Robert Funk Fine Art

With vibrant yellows and oranges, the artist depicts workers unloading sacks of cargo off of a sailboat. Incised with bold lines that give a lively surface. Encaustic/ Mixed Media.. ...

In the present work, famed Playboy Cartoonist Smilby redefines what a "Threesome" is. Here, a "Threesome" represents three women for one man, not a total of three participants. Hence...

Elmer Simms Campbell was a brilliant illustrator and cartoon artist and was also the first African American cartoonist to be nationally syndicated in major newsstand magazines such a...

E. Simms Campbell was the first African-American illustrator/ cartoonist published in nationally distributed, slick magazines, he created Esky, the familiar pop-eyed mascot of Esquire. This early work of 1930 was done on assignment for an interior page of Life Magazine. It features two Rowing teams engaged in spirited competition with cheering onlookers. This is a highly stylized black-and-white illustration and is masterfully executed. The work is composed of two illustrations, 6 x 9 inches and 2-3/4 x 2 inches respectively. It is initialed center bottow ESC. unframed Campbell left the University of Chicago and transferred to and received his degree from the Chicago Art Institute.[3] Professional career During a job as a railroad dining-car waiter, Campbell sometimes drew caricatures of the train passengers, and one of those, impressed by Campbell's talent, gave him a job in a St. Louis art studio, Triad Studios. He spent two years at Triad Studios before moving to New York City in 1929. A month afterward, he found work with the small advertising firm, Munig Studios, and began taking classes at the National Academy of Design.During this time, he contributed to various magazines, notably Life, & Judge Following the suggestion of cartoonist Russell Patterson to focus on good girl art, Campbell created his "Harem Girls", a series of watercolor cartoons that attracted attention in the first issue of Esquire, debuting in 1933. Campbell's artwork was in almost every issue of Esquire from 1933 to 1958 and he was the creator of its continuing mascot, the cartoon character in a silk top hat. He also contributed to The Chicagoan, Cosmopolitan, Ebony, The New Yorker, Playboy, Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life, Pictorial Review, and Redbook. His commercial artwork for advertising included illustrations for Barbasol, Springmaid, and Hart Schaffner...

Playboy Magazine ran this joke cartoon illustration in color on page 43 for the October 1960 edition. Signed lower right. The work is executed on a heavy Whatman Illustration board....

Santa has a quickie with Mom. Elmer Simms Campbell was the first African American Illustrator to work for major newsstand magazines. Published December, 1963 Signed in pencil lower...

E. Simms Campbell was the first and top black commercial artist in the USA for decades. In "Grandma," we see a deeply conceptual work, with the blank canvas as the main point of the...

Elmer Simms Campbell was a brilliant illustrator and cartoon artist and was also the first African American cartoonist to be nationally syndicated in major newsstand magazines such a...

Cuties Cartoon Strip - E. Simms Campbell My Husband Former Girl Friends - First Black Illustrator/ Cartoonist,

E. Simms Campbel was the first major African American Illustrator. He did covers for Esquire Magazine starting in the 1930s. He created the famous bulging-eyed Esquire Mascot “Esky.” He also worked for The Chicagoan, Cosmopolitan, Ebony, The New Yorker, Playboy, Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life, Pictorial Review, and Redbook. This work, "What do you mean your wife doesn't understand you ---- I'm your wife!" is from Cuties Daily Comic Strip, June 18, 1950 He was inducted into the Society of Illustrators' Hall of Fame in 2002. His work demonstrates a deep and masterfully understanding of drawing figures and faces in an academic but stylized style. "My pleasure, boys. Always glad to see a delegation from the States." From the Playboy Collection...

The cave paintings at Lascaux, adorned with primitive animals, inspire a caveman to invent the first calendar. The joke is that it's a Pin-Up calendar featuring a Palaeolithic Pin-U...

Two Tigers by the Water, "The Marsh" by legendary naive painter Gustavo Novova, is a continuation of themes he has explored for five decades. In the present work, the artist captures...

Joy of the Waters is more than a beautiful bronze; it's a conceptual work in which a woman acts as if she were a column of water rushing skyward. Frishmuth's carefully crafted young...

Who said painting isn't a team sport? Two artists of different styles collaborate to achieve a seamlessly unified picture. Arthur M. Fitzpatrick's photorealism of the car joins Van ...

Norman Rockwell's America comes alive in this 1942 Pontiac advertisement by contemporaneous illustrator John Gould. The work is quintessentially American, marked by a small-town stre...

