Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
For nearly three decades the inimitable Enoch Bolles was the sole cover artist for Film Fun magazine, creating larger than life and uniquely erotic pin up creations that bridged the gap between the traditional calendar girl and pulp magazine femme-fatales. In this example, which graced the cover of the June 1940 issue, a streamlined […]
Artist: Enoch Bolles
In this original oil on canvas pulp painting by Harold McCauley, used as the cover for the November, 1954 pulp digest, Imaginative Tales #2, a near nude runaway pin-up girl seductively rides a speeding red bullet – with the next stop being the moon… Created to illustrate an interior serialized novella story by Charles F. […]
Artist: Harold McCauley
This oil on canvasboard painting by Harold (H.W.) McCauley was created for use as the cover for the 1959 Nightstand digest pulp novel Carnival of Lust by J.X. Williams. In this offering a near-nude harem girl flirtatiously eyes a martini drinking genie. The painting is a dynamic and well-rendered example by this prolific and gifted American illustrator, and a great artifact […]
Artist: Harold McCauley
A well-crafted, stylish, and eye-catching cover painting by the renowned pin-up calendar artist and commercial illustrator Fritz Willis. This was used as a cover for a Shipstads & Johnson Ice Follies program in the early 1960s. In many regards Willis was the last of the great American pin-up artists; he brought pin-up imagery, poses and styles into the mod era and embraced changing ideals of femininity without being revisionist or nostalgic. In all regards, Willis shone in these yearly Ice Follies commissions as he excelled at costuming and seemed to enjoy capturing the evolving pop culture styles of the moment.
Artist: Fritz Willis
A lurid, true crime themed, spicy pulp cover pin-up painting by George Gross featuring a bathing beauty, gun toting moll as “The Daughter of Satan,” for the March, 1948 pulp digest title Women in Crime which purported to have stories based on True Fact Detective Cases. The tagline on the cover reads “Some Women Love To […]
Artist: George Gross
This exciting Western pulp oil on stretched painting appeared was created as cover art for the fall 1942 issue of the Thrilling Publications Western title Exciting Western. The scene shows a handsome cowboy and smartly attired cowgirl returning fire on unseen villains in this tautly rendered, action packed, bright and bold image. Grapefruit Moon Gallery […]
Artist: Earle K. Bergey
This breezy sailor girl, bathing beauty pin-up graced the cover of the July 24, 1937 edition of Liberty magazine, a popular long running Bernarr MacFadden publication. By the artist R.C. Kauffmann–a personal favorite of the gallery–this is a tremendously spirited, large format oil painting with spectacular zest and allure. Kauffmann is best remembered for his Saturday Evening Post covers as […]
Artist: R.C. Kauffmann
Sam Cherry created this romance-themed Western pulp painting for use as the June, 1943 cover of Thrilling Ranch Stories – Romantic Stories of The West. The image shows a pretty blonde sweetheart of the rodeo embracing a Wild West town sheriff, who grins as he contemplates his great luck. Not only did he seemingly get the girl, a bullet aimed at […]
Artist: Sam Cherry
An action packed damsel in distress fire rescue pulp cover painting by Sam Cherry for the February 1943 issue of Thrilling Ranch Stories – Romantic Stories of The West. A fearless square jawed handsome cowboy emerges from a burning building with a damsel in his arms, his pistol a blazin’, as our felled damsel struggles to regain […]
Artist: Sam Cherry
An unsigned oil on stretched canvas pulp cover painting for the December 1947 issue of the Thrilling Publications Western title Thrilling Western. A rugged square jawed handsome cowboy with a noose around his neck engages in a barbed wire shoot out illustrating the interior story Bullets and Salt by Bradford Scott. The stories tag-line as follows … When […]
Artist: Sam Cherry, Atrributed
