Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
A Courtroom Circus by Jack Levitz Circus Performers on Trial Before Three Judges is a large, colorful, and well-executed 1930s Art Deco-era fine art oil painting by the Lithuanian-American artist Jack Levitz. A Jewish immigrant who settled in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Levitz’s social realist/Ashcan School style recalls George Luks and Everett Shinn. This […]
Artist: Jack Levitz
Price: Sold
This large, colorful, and bustling painting by the prolific American artist Louis Glanzman appeared in the April 26, 1952 issue of Collier’s magazine, illustrating “Honkytonk – U.S.A.” by William Slocum. In this scathing analysis, the honkytonk is described in great and scandalous detail as a lawless den of sin, whose unscrupulous owners prey on male weakness, hiring low-class strippers […]
Artist: Louis Glanzman
Price: SOLD
The Main Attraction is a large, colorful, and very well-executed 1930s art deco-era fine art oil painting by the Lithuanian-American artist Jack Levitz. A Jewish immigrant who settled in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Levitz’s social realist/Ashcan School style recalls George Luks and Everett Shinn. This oil on canvas shows a seedy New York City theater, with a writhing burlesque dancer bathed in […]
Artist: Jack Levitz
Price: Sold
A delightful pen & ink drawing of a flirty coquettish lass who goes by the name of “The Tango Girl”. In all ways this appears to be an artwork by Nell Brinkley though it is inscribed “Mae Howers”, not sure if this perhaps was the model? The image, style, handwriting and era all point to this being the work of Nell Brinkley.
Artist: After Nell Brinkley
Price: Sold
A finely executed dated 1927 pen & ink illustration on board by Cardwell Higgins with inventive art deco style. A Persian attired Orientalist showgirl is depicted in a burlesque vaudeville-era Ziegfeld Follies inspired theatrical production. The work recalls the erotic and stylized pen & ink works of British artist Aubrey Beardsley.
Artist: Cardwell Higgins
Price: Sold
This Pierrot-inspired flapper girl pastel was created by Henry Clive as cover art for a Hollywood Comedy Club burlesque program. With a mischevious glint in her eye, the smiling blond embodies the devil-may-care ethos of the early jazz age. After moving to California to work in silent films, Clive was very much a part of the Hollywood social scene. This original pastel is an early example of his fraternal pursuits, and includes a faint dedication to a fellow member of the Hollywood Comedy Club for which this was created.
Artist: Henry Clive
Price: S O L D
An early fabulous pen & ink drawing by Cardwell Higgins in the art deco manner titled “Siamese Dancers”, possibly a commissioned work for use by Paramount Films where the artist was under contract in the late 1920s. Higgins completed a series of like minded costumed art deco pen & ink drawings between the years of 1927 – 1929 that were re-marketed as a series of limited edition art prints under the guidance of Charles Martignette in 1979. The work is finely matted and framed behind glass in a handsome art deco black and silver fine gallery frame.
Artist: Cardwell Higgins
Price: Sold
A dazzling, large oil on canvas painting by frequent Saturday Evening Post cover artist Frederic Stanley. This wild prohibition-era, Charleston-dancing, Roaring Twenties flapper girl celebrates a Loew’s Theatre New York Policeman’s Ball Burlesque show. This is a wonderfully rendered artwork and a piece of New York history originally owned by Eve Green, the first wife of hotel magnate Harry Helmsley. Created for the cover of the program associated with this 1926 review, this important work showcases the 1920s jazz-age aesthetic of Manhattan’s bustling Vaudeville/Burlesque social scene.
Artist: Frederic Stanley
Price: S O L D
A macabre gouache rendering by Mahlon Blaine for an as of yet undetermined publication. A highly charged noir erotic scene depicting a Vaudeville era Burlesque performer in allegorical temptation scene. The devil, with serpent’s tongue is shown behind a nude dancer representing temptation. The two figures left and right are shown as stand ins for good and evil. Blaine was a unique talent, and counter culture avant-garde artist who worked outside of the confines of the mainstream.
Artist: Mahlon Blaine
Price: S O L D
A roaring 20’s flapper girl in a tophat tames a pair of tigers with her feminine guiles. Most likely a cover for a spicy pulp or early vaudeville era magazine. Artwork is mindful of similar covers by Earle K . Bergey, Otto Grenier or H.J. Ward. Like much pulp cover art, this work is unsigned.
Artist: Unknown
Price: S O L D
