Heritage Auctions Search

Skip to main content

Go to accessibility options

JOSEPH CHRISTIAN LEYENDECKER (1874-1951)
Saturday Evening Post cover, November 24, 1928
Oil on canvas
28.5in. x 20.5in. (sight size)
Initialed lower left: JCL

As Michael Schau noted in J.C. Leyendecker, "Leyendecker painted his first Saturday Evening Post cover in 1899 and he continued to work for the magazine until 1943, creating 322 covers for The Post. The reputation gained as a result of his magazine covers established Leyendecker as one of America's most popular illustrators." This painting is reproduced on page 142 of Michael Schau's book. Leyendecker was elected to the Society of Illustrators' Hall of Fame in 1977.

This sensational painting shows America's evolution over three centuries of Thanksgiving holidays. From the accomplishments of the stern, pioneering, and freedom-fighting colonists of 1628, to the entertainments provided by the battered, yet playful grid-iron stalwarts of 1928, this blessed country has plenty to celebrate each November. Both figures regard each other as they are each given a heroic and monumental presence by Leyendecker. His vigorous and energetic brushwork bathes the figures in a sparkling light, creating a noble vision of pure Americana.
RKeywords: oil, painting, post , cover, football, portrait
Auction 604 | Lot: 25127 | Oct 29, 2004

Sold For: $98,587.50
ALBERTO VARGAS (American, 1896-1982)
Legacy Nude, First Playboy Pin-Up, March 1957
Watercolor on board
17.5 x 23 in.
Signed lower right

From the Estate of Charles Martignette.

Auction 5066 | Lot: 78399 | Oct 22, 2011

Sold For: $95,600.00

Make Offer to Owner
$200,000 or more
ROY LICHTENSTEIN (American, 1923-1997)
The assimiboins attacking a blackfoot village at fort mckenzies - 28 august 1833, circa 1951
Oil on canvas
18 x 24 inches (45.7 x 61.0 cm)
Signed lower right

Auction 5063 | Lot: 72045 | May 24, 2011

Sold For: $95,600.00

Make Offer to Owner
$150,000 or more
GARTH MONTGOMERY WILLIAMS (American, 1912-1996)
There was the handsome pig, and over him, woven neatly in block...
Auction 5038 | Lot: 78323 | Oct 15, 2010

Sold For: $95,600.00
GIL ELVGREN (American, 1914-1980)
A Fast Takeoff (A Speedy Takeoff), 1954
Oil on canvas
30 x 24 i...
Auction 5054 | Lot: 78097 | Aug 17, 2010

Sold For: $95,600.00
PHILIPPE HIQUILY (French, b. 1925)
Exceptional Office of Semi-Circular Form (Desk with Lamp), circa 196...
Auction 5014 | Lot: 73127 | Dec 11, 2008

Sold For: $95,600.00
GUY CARLETON WIGGINS (American, 1883-1962)
Union Square, Winter
Oil on canvas
25 x 30 inches (63....
Auction 5002 | Lot: 63153 | Nov 20, 2008

Sold For: $95,600.00
GIL ELVGREN (American, 1914-1980)
Golden Beauty, Brown & Bigelow calendar illustration, 1957
Oil on canvas
30 x 24 in.
Signed lower left

From the Estate of Charles Martignette.

Auction 5213 | Lot: 71126 | May 14, 2015

Sold For: $93,750.00

Make Offer to Owner
$140,625 or more
GIL ELVGREN (American, 1914-1980)
Dampened Doll, 1967
Oil on canvas
30 x 24 in.
Signed center ...
Auction 5066 | Lot: 78205 | Oct 22, 2011

Sold For: $89,625.00
ALBERTO VARGAS (American, 1896-1982)
Gold Carnation (Legacy Nude #9), 1940s
Watercolor and gouache on board
21.5 x 29.5 in.
Signed lower right

Auction 5052 | Lot: 78295 | Feb 12, 2011

Sold For: $89,625.00
FRANZ KLINE (American, 1910-1962)
Untitled, circa 1951
Oil on paper
8-3/8 x 10-3/4 inches (21.3 x...
Auction 5055 | Lot: 72030 | Oct 27, 2010

