John Pike

Baghdad Military Mystery Espionage Illustration Colliers , Saturday Evening Post

1950

"Shine On, Virginia Woolf!" Cover illustration for The New York Times Book Review, published June 8, 1997. Airbrush on paper with mylar overlay with mar...

A turn-of-the-century fantasy illustration by female illustrator May Audubon Post features a charming fairy with expanded wings resting on Lilly s...

Arnold Finkel Gallery, Philadelphia, PA Heritage Some slight fading. Mounted to illustration board, Could be Unframed - Not sure if it is framed but the frame is old with wear. Reco...

This early work from 1955 by Dong Kingman N.A. is as surreal as it is a document of a place. The artist effectively captures a slice of American urban life but constructs the compo...

Mid-century artist Lawrence Kupferman paints a madly eerie New York street scene. An exaggerated upward view of two 19th-century walk-ups is split by a forced perspective of a downwa...

This cartoon by Charles Addams is generations ahead of its time. To get the punch line, you need to know the meaning of a Satyr or Pan. Satyr: Part man and part beast. - A male nature spirit with ears and a tail resembling those of a horse, as well as a permanent, exaggerated permanent erection. Early artistic representations sometimes include horse-like legs; Satyrs were characterized by their vulgar, indecent ribaldry, and were rowdy lovers of wine, music, dancing, and women. They inhabited remote locales, such as woodlands, and they often attempted to seduce or rape nymphs and mortal women alike. It's prudish 1950s America, where TV programs show husband and wife sleeping in separate beds. The discussion and representation of sex was repressed. To make a bold statement about censorship and the uncompromising moral climate of the time, Addams uses a reference from the mythical world to make a statement about the real world. In doing so, he anticipates the sexual revolution of the late 1960s and 1970s. The satyr/pan symbolizes nonconformistism. He has his own earthy customs, attitudes, and ideas. Because of that is being handcuffed and formally taken away by the state whose goal is to repress natural erotic fun and frolic that is ubiquitous in todays society. A proper and perfectly pressed Park Ranger cleans out a lustful undesirable from pristine woodlands. With startled expressions, a vulnerable family of correct women witness the event as they are about to have a picnic. The Satyr grasps his Pipes of Pan just over his crotch. The background is populated by phallic symbols. This is one a the rare instances where Addams address the issue of sex. The Ranger is a dead ringer as a self portrait of Addams. Original illustration for a cartoon, showing a uniformed ranger leading away a manacled satyr, in front of a startled picnic party. Ink and grisaille wash on Whatman cold press illustration board, signed "Chas Addams...

Hans Dvořák (19th century). Shady hollow way in a sunny forest. Watercolour and pen-and-ink drawing, 58.5 x 43 cm (visible size), 70 x 55.5 cm (frame), signed and dated "Hans Dvořák ...

Adalbert Holzer (1881 Munich - 1966 Munich). Wettersteinkamm. Watercolour, 29 x 34.5 cm (visible size), 37.5 x 43 cm (frame), signed and dated at lower right 'ADALBERT HOLZER [19]23'. Framed behind glass. Frame shows signs of wear. - The blue of the mountains - About the artwork The Wetterstein ridge is revealed to the viewer from a gentle, snow-covered hill. In contrast to conventional depictions of mountains, the painting is composed entirely of shades of blue, which condense into the blue-grey of the rock or fade into the white of the snow. As a complementary colour to the blue, Holzer virtuously activates the ochre ground. The uniform yet exciting polarity of the colours emphasises the massive majesty of the mountains and at the same time underlines the special character of the Wetterstein ridge. Holzer transferred the translucency of glass painting, in which he was originally trained, to watercolour and developed a pictorial language related to the art of Ferdinand Hodler, which earned him the nickname 'Master of Blue' and led to the appreciation of his watercolours in particular. About the artist After an apprenticeship as a stained glass painter at the Kunstgewerbeschule, Adalbert Holzer studied at the Munich Art Academy under Carl von Marr...

Charles Edward Brittan Jr (1870 Plymouth - 1949). High moor landscape in the fog. Gouache, signed at lower left "Charles E. Brittan", 18 x 34.5 cm (passepartout), 45 x 62 cm (frame)....

Theodor Scheerbaum (1897 Reichenbach im Vogtland), Wind Dodgers at the Baltic Sea. Watercolor on strong yellowish grained paper, 44 x 56 cm, signed by hand "Th[eodor] Scheerbaum" at ...

Unknown Artist (Bowman) (early twentieth century) Girl with Roses Watercolor on paper, 5 x 8 inches Framed: 13 x 16 inches Signed and dated at lower right: “Bowman/.06”

A. Mattolini (Italian, early twentieth century) The Chestnut Vendor Watercolor on paper, 12 3/4 X 9 inches Signed at lower left: “A Mattolini”