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Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

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original illustration art

This rugged barroom shootout scene is a dramatically rendered, Western Americana gouache illustration by the California illustrator Fred Ludekens.

Shoot Out In Santa Inez

Artist: Fred Ludekens

Filed Under: Illustration & Advertising Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: cowboy, Fred Ludekens, Old West, original illustration art, original interior illustration, Saturday Evening Post, western
Added to Gallery: December 11, 2017

A large original pen & ink illustration by the important Belle Epoque era poster and book illustrator Louis Rhead. This likely was done for Harper’s or Century Magazine. A great large rendering in the Art Nouveau manner and a rare surviving original illustration work by the great New York based prolific and gifted illustrator and artist.

Art Nouveau Maiden in February

Artist: Louis Rhead

Filed Under: Illustration & Advertising Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1890s, american, art nouveau, belle epoque, Louis Rhead, maiden, new york city, original illustration art, winter
Added to Gallery: December 4, 2017

An important and technically masterful large format cover oil painting by James Avati, for the 1950 Signet books release of Love Knows No Barriers written by Will Thomas

Love Knows No Barriers

Artist: James Avati

Filed Under: Paperback & Pulp Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: God Is For White Folks, James Avati, original illustration art, Paprback book cover, Signet Books, The Golden Gallery, WPA
Added to Gallery: November 10, 2017

A large format, lurid and iconic paperback cover painting by Verne Tossey that was used as the cover for the 1955 Ace paperback Left Bank Of Desire.

Left Bank Of Desire

Artist: Verne Tossey

Filed Under: Paperback & Pulp Art
Tagged With: 1950s, Ace Books, Left Bank Of Desire, original cover art, original illustration art, paperback, pulp, Verne Tossey
Added to Gallery: November 10, 2017

The 1961 cover painting for the Beacon Book title Wild Body was created by an as-of-yet unidentified American artist. This novel by Manning Clay first appeared in digest form in 1953, our gallery also has that earlier cover painting available for sale. This lurid sleaze pulp fiction offering promises a wild ride — with more […]

Beacon Book Cover for Wild Body

Artist: Unknown American Artist

Filed Under: Paperback & Pulp Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: Beacon Books, lesbian, lurid, original cover art, original illustration art, paperback, pulp, risque, sleaze
Added to Gallery: September 16, 2017

A fun and breezy interior magazine illustration for Argosy magazine – July, 1946 by Ray Johnson illustrating a story titled “My Son’s Old Man” by Fred Malina. A classic Americana image featuring a soda jerk performing his then coveted job at a snappy modernist Art Deco styled soda fountain much to the delight of two lovely […]

The Soda Jerk

Artist: Ray Johnson

Filed Under: Illustration & Advertising Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1940s, Argosy, art deco, glamour, Golden Age, original illustration art, original interior illustration, soda fountain
Added to Gallery: August 5, 2017

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

Filed Under: Paperback & Pulp Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1950s, american, Gang, Golden Age, original cover art, original illustration art, paperback, pulp, subversive, Teen-Age Gangs, The Golden Gallery
Added to Gallery: August 4, 2017

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

Filed Under: Paperback & Pulp Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1950s, american, Charles Martignette, Gore Vidal, Harry Bennett, illustration, new orleans, original cover art, original illustration art, paperback, pin up, risque, sleaze, theater
Added to Gallery: June 26, 2017

This original 1920s oil on board by Henry Soulen was likely an interior spot illustration which appeared in the Saturday Evening Post. The colorful, boldly painted, Orientalist scene shows a rickshaw and two figures in heated conversation in front of gates of what appears to be San Francisco’s Chinatown. Housed in a simple, original-to-the-painting wood […]

The Rickshaw

Artist: Henry Soulen

Filed Under: Illustration & Advertising Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1920s, Chinatown, Golden Age, Henry Soulen, orientalist, original illustration art, original interior illustration, Saturday Evening Post
Added to Gallery: June 21, 2017

A stylish and decidedly art deco cover illustration for the September 9th, 1939 issue of Liberty magazine, painted by the prolific illustrator Victor Tchetchet. Depicting a Carole Lombard-esque blonde bombshell in a Diana the Huntress mythological pose. Dedicated and inscribed to the fabled Hollywood film producer Otto Preminger, as seen lower right. Painting has been handsomely […]

Diana The Huntress

Artist: Victor Tchetchet

Filed Under: Pin-Up & Glamour Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1930s, american, art deco, bathing beauty, glamour, Golden Age, hollywood, illustration, Liberty, magazine cover, original cover art, original illustration art, pin up, pulp, risque, Victor Tchetchet
Added to Gallery: May 27, 2017

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