Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

satirical

This original cover painting by noted Russian American illustrator Constantin Alajalov was created for the March 21, 1936 edition of The New Yorker magazine. In the scene, what remains of a crowd of concert goers (most seem to have already taken to the exits) respond in typically divergent ways to a hunched over “lost in the moment” concert pianist who has turned away from the immortal sounds of Johann Bach to offer likely more personal yet less successful selections. Alajalov created over 70 covers in his iconic style for this Conde-Nast publication and also contributed cover art for The Saturday Evening Post.

New Yorker Cover

Artist: Constantin Alajalov
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This Everett Shinn pencil & gouache artwork offers a humorous take on class relations, and seemingly, the effects of intoxication. A well-heeled gentleman is shown face down in the grass as an unflappable butler bends down to assess the situation. Shinn was renowned for his ability to capture the minute distinctions of society and debauchery, and this artwork displays his fluid and lively style.

Yes, Sir

Artist: Everett Shinn
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This jazz age artwork from the late fall of 1924 smartly blends Halloween season & boxing as a metaphor for the presidential election of that November. In this vibrant gouache, used as a cover for “The Brooklyn Eagle Sunday Magazine,” an Uncle Sam-inspired ring girl attempts to keep the peace between the two parties. This is a spirited roaring 20s time capsule.

A Political Halloween Party

Artist: Charles Verschuuren
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A technically dazzling pen & ink drawing by Heinrich Kley titled “Electrodämonen,” translated “Electric Demons.” A brooding and troubling satire on the machine age and ongoing industrialization. This captures Kley’s technical brilliance and foreshadows the later science fiction pulp drawings of Virgil Finlay. Kley, whose work first appeared in Die Jugend in 1908 caught the eye of Walt Disney in 1937 and Kley inspired much of the animation of Fantasia. This drawing appears as a full page plate in The Drawings of Heinrich Kley.

Electric Demons

Artist: Heinrich Kley
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A sharp, scathing political commentary on the heartlessness of tycoons, barons and monopolists. Depicting a fat cat industrialist sitting on top of the world wih his east coast riches dreaming from behind binoculars of otherworldly conquests as he crushes the masses beneath him. A commsissioned illustration presumably for an early issue of Life Magazine, the image captures with wonderful humor the anti-Eastern, trust-busting late Progressive culture of the early 20th century. Work is beautifully framed and matted.

Fat Cat On Top Of the World

Artist: Orson Lowell
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An unusual pen & ink drawing by famed William Randolph Hearst illustrator Nell Brinkley, creator of the Brinkley Girl. This intricately detailed 1931 illustration offers satirical social commentary on the deliterious effects the ongoing Great Depression was having on economic health around the world. In this lighter take on troubled times, an enchanting Brinkley Girl and other assorted imp-ish friends try to soften the stern face on “Old Man Depression.”

Old Man Depression

Artist: Nell Brinkley
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An unusual pen & ink drawing by pre-eminent William Randolph Hearst illustrator Nell Brinkley. This intricately detailed 1932 illustration offers satirical social commentary on the deliterious effects the ongoing Great Depression was having on economic health around the world. In this lighter take on troubled times, three Brinkley Girls are depicted nursing the ailing globe back to health.

Political Great Depression Brinkley Girl Illustration

Artist: Nell Brinkley
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