Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

suspenseful

A haunting and epic large scale finely detailed and tonally impacting oil on canvas painting by Charles E. Chambers. An Orientalist Black Market alter scene that utilizes ochre and umber tones in a dark and menacing suspense filled manner. This was an interior illustration for “Sons” the second book in the Good Earth trilogy by Pulitzer Prize winning author Pearl S. Buck. This eerie and emotionally powerful image illustrates a pivotal scene in which the Wang family, having lost their fortune through opium promiscuity, is forced to sell their village estate and its contents, in a black market auction of sorts.

Before the Altar

Artist: Charles Edward Chambers

A dark, masterfully suspenseful, photo-realist in technique painting by noted American illustrator and avant-garde filmmaker Douglass Crockwell. This menacing oil on board was likely used as an interior illustration in an American slick magazine such as The Saturday Evening Post, or Colliers. Crockwell was a gifted and precise artist, his advertising accounts included Coca-Cola, GE and US Steel.

The Captive

Artist: Douglass Crockwell

A rare original Norman Saunders cover painting created for a 1950s era pulp publication. Saunders created a similarly composed Black Mask pulp cover in 1950 with essentially the same scene. This is a defining example of the suspense and danger that are the trademarks of Saunders masterful noir cover paintings. The painting has been estate stamped by the artist’s daughter and work is nicely and professionally framed.

A Masquarading Jewel Thief

Artist: Norman Saunders

 

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