Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
A handsome interior illustration by the Austrian-born female artist and illustrator Tracy Porter Rudd, which appeared as a bookplate with the title “But still I love to think in some Dream-Aiden She wanders…”, for the poem “Pearls” in The Ring of Love and Other Poems by Brookes More, Boston: Cornhill Publishing, (1923). The artist settled […]
Artist: Tracy Porter Rudd
Price: Sold
An early dated 1886 arwork by Will Hicok Low, in deep sepia monochromatic tones with the young winged lovers Cupid & Psyche in amorous embrace.
Artist: Will Hicock Low
Price: Sold
Patten Wilson, the British Art Nouveau illustrator and fine artist created this immaculately detailed and haunting watercolor on paper for use as frieze panel decoration for a high end wallpaper company. At the turn of the 20th century, lavishly decorated Victorian homes would feature rooms filled with fine art wall-coverings that recalled the symbolist mural […]
Artist: Patten Wilson
Price: Sold
A macabre and dark highly inventive large format gouache illustration painting by Harrison Fisher used as a full color book plate in the 1907 edition of “A Dream of Fair Women” by Lord Alfred Tennyson. In this scene our maiden fair has just completed lent and prepares to give the devil his due and go out ballroom dancing in revealing for the day, corseted attire. This is a classic Harrison Fisher painting and a wonderful and historically impactful example of late Victorian period imagery where traditional customs are seen colliding with a less restrained, more promiscuous Edwardian vision of femininity.
Artist: Harrison Fisher
Price: Sold
A large, Victorian era, original watercolor on illustration board by frequent LIFE Magazine illustrator, Charles Howard Johnson. This was most likely an interior, 2-page, color plate illustration for Truth Magazine. A stylized Belle Epoque, old world gondola scene. Nicely framed in a large, period, gesso wood frame.
Artist: Charles Howard Johnson
Price: Sold
A large and fabulous original illustration painting by Eric Pape used in “The Fair God” by Lew Wallace as a bookplate (page 462, with the caption “She gave him the signal”).
Pape is best remembered as a prolific illustrator of children’s books and historical fantasies, as well as an artistic contributor to Scribner’s, Cosmopolitan, and Century Magazine. After opening his own illustration school in 1898, he taught N.C. Wyeth, whose style is influenced by Pape’s own.
Artist: Eric Pape
Price: Sold
A monumental and important original large pastel illustration on stretched canvas by James Ross Bryson, executed in 1914 for The Thos. D. Murphy Calendar Company of Red Oak Iowa under the title “Reverie in Green”. Bryson was an influential and supremely gifted and handsomely paid American Illustrator who earned a hefty $200.00 per commission for images of his risque for the day, modern enchantress themed Art Nouveau Maiden depictions. This work is housed in it’s original wide solid mahogany gold gilt lined antique frame and is properly lined behind glass.
Artist: J. Ross Bryson
Price: Sold
A charming and vanguard view of the generation gap which incited “The Jazz Age”. Boomerang, which in the 1910s was synonymous with backfire, was a key flashpoint term of the era, since the older generation found all their efforts to instill their Victorian values on their children failed drastically. This lovely watercolor work is by Rose O’Neill, the most famous and prolific female illustrator of the early 1900’s. She is best remembered for her creation the Kewpie doll.
Artist: Rose O'Neill
Price: S O L D
A large Victorian watercolor by famed illustrator Albert Beck Wenzell featuring an Art Nouveau virginal beauty surrounded by putti shown in idyllic purity with nimbis overhead. Wenzell is best known for his 1903 illustrated book The Passing Show. He also created stunning murals for the New Amsterdam Theater in New York City at the turn of the last century and was a cover artist for leading early 20th century magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post.
Artist: Albert Wenzell
Price: S O L D
A festive Christmas-themed Great Depression avoiding original illustration by John Holmgren for the December 1933 edition of Judge Magazine. A Victorian-themed, carriage-driven, jolly portrayal of a more well to do less menacing time in American society. A complete printed issue of the magazine accompanies the painting.
Artist: John Holmgren
Price: Sold