Sold For: $89,625.00
THORTON UTZ (American, 1914-1999)
Saturday Evening Post cover, May 30, 1959
Oil on board
39.5 x 2...
Auction 5038 | Lot: 78214 | Oct 15, 2010

Sold For: $89,625.00
JESSIE WILLCOX SMITH (American 1863 - 1935)
The Then Lover
Mixed-media on board
21.5 x 15.5 in.
Auction 7005 | Lot: 87057 | Mar 12, 2009

Sold For: $89,625.00
GIL ELVGREN (American 1914 - 1980)
Sitting Pretty, 1953
Oil on canvas
30 x 24 in.
Signed lower...
Auction 7001 | Lot: 88106 | Oct 15, 2008

Sold For: $89,625.00
GIL ELVGREN (American 1914 - 1980)
I Must Be Going To Waist (Waisted Effort), 1946, original pin up illustration
Oil...
Auction 677 | Lot: 58175 | Dec 12, 2007

Sold For: $89,625.00
HADDON SUNDBLOM (American 1899 - 1976)
Original pin up illustration for the Shaw-Barton Calendar Company, Coshocton, Ohio,...
Auction 677 | Lot: 58428 | Dec 12, 2007

Sold For: $89,625.00
ALBERTO VARGAS (1896-1982)
Original Pin-Up Art
American Fantasy, 1953
Watercolor on paper
29in. x 20in. (sight size)
Signed and dated lower right: Vargas, 1953

Feast your eyes on this sensational package! Here she is -- American Fantasy, the very first Vargas girl ever to appear in the pages of Playboy, and as the saying goes, you never forget your first time! The March, 1957 issue of Playboy featured Jon Campbell's ground-breaking pictorial, "The Vargas Girl." The spread opened with a large reproduction of American Fantasy, and it was a delicious taste of the "cheesecake" yet to come; reader response was so enthusiastic that starting with its September, 1960 issue, Playboy commissioned Vargas to produce a masterwork for each issue. Quoting from Campbell's paean, "The Forties belonged to Vargas and his Vargas Girl -- and we'll concede the Fifties too, if pressed. The Vargas Girl possesses something more than the sum of her perky parts; she is Anatomical Perfection, put together in a way certain to set the most unfeeling amongst us aquiver and amumbling in our Martinis." Indeed, Playboy had officially appointed Vargas its "High Priest of Va-Va-Voom."

The sensual, tactile qualities of the airbrush painting technique were showcased at their most perfect in American Fantasy. Pure color was applied as a fine mist, and the hues were carefully built up, even as forms were delicately modeled. The see-through, sheer fabric of the American Fantasy's negligee made her especially sultry and glamorous, in a most teasing manner, and her auburn hair glowed invitingly with its lustrous sheen. As Ray Bradbury noted in The Art of Playboy, for the U.S. male, Alberto Vargas often ran fevers with his selection of bonbons and midnight truffles. Ray quipped, "I don't know if this is what G.I. Joe was fighting for, but -- forgive me, ladies -- it was better than ap
Auction 604 | Lot: 25211 | Oct 29, 2004

Sold For: $89,625.00
GIL ELVGREN (American, 1914-1980)
Up in the Air (Whooooooosh!), 1965
Oil on canvas
30 x 24 in.
Signed lower left

From the Estate of Charles Martignette.

Auction 5087 | Lot: 78137 | Jun 27, 2012

Sold For: $86,500.00

Make Offer to Owner
$129,750 or more
NIKOLAI EFIMOVICH TIMKOV (Russian, 1912-1993)
Flowering Apple Tree , 1973
Oil on board
32 x 39 in...
Auction 5008 | Lot: 79073 | Jun 4, 2008

Sold For: $86,040.00

Make Offer to Owner
$129,060 or more
ALEXANDER CALDER (American, 1898-1976)
Vertical Loops, 1968
Gouache and ink on paper
43 x 29-1/2 inches (109.2 x 74.9 cm)
Signed and dated lower right: Calder 68

Auction 5063 | Lot: 72032 | May 24, 2011

Sold For: $83,650.00
JO BAER (American, b. 1929)
Untitled (Double Bar Orange), 1972
Oil on canvas
72 x 72 inches (182.9 x 182.9 cm)
Signed and dated on the reverse

Auction 5063 | Lot: 72035 | May 24, 2011

Sold For: $83,650.00
GIL ELVGREN (American, 1914-1980)
Curving Around (Sharp Curves), 1960
Oil on canvas
30 x 24 in.
Signed upper right

From the Estate of Charles Martignette.

