Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
An original gouache on board created for the cover of the September 1962 edition of For Men Only, illustrating the story Operation”Never-Talk:” Shocking Revenge of Norway’s Partisan Nymph. (A Smuggled-In Yank And A Wild Anti-Nazi Underground Girl by James S. Wagner. A large finely rendered scene of a bungled SS operation, with a trio of tightly wound American service men, a gathering of inebriated Nazi’s and a pair of scantily clad female secret agents acting as decoys.
Artist: Mort Künstler
A large gouache illustration for the January 1961 edition of Stag Magazine. A daring night time rescue depiction illustrating the interior story “The Amazing GI Who Took Three Head Hunting Brides. A Pacific Island World War II entanglement complete with topless native women and native headhunters and a lone anglo-saxonized square jawed daring G.I.
Artist: Mort Künstler
An alarmingly disturbing and well rendered original gouache illustration by the highly regarded and prolific illustrator Mort Kunstler, this interior 2-page spread appeared in the August 1961 edition of Male Magazine, illustrating Martin Fass’s Million-Dollar Manhunt For A Cold War Nymph. The lurid, defining action-filled image captures the prevailing nihilism associated with the 1960’s “sweat magazine” art and envelope-pushing adventure fiction. Text reads “She was the top female agent of BACO-Europe’s anti-fascist Assassin’s League, and when she fell into enemy hands, the Yanks had two weeks to find her-or it was war in the Middle East.”
Artist: Mort Künstler
This original gouache noir illustration by well listed and prolific illustrator Mort Kunstler was used as the January 1968 edition of Male, illustrating Mario Cleri’s “Blonde Bandit in Black Lace.” An explosive sex kitten car chase that captures the prevailing nihilism associated with the 1960’s “sweat magazine” art and envelope-pushing adventure fiction, this is a tense and hyper-realistic pop-art time capsule.
Artist: Mort Künstler
An original and unusual painting by Paul Calle which illustrates The Warriors of Day by James Blish and was created as cover art for the work. This 1953 science fiction themed pulp appeared on Galaxy Fiction Novel #16. Nicely framed in a period gold gesso frame with the published pulp included in presentation.
Artist: Paul Calle
A sublime and richly rendered excursion along the low road, this gouache on illustration board was used as the front cover of Volume #1 Issue #6 of Rogue For Men an early Men’s magazine that was direct competition to Playboy for Men. A Post-war pulp artwork by Lester Bentley which illustrates the interior story by Robert Bloch titled So You’d Like to Have a Harem? Nicely matted and framed and ready to hang in your harem.
Artist: Lester Bentley
A bizarre and macabre artwork by one of our favorite illustrators Mahlon Blaine titled on verso “A Fish Story.” A mermaid Medusa-like nude rendered in a pastel colored palette with an unusual size and configuration that leads us to believe this was created as a left-hand page interior illustration in a pulp magazine such as Weird Tales. When reproduced we imagine text would have been blocked around the right edge of this highly creative image.
Artist: Mahlon Blaine
Gil Cohen created this expertly rendered, noir, hard boiled interior story illustration for the April 1963 edition of Male Magazine. The story this brings to life is titled The Combat Hero Who Survived Korea’s Worst Brainwashing. This typifies the lurid, envelope pushing work which earned Mens genre magazines the apt title The Post-War Pulps. Caption reads … “confess to your germ warfare crime”, they told him or die like an animal…” Work is nicely matted and framed in excellent condition.
Artist: Gil Cohen
The Augsbrug Sailors is a dramatic, boldly rendered, surrealist and homoerotic World War II illustration by the renowned illustrator Karl Godwin. Best remembered for his longtime work as artist for Reader’s Digest and calendar illustration, Godwin was a versatile talent, as shown by this unusual, patriotic image of one semi-nude sailor defiantly eyeing the sky as he cares for his wounded brother in arms. Piece comes nicely matted and framed in a fine gold gesso period gallery frame.
Artist: Karl Godwin
This is a bright, well-executed, published oil on canvas by “The King of the Pulps” Walter Baumhofer. Originally an interior illustration for The Girl With the Lemon Colored Hair, a short piece of fiction by the infamous author Vina Delmar. This stunning artwork was published in the September 1943 issue of Cosmopolitan Magazine. A published tear sheet is included with sale.
Artist: Walter Baumhofer
