Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration
A large original pen & ink illustration by the important Belle Epoque era poster and book illustrator Louis Rhead. This likely was done for Harper’s or Century Magazine. A great large rendering in the Art Nouveau manner and a rare surviving original illustration work by the great New York based prolific and gifted illustrator and artist.
Artist: Louis Rhead
This Orson Lowell scene of a flapper couple ice yachting with the unexpected help of a pierrot deckhand was presumably created as a cover painting for Collier’s magazine.
Artist: Orson Lowell
A remarkable, large, signed and dated 1929 oil painting by one of the leading “cabin art” calendar artists Frank Stick. Known best for his genre illustrations for the Thomas D. Murphy Calendar Company, Stick also worked for many early 20th century magazine titles including Collier’s, Sports Afield and The Saturday Evening Post creating rugged outdoorsman scenes culled from his own experiences. This is a unique offering by the artist, featuring a pretty Pre-Raphaelite Viking mother and her newborn child emerging from a long winter, a cherished example from the Charles Martignette collection.
Artist: Frank Stick
Evoking Little Red Riding Hood with an ominous mood and maiden in brightly colored cape, this art nouveau winter-scape shows a determined maiden walking through a snow covered forest, a masterful example from belle époque artist extraordinaire Louis Rhead. Though Rhead, like many of the popular illustrators of the period, did illustrate a version of the […]
Artist: Louis Rhead
This original gouache painting by Henry Clive was used as the cover of Randolph Hearst’s American Weekly Magazine, August 6, 1944. One from a series of covers that glorified the beauty of women from the cultures America found itself allied with during the dark days of World War II, Global Glamour presented a rare opportunity for Clive to depict women from a variety of races in the guise of pin up and glamour art.
Artist: Henry Clive
In this nostalgic themed oil and graphite on board, Bill Medcalf offers a view of a sleigh arriving at a rural family home. Evoking memories of ancestral Christmases past, the scene features a smiling group of three generations of kin enjoying a snowy morning. The mustached man and woman holding a baby are featured in many images created by Medcalf, and presumably these were intended to become a year long calendar, which tells a story of a family through time.
Artist: William Medcalf
A spirited Christmas seasonal advertising painting from the 1940s in the style of Chicago artist Haddon Sundblom. This commercial advertising illustration was created for an as of yet unidentified ad campaign in the Sundblom Shop/Chicago Studios aesthetic. It is our belief that this was painted by Sundblom himself.
Artist: Haddon Sundblom (attributed)
A dark, macabre and cleverly rendered gouache cover illustration by Ed Emshwiller for The January 1956 Ellery Queens’s Mystery Magazine. An expertly rendered rare surviving example of this vanguard artist’s cover mastery and peculiar set of defining talents. A published example of the book is included in the sale and the work is beautifully matted and framed and ready to enjoy.
Artist: Emsh
A whimsical snow scene pastel illustration by Rolf Armstrong which initially appeared as the cover for College Humor in December of 1929. This image was slightly altered by Armstrong and appeared again in 1936 as a Brown & Bigelow Calendar titled “The Call of the North”. The pastel was dedicated to Stan Fenelle another Brown & Bigelow artist by Armstrong and is a new to the market Saint Paul Minnesota estate find. Work is matted and framed in a period art deco era Newcomb-Macklin antique gold carved frame.
Artist: Rolf Armstrong
A rare and outstanding situational pin-up painting used as calendar art for The Louis F. Dow Calendar Co., circa 1940’s- 50’s. Image is playfully titled Snowshoes it also appeared as a calendar print titled Alask-Ann. This was purchased by a gentleman the day he got back from the Viet Nam War in the early 1970’s. The Dow Calendar Company rented a downtown Saint Paul hotel and sold off their paintings and original calendar art at $50.00 a painting! This is a major find and has never been on the market since it was purchased thirty years ago. He created the “Wonder Bread Girl” in the 1950’s using his daughter Nancy as his model. His portrait of President Dwight D. Eisenhower is in the Smithsonian institution in Washington D.C.
Artist: Vaughan Bass