Fitzpatrick & Kaufmann team up for another high performance art work. It combines a pre-photorealistic painting of a 1965 Pontiac by Fitzpatrick with a highly stylized modernist...

Allan Kass (American, 1917-2005) Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe advertisement, 1954 Gouache on board 18 x 20-1/4 inches (45.7 x 51.4 cm) Not signed The Bob and Diane Yaspan Collection T...

Leopards, zebras, panthers, and a hippo calmly lounge in a tropical paradise surrounded by lush foliage and flowers at the edge of azure blue water. Signed lower right. Signed and da...

Passe Blanc, 2002 Betye Saar Serigraph (Hand Printed Silkscreen) on rice paper 51" × 27" P.P. (Printer's Proof), believed to be the only Printer's Proof Edition of 10 designated lowe...

Funny is profound in this slightly cynical 1970 New Yorker cartoon by legendary cartoonist Chon Day. What's the World Coming To?, ( published caption ) New Yorker cartoon, August 8,...

The present work is a factory illustration for the GM subsidiary Corvette, which features a classic blue C1 Corvette with distinctive dual headlights introduced in 1958. Design Deta...

In 1962, the fine art and museum worlds were absorbed by the later stages of Abstract Expressionism, the introduction of Hard Edge Abstraction, and the rise of Pop Art. Realism was ...

Even on a rainy day, life can't be better when there is a 1969 Pontiac Bonneville in the picture. The present Arthur "Art" Fitzpatrick & Van Kaufman collaborative automobile ad p...

The present Arthur "Art" Fitzpatrick & Van Kaufman collaborative automobile ad painting goes beyond motoring culture and ventures deeply into the realm of fine art. It would not ...

This Oldsmobile Cutlass advertisement from 1977 depicts a complex figural composition integrated with a car and a homey landscape. Beyond its status as a historical document of an Ol...

The present work is the cover of The Complete Book of Oriental Cooking by Myra Waldo (Bantam, 1960). Female illustrator Lillian Chestney paints a cornucopia of nourishing edibles in ...

Husband-and-wife illustration phenoms team up to produce another highly stylized yet charming visual narrative that speaks not only to children but also to anyone with a curious mind. The wise man Pundabi tries to help the wealthy king see the poverty and suffering in his kingdom by inventing the mystery of the Golden Serpent. The king visits the villagers. 1980. Mixed media on Bristol board. Unframed Inscribed and signed in lower right image, "For Rich, Martin and Alice Provensen...

Rose Cecil O'Neill captures four Kewpies playing Leapfrog and frolicking with abundant playful energy. The work was published in a full page of Kewpies in the April 1912 issue of Th...

Arnold Newman (1918-2006) Lunstrom Prefabricated House, 1949 Gelatin silver print, printed later - Edition unknown 8-3/8 x 13 inches (21.3 x 33.0 cm) (image) Signed, titled, and date...

This expressionist painting depicting brutal cops beating workers protesting at a factory comes from the social consciousness of artist Fletcher Martin. The view is close and tight, ...

Wherever You Look, You See The Chrysler Building, Hayden Planetarium The image is part of a new epic exhibition, Mitchell Funk Photographs The Chrysler Building for 50 Years. The wor...

This strobe-like dynamic composition with bright and bold colors reflects the energetic taste of the 7 Up brand. It lies somewhere between abstraction and figuration. Peaks' use of b...

Elegantly painted in a charmingly warm style - Alfred Lord Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade (Golden; Paul Hamlyn, 1964) Signed by th...

Bob Peak may be America's greatest post-war illustrator. In this earlier work from 1965, the artist paints a street scene of workers in the style of Les Nabis...

Gahan Wilson was the Master of the macabre, and most of his work is associated with Charles Addams. The beauty of a Gahan Wilson is that is a payoff pu...

Many in the art world today dismiss illustrators as being commercial simply because their work was done on assignment for a client, rather than for themselves. Sadly, these art world people have limited imagination and a restricted sense of curiosity. Rembrandt and Leonardo were commercial artists. This boxing illustration/painting was done for Sports Illustrated...

Football players cloaked in oversized Browns jackets are seen from behind running off the field. Always the graphic innovator, legendary illustrator Bob Peak creates a radical composition by leaving the bottom two-thirds of the picture plane empty of detail. To convey a sense of motion, Peak uses broad strokes of paint similar to the action painters Franz Kline and Willem de Kooning, who were the dominant force in the fine art world in the 1960s. Clearly, one can see a cross-over influence from Fine Art to commercial illustration as Peak strikes a balance between abstract versus figurative art. This work was done on an assignment for Sports Illustrated...

