Surreal Illustration - Glamorous Blond at the Piano, ca. 1950

Today's newly minted fine art stars are from the mid-century surrealism school and include Gertrude Abercrombie, Remedios Varo, and Leonora Carrington, who were mostly unknown five years ago. Right now, they are leading the fine art market, with sales soaring into the seven-figure range and garnering endless attention from museum curators and top collectors. So who's next? Could it be mid-century Surrealist Illustrators?
About the same time, these female surrealists were creating their fascinating pictures, illustrators like Jon Whitcomb were applying surrealist motifs to their work. The main difference is that fine artists worked for themselves, and for-hire artists were commissioned to illustrate stories for a mass readership. Jon Whitcomb was one of the most famous mid-century illustrators, with a steady stream of commissions from major magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies’ Home Journal, Cosmopolitan, and Redbook. The present work could easily be defined by what I call "Surreal Illustration." Here is a glamorous blond at the piano, having a dialogue with a miniature man who seems to communicate with her via an antenna. What could be more surreal? Not all of Whitcomb's work is this weird. He mostly painted gorgeous women and handsome men. The portrait of the blond at the piano looks easy to execute. In reality, it's masterfully done and reveals a deep knowledge of academic training, combined with the artist's unique style, which, in some instances, was dubbed “Whitcomb Girls.”
Signed lower left. For a story: "Keys to His Heart."
Framed Dimensions 22 X 24.5 Inches - Framed under glass
Jon Whitcomb ( American 1906 - 1988 )
US$14,000 Plus Shipping