Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
Featured within The Golden Gallery are works by influential artists such as Rolf Armstrong, Gil Elvgren and Earl Moran. These important paintings represent the pinnacle of illustration art , we trust you will enjoy this curated selection of genre-defining examples and unsurpassed rarities from the Grand Age of American Illustration.
Dating to 1950, this dazzling colorful original paperback cover was painted by George Gross for Quarter Books #57, The Virgin And The Barfly. Illustrating a scene from the novel by Gerald Foster (one of many likely pseudonyms of the prolific Peggy Gladdis), this is a splashy, trashy, and altogether irresistible example of sleaze paperback […]
Artist: George Gross
Seen gamely climbing into a larger than life pipe threader in ballet slippers and skimpy pink apron, this redheaded Petty girl is an unlikely yet alluring gearhead. A published mixed media pin-up illustration by George Petty which appeared as a calendar for Ridgid Tools in September of 1952, as part of his […]
Artist: George Petty
Randolph Hearst commissioned this fine original oil on illustration board from Henry Clive for the cover of the American Weekly Magazine as part of Clive’s Pin Up Girls of History series, which reinvisioned contemporary starlet beauties as notorious vixens from throughout the past. In this example, the lovely 20th Century Fox film star Gene Tierney C. […]
Artist: Henry Clive
This unusual example of a science fiction themed menace pulp illustration by the talented artist Lawrence Sterne Stevens was created as cover art for the July 1948 issue of Fantastic Novels. Renowned for his grotesque imaginative horror art, and often compared to contemporary Virgil Finlay, Stevens was named after his father–a deeply religious preacher–and signed […]
Artist: Lawrence Sterne Stevens
This lighthearted cheesecake pin up illustration graced the January 1956 page of Bill Randall’s wildly popular “Randall’s Date Book” 12 page calendar series. For his “Date Book” commissions, Randall played off the success of the Brown & Bigelow Calendar company’s yearly Artist Sketch Pad pin up calendar, while adding his own charm and whimsy. Work […]
Artist: Bill Randall
A wildly erotic and revealed pin-up girl cover painting by the well regarded and prolific American illustrator and cover artist Paul Rader, for the 1960 Midwood Book titled “The Blonde”. Part of what is today considered the golden age of lesbian pulp fiction, “The Blonde” tells the story of a tormented working girl who finds […]
Artist: Paul Rader
A patriotic red, white and blue in color 1940s WWII era original pin-up painting by the prolific calendar artist Walt Otto. A darling depiction of a curvy brunette pin-up girl bowling, in sexy Victory Girl attire. Otto made a career of creating the active type pin-up, his paintings appeared twice as covers for the Saturday […]
Artist: Walt Otto
A classic situational cheesecake pin up mishap unfolds in this original Louis F. Dow calendar painting by the Chicago area artist Charles Showalter titled “High & Dry.” The lovely nude is caught, high, and perhaps now dry after removing her clothes. Grapefruit Moon Gallery recently acquired this and several other Louis F. Dow published calendar […]
Artist: Charles Showalter
An original oil painting by Earl Moran for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company used as a March 1947 calendar girl with caption that read “My teacher says I’m quite advanced – For one so young in years. And that the answers that I know – Should vanish all my fears.” This image also appeared […]
Artist: Earl Moran
An unabashedly pure cheesecake situational pin up painting by Harry Ekman likely for The Shaw-Barton Calendar Company of Coshocton, Ohio. In this summertime sizzling scene, a pin up dream–clad only in the skimpiest negligee–finds herself at the fuse-box. The combination of the model’s attempt to keep cool with only a fan and her revealing see […]
Artist: Harry Ekman
