Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
A skillfully executed interior illustration for a serialized story by Pearl S. Buck titled China Gold which ran in Collier’s Magazine from February 7-April 18, 1942. Caption reads: ” Father Valerian came out from the chapel at once and led the wounded men to the hospital “. A large crisply-rendered oil on canvas mounted on board. Martha Sawyers artwork is in the Frank Gehry-designed Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis.
Artist: Martha Sawyers
A moody and stirring work by Alton S. Tobey lamenting the loss of souls on February 3rd 1943 in the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Work commemorates the lives of four World War II chaplains who made the ultimate sacrifice to save others as their stricken ship went down after coming under attack from German torpedo fire.
Artist: Alton Tobey
What is Man That Thou Art Mindful of Him? asks this inspirational and spiritual large male nude oil painting by the well-listed New Rochelle based illustrator and artist Walter Beach Humphrey. This new to the market, prize-winning ‘Rock of Ages’ scene was owned for many years by the artist’s daughter, Constance June Humphrey. As a young child in the late 1920s, Constance was a favored model of her father’s friend Norman Rockwell. Humphrey and Rockwell shared a New Rochelle hayloft when they were both starting out. The exceptional provenance and history of the painting evoke the spirit of when it was painted and the special talents and life of the painter.
Artist: Walter Beach Humphrey
American illustrator Charles Bosseron Chambers created this large majestic portrait of Escamillo from the opera Carmen in the early 20th century.
Artist: Charles Bosseron Chambers
Andre Durenceau, the French-American illustrator and muralist, mines his Jewish heritage in this symbolist 1950s imagining of the sanctuary of a synagogue. Evoking horror and hope, this severe surrealist image presents a vision of resurrection in the aftermath of World War II. The oil on canvas is technically refined, and filled with historically resonant Judaica imagery from biblical to modern times. This piece, titled Invitation, has both the scope of mural art and the narrative detail of magazine illustration.
Artist: Andre Durenceau
A haunting original watercolor on board verso stamped for use by The Saturday Evening Post by acclaimed American illustrator Henry Soulen. From a pre-air travel era in American popular culture when tastes ran towards the exotic, foreign and mysterious. Nicely framed in a period gesso gold wood frame.
Artist: Henry Soulen
An exquisite stylized, modernist, French art deco mixed media work in subdued muted tones by Edouard Sureau. In pastel and gold gilt paint, this features a delicately rendered muse with halo enraptured by a musical lyre. The top of the instrument forms a cross and the figure itself forms an angelic allegory, of the style popular in the art deco decorative arts. Work is signed and in a fine state of preservation nicely matted, framed, and ready to hang.
Artist: Edouard Sureau
We are delighted to offer an extraordinary, large, masterfully executed and cleverly conceived oil on stretched canvas by Charles Bosseron Chambers. This is a dark take on the nude forest nymph theme which captivated the likes of Arthur Spear, Maxfield Parrish and Robert Atkinson Fox. In this work the nude nymph is visted by elfin eared musical satyrs which represent, to the deeply religious Chambers, the underworld of sensuality. This allegorical work is haunting and evocotive, the nude is rendered with great care and a mastery of the female form which is second to none. This is among the finest works we have offered; the painterly technique and technical expertise of C. Bosseron Chambers is masterfully harnessed in this work. Framed in a museum quality art deco aesthetic gallery frame. A haunting epic work that examines the allure of temptation and the temptation of allure.
Artist: Charles Bosseron Chambers
Grapefruit Moon Gallery is proud to offer several scarce original paintings from the American Illustrator Charles Bosseron Chambers, including this large, dazzling, and spiritually evocative work titled Guardian Angel and Boy. Compositionally, this is a complex, stark, and questioning work. Thematically, the young boy–holding a model airplane–represents the machine age and ongoing industrialization. The angel is shown in a soft focused diffused and ethereal otherwordly world, while the boy is almost photo-realist in appearance. Their interaction calls into question the relationship between modernity and spirituality. Oil is titled on verso and framed in a wonderful carved gold gesso frame.
Artist: Charles Bosseron Chambers
I am proud to be able to offer this highly stylized and orientalist take on the beheading of John the Baptist, as depicted by C. Bosseron Chambers, the famed illustrator of epic and Christian scenes who was dubbed the religious Rockwell. Chambers’ “Light of the World” image was as famous and popular a print as Maxfield Parrish’s “Daybreak.” This dramatic scene, in wonderful period frame with velvet matting, is an engaging and exceptional example of Chambers’ gift of rendering religious scenes in a provocative and modern manner.
Artist: Charles Bosseron Chambers