Auction 5059 | Lot: 78101 | May 4, 2011

Sold For: $83,650.00
EARL MORAN (American, 1893-1984)
Marilyn
Pastel on board
30.75 x 22.5 in.
Signed lower right

Auction 5052 | Lot: 78201 | Feb 12, 2011

Sold For: $83,650.00
ROBERT MOTHERWELL (American, 1915-1991)
Spontaneity No. 4, 1966
Acrylic on paper
30-1/2 x 22-1/4 ...
Auction 5055 | Lot: 72032 | Oct 27, 2010

Sold For: $83,650.00
GIL ELVGREN (American, 1914-1980)
Smoke Screen, 1958
Oil on canvas
30 x 24. in.
Signed lower r...
Auction 5038 | Lot: 78045 | Oct 15, 2010

Sold For: $83,650.00
JESSIE WILLCOX SMITH (American, 1863-1935)
Checkers, Scribner's magazine illustration, December, 1902
Auction 7016 | Lot: 96281 | Oct 27, 2009

Sold For: $83,650.00
JOHN PHILIP FALTER (American 1910 - 1982)
Young Astronaut, Saturday Evening Post cover, June 20, 1953
Auction 7001 | Lot: 88120 | Oct 15, 2008

Sold For: $83,650.00
GIL ELVGREN (American 1914 - 1980)
On Her Toes, 1954
Oil on canvas
30 x 24 in.
Signed lower le...
Auction 7000 | Lot: 66096 | Jun 5, 2008

Sold For: $83,650.00
Francisco Zuñiga (Mexican, 1912-1998)
Silvia Nude, 1968
Onyx
13.25in. x 17.5in. x 10.5in.
Signed and dated lower right
...
Auction 631 | Lot: 30217 | May 24, 2006

Sold For: $83,650.00
JOSEPH CHRISTIAN LEYENDECKER (1874-1951)
Saturday Evening Post cover, October 19, 1935
Going South
Oil on canvas
29in. x 22in. (sight size)
Signed lower right: JC Leyendecker

Leyendecker titled his painting "Going South." Although Leyendecker's early Saturday Evening Post covers illustrated stories inside the issue, the vast majority of his later Post covers had more general and conceptualized themes such as "Fall," "Christmas," and "New Years." This painting is reproduced on page 155 of J.C. Leyendecker by Michael Schau.

Leyendecker studied at the Chicago Art Institute and the Acadamie Julian in Paris. This superb painting showcases Joseph Leyendecker's mastery of reflected light and color. The subject's shadowed forms are infused with a golden "fill light," so that the unlit hues never become dominated by stark value contrasts and lose their chromatic sparkle. This successful colorist approach to painting affected generations of illustrators and cartoonists for decades to come. The young Norman Rockwell was such an avid devotee of the Leyendecker Post covers, that, in Michael Schau's book, it was revealed, "Once Rockwell confided to a model, who had also worked for Leyendecker, that as a teenager in New Rochelle, New York, where the Leyendeckers later lived, Rockwell would take every opportunity just to catch a glimpse of Joe."

Keywords: oil, painting, post, African, American, humor, cover, portrait
Auction 604 | Lot: 25125 | Oct 29, 2004

Sold For: $83,650.00

Make Offer to Owner
$125,475 or more
GIL ELVGREN (American, 1914-1980)
"Doggone!", Brown & Bigelow calendar illustration, 1946
Oil on canvas
30 x 24 in.
Signed center right

Auction 5111 | Lot: 78246 | Oct 14, 2012

Sold For: $83,500.00
ROLF ARMSTRONG (American, 1889-1960)
The Enchantress, Brown & Bigelow calendar illustration
Oil on canvas
80 x 60 in.
Signed lower right

