Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
One of the earliest existing examples of Erté’s Art Deco cover illustrations for Harper’s Bazar, this gouache painting appeared in November 1918 under the title Les Bulles de Savon. The image showcases two chic Parisian ladies, icons of the new modernist turn, blowing bubbles in which are seen a parade of Edwardian and Art Nouveau fashions. A whimsical yet […]
Artist: Erté
A fresh-faced and fresh to market large format pin-up pastel illustration by the father of American pin-up, Rolf Armstrong, titled I’ll Say So. This flirtatious bathing beauty darling is one of the artist’s most iconic and popular enduring images. Created at the zenith of Armstrong’s artistic powers, this sassy brunette has a laser beam of a smile, and a sarong that […]
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
A stunning, patriotic World War II era pastel by famed American illustrator Bradshaw Crandell. This appeared as the cover of the April, 1942 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. Intriguingly, posed in the Navy uniform was a young Yale Law student and male model named Gerald Ford, who would go on to be the 38th president of the United States. The pretty […]
Artist: Bradshaw Crandell
A fresh to the market, sexy and spirited Gil Elvgren oil painting created in 1952 for The Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company and published under the title Some Help!(Down,Boy). In this view of the model as artist, a curvy brunette in Parisian inspired attire is interrupted in her quest to create her masterpiece by the antics of […]
Artist: Gil Elvgren
A sultry brunette in a form fitting, canary yellow number cools herself with a personal pinwheel hand fan in this original oil on board pin-up painting by Peter Driben. Created as the cover of the February, 1946 edition of Titter magazine–a post-war pulp title that promised Girls, Gags and Giggles. Titter bridged the gap between the spicy pulp […]
Artist: Peter Driben
A costumed flapper girl, dressed to the nines in jazz-age fineries at a masquerade ball, is seductively caught in the light of a romantic full moon in this oil on canvas by J. Walter Wilkinson. The artist was a prominent and revered American illustrator, and we presume this to be a magazine cover for an […]
Artist: J. Walter Wilkinson
Wouldn’t You Like To Know… is a large sultry original published pin-up calendar painting by the prolific and important American artist Fritz Willis. Willis was the last true star pin-up artist of the old guard, when illustrative pin-up reigned supreme in men’s magazines and calendars. The artist worked during the very tail end of the […]
Artist: Fritz Willis
A boldly colored and tightly rendered likely preliminary pastel pin-up illustration by Earl Moran, showing an art deco sailor girl living the life aquatic. This dates to the late 1930s, as the outbreak of war in Europe caused both a premonition of America’s eventual involvement into what would become World War II, and a boost in industrial production (particularly shipbuilding) […]
Artist: Earl Moran
One of the finest pastel pin-up illustrations ever created by Rolf Armstrong for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company, this appeared in 1940 with the title “The B & B Girl”. The model was Margery Crampton, Armstrong’s modernist streamlined muse and frequent sitter throughout the 1930s and early 1940s. Shortly after this pastel was […]
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
A gorgeous and very detailed framed preliminary graphite sketch by the legendary American pin-up artist Gil Elvgren, which was used in the making of the 1955 Brown & Bigelow calendar “Waiting For You”. As part of his process, Elvgren would pose a live model in his home studio and create a series of graphite sketches […]
Artist: Gil Elvgren