If you do not want to be noticed, the idea is to blend in. Having a distinctive look will call attention to you, and that is the downfall of Ed's duplicity. The humor comes from the ...

The present work is a Men's Magazine testosterone-charged gag cartoon showing twirling nude pole dancers. Surprisingly, they are seen turning up the heat at the Fire Station's firema...

Vintage Buick Concept Design Art Deco Illustration. Buick concept design, 1937 Pencil and gouache on black paper 11-5/8 x 23 inches (29.5 x 58.4 cm) Signed and dated lower right: Art...

Colorful locks hanging from a wire above the Brooklyn Bridge are set against a blurred yellow New York City Taxi Cab. They form an unexpected, ambiguous, abstract image composed of...

When a husband catches his wife with another man, it's no joke, except if it's a Gilbert Bundy mid-century cartoon for Esquire Magazine. Caption: "You'd better introduce us – I disl...

Love hurts. A young, attractive woman is captured in a moment of peak drama. She is leaning on her bed in her room, crying, her face grim with despair. A tear drop is seen below he...

Signed lower right. Inscribed on the reverse 'My first color illustration, Nov. 1954.' Work is unframed, Film Noir in paint

Little Benny Wanted a Pony, from Little Golden Books, is a classic in the children's book genre. Famed Illustrator Richard Scarry succeeds in connecting people's lives, but in his c...

Nora Schnitzler was a Dutch Artist, illustrator, and children's book author born and raised in Amsterdam. Her pseudonym was Enni van Laer. In the present work, we see a charming you...

This old Brooklyn street, bathed in dramatic light, is a product of Photographer Mitchell Funk's distinctive photographic vision. From 1969 to the present, it has been characterized ...

Mid-Century Portrait of a Beautiful Woman With Off-the-Shoulder Dress, loosely painted in a sophisticated neutral color palette of soft, muted pinks, grays, warm mushroom taupes, and...

Art Deco Vanity Fair Magazine Illustration in pen and ink on paper to illustrate an article about the pursuit of true love. Female illustrator Anne Harriet Fish depicts floating Cupi...

Bemelmans' character Silly Willy, who is a seal, assumes comic human behavior as he celebrates his Uncle Hubert's birthday. In the final hilarious panel, we see Willy in a top hat, ...

Performing Seal Silly Willy's rhyming charm is on full display in this delightful early work by Ludwig Bemelmens. : "To succeed in my profession..." Circa 1935. Mixed media on board....

Above it all, two vigorous young men stand on a mountain top. They are depicted in profile, looking out into a sublime, verdant vista of tree-lined mountains punctuated by a winding...

This work is presented more as a concept piece since it's condition is destresed. Signed lower right Illustrator Hazel Frazee was a Female Illustrator in the first quarter of the 20...

Women illustrators were alive, well, and quite active in the early 20th century. Most of their production was associated with topics that dealt with the home, children or fairy tales. In this masterfully rendered work in pen and ink, Jacobs displays great technical skill in presenting three maidens dressing a beautiful female member of the Court wearing a tiara. Signed in a cartouche lower right From: Stella Mead, Great Stories from Many Lands, London: James Herbert and Co, 1936, page 78 " Red and White Roses" Provenance: Chris Beetles Work is elegantly matted and not framed. Helen Mary Jacobs was born in Ilford, Essex, the sister of the writer W.W. Jacobs; she studied art at the West Ham...

George Hirsch - He gets his inspiration from the prototype of neo-classic painting for this groovy 1970s brothel. This is a complex figural work with m...

The present work, Harper's Bazaar Mid Century Fashion Illustration, was done on assignment, most likely for a major women's magazine, such as Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, or Cosmopolitan ...

Mid-century illustrator Mario Zamparelli captures a tall and elegant young female composer or musician. She appears to be lost in thought with one shoe off. At her feet and on the co...

Peek-a-boo! Wherever You Look, You See The Chrysler Building. Viewed from Chelsea, with warm golden light, the Art Deco crown peeks out from among other boxy high-rises that compose...

A group of sexy Polynesian male and female dancers is depicted with expressive and sensual body gestures. The rhythmic fluidity of each dancer is transferred to their partners, unit...

One Rhino tells it straight to another Rhino. The result is written all over his face. The sexy cartoon was done for a Men's Magazine, most likely Playboy. The caption reads " I ...