Auction 5145 | Lot: 78042 | Oct 26, 2013

Sold For: $81,250.00
ENOCH BOLLES (American, 1883-1976)
Sure to Make a Hit, Film Fun magazine cover, October 1935
Oil on ...
Auction 7015 | Lot: 87344 | May 6, 2010

Sold For: $80,662.50
NEWELL CONVERS WYETH (American, 1882-1945)
Memgumban Gets the Idea, Red Cross magazine story illustration, February 1920
Oil on canvas
30 x 42 in.
Signed lower left

Auction 5111 | Lot: 78161 | Oct 14, 2012

Sold For: $80,500.00
ANDY WARHOL (American, 1928-1987)
Marilyn, 1967
Color screenprint
35-7/8 x 35-7/8 inches (91.2 x 91.2 cm)
Ed. 167/250
Signed in pencil verso and stamp-numbered

Auction 5099 | Lot: 64051 | May 22, 2012

Sold For: $80,500.00
GIL ELVGREN (American, 1914-1980)
Upsetting Upset, 1969
Oil on canvas
30 x 24 in.
Signed cente...
Auction 7010 | Lot: 87123 | Jul 15, 2009

Sold For: $80,065.00
DAVID BATES (American, b. 1952)
Barbeque, 1982
Oil on canvas
96 x 76 inches (243.8 x 193.0 cm)
Signed lower right: Bates

Auction 5083 | Lot: 72033 | Oct 26, 2011

Sold For: $77,675.00
HELEN FRANKENTHALER (American, 1928-)
Santa Fe II, 1986
Mixed media on paper
22 x 30 inches (55.9...
Auction 5055 | Lot: 72035 | Oct 27, 2010

Sold For: $77,675.00
JOSEPH CHRISTIAN LEYENDECKER (American, 1874-1951)
Saturday Evening Post cover, December 24, 1921
Oi...
Auction 5038 | Lot: 78106 | Oct 15, 2010

Sold For: $77,675.00
ALBERTO VARGAS (American, 1896-1982)
Varga Girl, Esquire calendar illustration, February 1946
Waterc...
Auction 5054 | Lot: 78321 | Aug 17, 2010

Sold For: $77,675.00
GIL ELVGREN (American, 1914-1980)
The Final Touch (Keep 'Em Flying), 1954
Oil on canvas
30 x 24 i...
Auction 7015 | Lot: 87388 | May 6, 2010

Sold For: $77,675.00

Make Offer to Owner
$116,512 or more
ALBERTO VARGAS (American, 1896-1982)
Reverie, c. 1923
Watercolor on paper
27 x 10.5 in.
Signed...
Auction 7015 | Lot: 87551 | May 6, 2010

Sold For: $77,675.00
CHESLEY BONESTELL (American, 1888-1986)
Saturn Viewed from Titan, c. 1952
Oil on board
18.25 x 23...
Auction 7015 | Lot: 87117 | May 6, 2010

Sold For: $77,675.00
JOSEPH CHRISTIAN LEYENDECKER (American, 1874-1951)
New Years 1910, Saturday Evening Post cover, January...
Auction 7016 | Lot: 96171 | Oct 27, 2009

Sold For: $77,675.00
ALBERTO VARGAS (American, 1896-1982)
Pin-up, 1928
Mixed media on board
38 x 26 in.
Signed lower left
...
Auction 7016 | Lot: 96315 | Oct 27, 2009

Sold For: $77,675.00
FRANK MCCARTHY (American, 1924-2002)
By the Snow Moon, 1978
Oil on canvas laid on board
24 x 36 i...
Auction 5019 | Lot: 38131 | Jul 16, 2009

Sold For: $77,675.00
JACK THURSTON (American 20th Century)
One Million Years B. C., 1966
Gouache on board
34 x 24 in.<...
Auction 7000 | Lot: 66330 | Jun 5, 2008

Sold For: $77,675.00
MAURICE SENDAK (American b. 1928)
Wild Things Backdrop Landscape
Ink and watercolor on paper
15.5...
Auction 7005 | Lot: 87051 | Mar 12, 2009

Sold For: $74,687.50

1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Results per page: 24 48 72