Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

Rolf Armstrong

An unpublished original pastel by Rolf Armstrong of model Dea Jamel Smith, a pretty young dancer from Julliard who Armstrong worked with extensively during the 1920’s and early 30s as she had the face and physique of the Roaring Twenties and the Jazz-age. This work was never published, we acquired it from the model’s descendants. Armstrong really excelled at these pastel close-up portraits, this is a lovely and fresh to the market example that captures the allure of the flapper girl effortlessly with a blue eyed flirty smile.

A Blue Eyed Beauty

Artist: Rolf Armstrong

An early cover pastel by Rolf Armstrong that served as the cover for The January 1916 issue of “American Magazine” featuring a lovely portrait of artist’s model Betty Lester. While Armstrong is best known today as “The Father of America Pin-up”, he created hundreds of covers for American magazines with titles as diverse as Photoplay, College Humor, The Saturday Evening Post and American Magazine.

Portrait of Betty Lester

Artist: Rolf Armstrong

World War II Home Front Honey by Rolf Armstrong Widely considered  “The Father of American Pin-Up”, Rolf Armstrong‘s luminous portraits of famous actresses and idealized girls-next-door made him one of the highest paid commercial artists in America; his pictures are noted for their grace, vibrancy, and indescribable lifelike quality. During the 1940s, Armstrong created a […]

I’ll Be Waiting

Artist: Rolf Armstrong

Rainbow Jewel Flowers This is a fun, c. 1950, unpublished pastel illustration by the Father of American Pin-Up, Rolf Armstrong. This well-rendered whimsical sketch features the artist’s muse and lifelong friend Jewel Flowers in an ethereal gown bursting with a kaleidoscope of rainbow colors. Armstrong created this pastel for Flowers as a gift and it […]

Rolf Armstrong Muse Jewel Flowers

Artist: Rolf Armstrong

Adorable Jewel Flowers This is a beautiful, c. 1950, unpublished pastel illustration by the Father of American Pin-Up, Rolf Armstrong. This well-rendered sketch features the artist’s muse and lifelong friend Jewel Flowers wearing a glamorous yellow gown and her mega-watt beaming smile. The pose and layout of this sketch bears a resemblance to Armstrong’s published […]

Adorable Jewel Flowers

Artist: Rolf Armstrong

Rolf Armstrong’s Final Brown & Bigelow Calendar Art This is an absolutely adorable pastel thumbnail sketch by the Father of American Pin-Up, Rolf Armstrong. Featuring the artist’s muse and lifelong friend Jewel Flowers, this pastel preliminary sketch would become the published calendar art titled “All Smiles”, which was Armstrong’s last commissioned work for Brown & […]

All Smiles Thumbnail Sketch

Artist: Rolf Armstrong

Albert Neville’s Flapper Girls This opulent and provocative pastel on board is one of the many art deco glamour girl illustrations Albert Neville created during his career as a movie magazine cover artist, and freelance calendar illustrator. Heavily inspired by the floating head flapper girls Rolf Armstrong specialized in during the 1920s, this shows a […]

Red Headed Flapper In Gold Scarf

Artist: Albert Neville

  A charming and warmly fraternal charcoal portrait of Jewel Flowers dated 1945, that was inscribed by the American artist Rolf Armstrong and given to the models parents – Mr. & Mrs. Colton Flowers. As a teenager Jewel Flowers was crowned “Miss Lumberton, North Carolina”, she moved to New York City at 17 after graduating […]

Jewel Flowers Inscribed Charcoal Portrait

Artist: Rolf Armstrong

 

Contact Grapefruit Moon Gallery