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.
A sensational original signed and dated 1912 painting by Edmund Dulac published as the fourth plate in the Hodder & Stougton edition of The Bells and Other Poems by Edgar Allan Poe. A master of early 20th century illustrations, Dulac is known for his mysterious and compelling depictions of fairytales and imagined lands. Pictured […]
Artist: Edmund Dulac
A dazzling Hollywood glamour pastel portrait of the always radiant Carole Lombard by Zoe Mozert used as the cover for the April 1936 edition of Screen Book Magazine. This published cover illustration is signed lower right and matted behind glass in its original limed wood and black enamel painted art deco moderne frame. Really a […]
Artist: Zoe Mozert
A very large, bright and breathtaking nude pin-up created by Rolf Armstrong in 1939-40. Possibly deemed too risque for publication, this provocative work features a sensational rich cobalt blue and crimson red color palette. A wonderful candlelight view of a divine glamour girl seen scandalously nude through her crinoline wrap. This monumental pastel is one of only a handful of nudes by this iconic and prolific American illustrator and The Father of American Pin-up.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
Alberto Vargas’ first work for Playboy Magazine appeared September of 1960, exactly one year before the publication of this artwork. In this flirtatious view, a pretty brunette in a diaphanous pink nightgown smiles to the viewer after applying red lipstick to her full lips. This was generously gifted by Hugh Hefner and Playboy Magazine to an Easter Seals charity telethon auction in Chicago in the 1970s. This work was chosen specifically by the foundation, which wanted an image that could be shown on TV.
Artist: Alberto Vargas
Grapefruit Moon Gallery is delighted to offer Gil Elvgren’s original 1953 oil painting “Aw-Come On,” which was commissioned and completed for The Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company. One of the artist’s more enduring and popular pin-up images, this artwork features frequent model Myrna Hansen posed as a matador of sorts attempting to use her feminine wiles to persuade her disinterested poodle pup to take a turn in the ring.
Artist: Gil Elvgren
This never before offered for sale, large original Gil Elvgren calendar pin-up painting was originally commissioned by the Brown & Bigelow calendar company in 1950 for their “Miss Sylvania” advertising line. The stylized cobalt blue and neon light idealized view of Midtown Manhattan with The Sylvania Building ablaze in the night underscore the importance of the lighting and electric company to the city that never sleeps.
Artist: Gil Elvgren
This 1937 dazzling and fresh (both in scene and technique) original mixed medium illustration painting by George Petty first appeared in Esquire Magazine as a full page color cartoon. It also was published as the first image of a spiral bound folio titled “Petty – A Portfolio from Esquire”. One of the crown jewels from the estate of Charles Martignette. The work is framed and matted behind glass and is a defining example of the lithe and modernist Art Deco Petty Girl.
Artist: George Petty
This 1953 deliriously sexy nude pin-up oil painting by Gil Elvgren for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company dates to the artist’s best period. This image was used in a deck of playing cards under the title Cee Bee (To Hold) Fascinating Figures and is pictured as figure 251 in Gil Elvgren All His Glamorous American Pin-Ups by Charles G. Martignette and Louis K. Meisel. From the Estate of Charles Martignette.
Artist: Gil Elvgren
This important and defining oil on canvas portrait features a stylized Mata Hari in the midst of one of her sensual, almost trance-like dances. The highly moody piece is a wonderful example of the 1900-1915 century Spanish modernismo movement by Anselmo Miguel Nieto, one of its brightest talents. This classically inspired yet fully modern painting applies formal chiaroscuro technique (the exaggerated use of light and dark to create a dramatic perspective) to one of the great courtesans of early 20th century Europe to create a sexually and politically subversive yet beautiful work.
Artist: Anselmo Miguel Nieto
Legendary American pin-up illustrator Earl Moran was one of the first to discover a muse in the iconic Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe. During the late 1940s Monroe famously worked as a pin-up model for the Blue Book agency, posing under her real name of Norma Jeane Dougherty. After Moran transitioned away from the hectic life of a calendar artist to focus on his fine art painting, he revisited Marilyn, who was by then a platinum blonde Hollywood bombshell, through an arrangement with The Aaron Brothers Galleries, Laguna Beach CA.
Artist: Earl Moran
