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.
This original oil on canvas painting, used as the cover for the January 1955 pulp digest, Imagination – Stories Of Science And Fantasy, offers a whimsical mid-century futuristic look at the then far-off year of 1990. The 1950s were abundant with delightfully optimistic and utopian visions of what future life would look like – works like […]
Artist: Harold McCauley
A remarkable, pulp cover painting by Harold H.W. McCauley for the Ziff-Davis science fiction pulp title Fantastic Adventures. Created as the cover for the July 1947 issue, illustrating the interior story “Goddess of the Golden Flame” by William P. McGivern. This is a dazzling work that combines suspense, peril and drama, with a […]
Artist: Harold McCauley
One of the earliest existing examples of Erté’s Art Deco cover illustrations for Harper’s Bazar, this gouache painting appeared in November 1918 under the title Les Bulles de Savon. The image showcases two chic Parisian ladies, icons of the new modernist turn, blowing bubbles in which are seen a parade of Edwardian and Art Nouveau fashions. A whimsical yet […]
Artist: Erté
A fresh-faced and fresh to market large format pin-up pastel illustration by the father of American pin-up, Rolf Armstrong, titled I’ll Say So. This flirtatious bathing beauty darling is one of the artist’s most iconic and popular enduring images. Created at the zenith of Armstrong’s artistic powers, this sassy brunette has a laser beam of a smile, and a sarong that […]
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
Erté, often called the father of Art Deco, described the style as “the confluence of Cubism and Art Nouveau.” Nowhere is that combination more clearly seen than in this gouache on board illustration painting, which appeared as the October 1923 “Annual Fall Fashion” cover of Harper’s Bazar. In “Les Parfums” a dramatic figure, costumed in an […]
Artist: Erte
An explosive, apocalyptic WWII battle scene rages in this lurid large format illustration painting by Bruce Minney which appeared as the cover for the October 1963 edition of For Men Only magazine. With its strong jawed GIs and busty damsels with dynamite, the cover slug line of “playgirls turned killers…” sexploitive narrative is on full display, […]
Artist: Bruce Minney
A fresh to the market, sexy and spirited Gil Elvgren oil painting created in 1952 for The Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company and published under the title Some Help!(Down,Boy). In this view of the model as artist, a curvy brunette in Parisian inspired attire is interrupted in her quest to create her masterpiece by the antics of […]
Artist: Gil Elvgren
A sultry brunette in a form fitting, canary yellow number cools herself with a personal pinwheel hand fan in this original oil on board pin-up painting by Peter Driben. Created as the cover of the February, 1946 edition of Titter magazine–a post-war pulp title that promised Girls, Gags and Giggles. Titter bridged the gap between the spicy pulp […]
Artist: Peter Driben
A deliriously sexy and erotically unhinged Alberto Vargas mixed media pin-up illustration for Playboy Magazine, this appeared on page 104 in the June, 1962 issue. A curvy and pretty new bride is seen in a moment of sudden clarity about to pack up for the divorce capital of the US in this spirited and brash […]
Artist: Alberto Vargas
Wouldn’t You Like To Know… is a large sultry original published pin-up calendar painting by the prolific and important American artist Fritz Willis. Willis was the last true star pin-up artist of the old guard, when illustrative pin-up reigned supreme in men’s magazines and calendars. The artist worked during the very tail end of the […]
Artist: Fritz Willis
