Elvgren and Nagel Among Masters Represented at Heritage Auctions' Illustration Art Auction

DALLAS, Texas - A stunning array of pin-ups will be featured among the most coveted lots in Heritage Auctions’ Illustration Art Auction Oct. 13 in Dallas, Texas. Gil Elvgren’s 1947 Vision of Beauty (est. $100,000-150,000) is one of the very rare nude oil compositions by Elvgren, one of the most prolific pin-up artists in American Illustration Art history, the creator of more than 500 paintings of beautiful women who was revered by later pin-up artists as an unquestioned master of the genre.

Patrick Nagel’s 1985 Bold (est. $60,000-80,000) was consigned by one of his original gallerists. Because he only painted on stretched canvas for less than three years, Nagel’s paintings on stretched canvas are particularly rare.

Gil Elvgren’s 1946 We Had a Little Falling Out (est. $30,000-50,000) is a fresh-to-the-market find with exceptional provenance, having resided with the same family for about 60 years. The painting, which was reproduced as “figure 176” in Gil Elvgren All His Glamorous American Pin-Ups, by Charles G. Martignette and Louis K. Meisel, shows a woman straddling a capsized (upside down) canoe in shallow water, with water dripping from her hair and the shirt she is wringing out in her hands, indicating that she was in the canoe when it flipped. The original advertisement said, “Be careful on July the fourth. It pays to stop and think. Don’t play with firecrackers or you’ll end up in the drink.”

Hugh Joseph Ward’s 1942 Undercover Man, Private Detective magazine cover (est. $25,000-30,000) is an exceptional piece from the pulp genre - fiction magazines that started being published in 1896 and survived until the 1950s. His cover art - including this example - frequently included a beautiful woman (often modeled by his wife) fleeing from some kind of monster, or as is the case here, some sinister thug.

Patrick Nagel’s 1982 Susan (est. $20,000-30,000) was given by Nagel to the model who posed for this image nearly 35 years ago. Nagel is known best for his illustrations for Playboy magazine and for the artwork he did for pop group Duran Duran, for whom he designed the cover of the best-selling album Rio. Nagel’s trademark 1980s style can be traced back to early 20th-century graphic and art deco design.

Other top lots are expected to include, but are not limited to:

·         Howard A. Terpning’s Desert Storm (est. $15,000-25,000)

·         Robert McGinnis’ 2002 Casino Royale, original DVD illustration (est. $15,000-25,000)

·         Howard A. Terpning’s Cliff Hanger (est. $8,000-12,000)

·         Charles Samuel Addams’ 1884 We’ll Feel Right At Home. The Travel Guide Says There Are Bats in the Belfry (est. $8,000-12,000)

·         Arthur Burdett Frost’s Mulvaney’s Muley Cow, Harper’s Weekly cartoon est. $8,000-12,000)

·         Norman Saunders’ 1950 Glitter Street Nightmare, Black Mask magazine cover (est. $8,000-12,000)

·         Gil Elvgren’s We Had A Little Falling Out Preliminary (est. $2,000-3,000)

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