist: Edmund Davenport

From the estate of the American artist James Lunnon, this is an unsigned proposed Black Mask pulp cover painting which was slated for publication in May of 1940. The yellow left side field is a telling trait and was unique to the title – this format was used between January 1937 to April of 1940, […]

Unpublished Black Mask Pulp Cover

Artist: James Lunnon

A dashing original pastel illustration, a scarce surviving Golden Age of Hollywood cover portrait of the lovely Marion Davies. Davies, a true film legend, is captured in an opulent and unabashedly art deco pose by frequent tinsel-town illustrator Charles Gates Sheldon. This large and inventive work was used as the March 1936 cover of “Movie Classic Magazine”. Pastel is in a fine original state of conservation and framed and matted behind glass in an an ornate gesso period antique frame.

A Dashing Marion Davies

Artist: Charles Sheldon

Joseph Pignone created this haunting and just mesmerizing gouache illustration painting for the July 1934 cover of Radio-Craft magazine. In this visually commanding original cover illustration from the machine age era of science and industry and modernist design aesthetics, a blind flapper girl with short bobbed hair holds a radio device that was created to guide the blind. Includes a printers proof tear sheet of the published magazine.

Radio Device Guides The Blind

Artist: Joseph Pignone

This original gouache painting by Harry Bennett was used as cover art for the Pyramid paperback publication of “Cry Shame” written by Gore Vidal under the pseudonym Katherine Everard. During his early career, Vidal published under several pseudonyms in order to evade the accusation that the rate of his publishing made it impossible for him to be a “serious” literary author. This is a singular opportunity to own an original piece of both illustration art and literary history, from the estate of Charles Martignette.

Cry Shame

Artist: Harry Bennett

Harry Barton painted this steamy gouache illustration for use as the cover of 1952’s Tender Hearted Harlot by Val Munroe. Published as a pulp digest, novella length story that takes place on the San Francisco waterfront and follows the proclivities of the young, bold and beautiful Ginny Parrish who… “is a gambler to the core – but the one thing she won’t bet on is love…” Sounds like a real page turner! The painting is in pristine condition and has been nicely matted and framed under glass, a copy of the published digest is included in the sale.

Tender Hearted Harlot

Artist: Harry Barton

 

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