Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
A wonderful original oil on canvas used as a poster design for the 1937 Warner Bros. Western film starring Dick Foran titled Prairie Thunder. Illustrated in this work are Albert J. Smith, Janet Shaw and Jim Corey. Ratterman was a gifted illustrator whose work appeared in many of the major “slick magazines” as advertisements and/or covers.
Artist: W. G. Ratterman
Grapefruit Moon Gallery is proud to offer the second of several original John Louis Rhead Art Nouveau/Belle Epoque-era illustrations only recently acquired from a New York estate. This large Thanksgiving Harvest goddess colorful and stylized image is titled November in pencil by the artist on the lower margin. The work is matted and framed in a large period gesso frame. This is an astonishing and rare surviving document from this American poster master. Rhead’s work appeared alongside Alphonse Mucha, Jules Cheret and Toulouse Latrec pieces in Les Maîtres de l’Affiche (Masters of Posters) folios at the turn of the last century.
Artist: Louis Rhead
Fresh from a New York estate, Grapefruitmoongallery is proud to offer the first of several original John Louis Rhead Art Nouveau/Belle Epoque-era illustrations. This large harvest goddess image was exhibited at The Twenty-First Annual Exhibition Architectural League of New York 1900. The work is matted and framed in a large period gesso frame. An astonishing and rare surviving document from this American poster master. Rhead’s work appeared alongside Alphonse Mucha, Jules Cheret and Toulouse Latrec pieces in “Les Maîtres de l’Affiche” (Masters of Posters) folios at the turn of the last century.
Artist: Louis Rhead
A delicately rendered and stylized watercolor on illustration board by the well listed commercial illustrator Alex Luders. This is a remarkable work of an art deco era harem girl enchantress entranced in a sexy exotic veiled scarf dance. The artist Alex Luders did much commercial Hollywood advertising poster art for Fox Films including Shirley Temple and Jack Holt’s starring turn in the 1935 feature film The Littlest Rebel. This is presumed to also be a commissioned work for an as of yet undetermined art deco era movie campaign.
Artist: Alex Luders
A rare surviving original charcoal-and-graphite illustration by United States Navy Man McClelland Barclay. The lovely woman is “Eve Witney” from Brazil, an incarnation of a recipient of Y.W.C.A. war relief. Presumably this image was used as a poster design/brochure in a fund raising or awareness raising campaign showing the international reach of the Y.W.C.A. The image is from a series of Four Reasons Why You Should Give to the Y.W.C.A. World Emergency Funds.
Artist: McClelland Barclay
The piece may have been also used as a poster design or perhaps a sheet music cover. As was sometimes the case, this rugged boxer with the large chin featured himself as the model. This is a mixed medium work in that the left side of the detailed map is an actual printed period map that Armstrong adhered to the top of the canvas (he painted in the right area of the map where the text Russia appears). This painting is featured on page 43 of the Michael Wooldridge artist book titled Pin-up Dreams.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
The only known original poster art work from Henry Clive’s tenure as illustrator for Paramount Films. An original oil on illustration board for George Hobart’s 1921 film Experience starring Helen Ray. The charactors in this piece were all given allegorical names with stars including Richard Barthelmess as “Youth”, and depicted in this illustration is Helen Ray as “Intoxication”. This artwork includes a $900 custom made gold gesso gallery frame and all archival material shown.
Artist: Henry Clive
