1941 Painting Army Air Corps Force WWII Original ILLUSTRATION Military Poster Aviation P-40 MOMA Famous New York Modernism Show Art Deco Wpa

"KEEP EM FLYING"
Museum Quality RareCirca 1940 WPA styled painting!
(First image of painting only offered in this listing.)

FORMATION OF P-40 ATTCK FIGHTERS OF FLYING TIGERS FAME

OFFERED FOR THE FIRST TIME!

Companion piece
"TAKE TO THE WINGS" (Shown as third image)
Is now SOLD!

DON'T MISS THIS ONE!
THIS IS IT THE BEST AND LAST ONE!

$ $20,000 - $25,000 VALUE!

Large original vintage painting 40x30 inches painted circa 1940

ORIGINAL RECRUITMENT PAINTING SUBMITTED TO THE 1941 MILITARY DEFENSE & MODERNISM SHOW IN NEW YORK CITY FOR ARYMY AIR CORPS RECRUITMENT POSTERS.

THIS IS A VINTAGE ORIGINAL PAINTING - NOT A POSTER!

THE REAL DEAL - SCARCE HISTORIC AVIATION WWII ARTIFACT

THE ORIGINAL ONE OF A KIND PAINTING - MUSEUM QUALITY

MAKE YOUR BEST OFFER - WILL BE SOLD TO HIGHEST OFFER!


P-40 Fighter with Modern Art Deco style. Lady Liberty. Large rare early WWII original. Historic museum quality painting. Design for posters. Good condition for age, some edge damage from storage that will be covered by framing! Submission at the famous WWII era NYC Modernism Show.

Original Art; WWII US Army Air Corp Concept Design for Recruitment Poster.

Extremely rare World War II US Army Air Corp original concept art for a recruitment poster. Dramatic modernist take of a cadet with prop and wings insignia on head and a roaring Curtiss P40 Warhawk streaking the skies. Watercolor on board, this original piece measures 40 x 30" masked with tape at borders. The art is unsigned but definitely appears to be the work of either two acclaimed illustrators of the time Leo Rackow, Joseph Binder or Robert Muchley, who both created a number of WPA, Homefront and WWII recruitment and propaganda posters. Both excelled in superior illustrated pieces both commercially and for US Government. The board has minor dings and chips at edge and soft corners, but the art remains remarkably clean. Double thick art board from H.M Taws, Philadelphia and the verso has some glue residue as if board had been mounted to a larger piece decades ago. Also there is a distinct No.938 boldly hand lettered on version no doubt to differentiate from other works in consideration for use during the war effort which may in fact have been a cooperative effort between MOMA and the US Military in acquiring submissions.
This original illustrated work would display beautifully when framed matted to image. A rare opportunity to acquire an original WWII propaganda illustration.

Estimate Retail or Replacement Value $18,000 TO $24,000 - MAKE YOUR VERY BEST OFFER!

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OPINION BASED ON ADDITIONAL RESEARCH AND UPDATE!

After some review of MOMA records of submission, I believe this to be attributed to Leo Rackow, Joseph Binder or Robert Muchley and art was meant to be submitted for MOMA of NYC. The artist most likely did this work circa 1940-41. This control numbers on reverse do match the submission numbers of the same MOMA NYC "Modernism Show for Poster Art" I found on line.

In addition here to compare is some of the same period art, by these artists of the WPA and Military Submission, using the same styles and on some, even the same color palette.

REASON FOR NO SIGNATURE - The artist were instructed NOT to sign the art and only had control; number to match. That way the judges could not necessarily pick by favorite artist named and by strength of design. Later if the art published the posted often had (but not always) the name added and printed in by the art printer.

Buyer is responsible to do their own research and is buying this vintage art as is, with research still ongoing.

Leo Rackow (1901-1981) was an illustrator in NYC active from 1920's-1960's. Studied with Leger in Paris in the early 1930's. He is well known for his many New Yorker covers and the design and painting of the globe in the lobby of the Daily News Building in New York City. Throughout his career he has created many works for the likes of the United Nations, Macy's, Rockefeller Center and many more. (Bio taken from online source)

After a deeper research and based on the back number information, The same number submission matches this artist, Leo Rackow on the registry by dated MOMA, of numbers I found for this show. Other Documentation for the competition confirms why all the artists in this show did not sign and the numbers were used for the registration. Hoping to make a fair showing, this way the judges would not be influenced by name, and only the art in submission. The art was then a part of a bidder show for several months in exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. It was a big modern show with street billboards and some funding from military and the private sector as well as the museum. When the art was later in production the printers could and sometimes placed the artist name with the poster, though lithos were made, many of these were of small edition runs as a screen print. FDR, wrote an introduction for the competition and show.

The artist, studied in Paris, had a long career with the New Yorker, advertisers, magazines as well as socially funded art projects and other private clients.

The interest and demand for rare social and WWII Army Air Corps art with Fighter Aircraft, (Early model Popular P-40 of Flying tiger’s Fame) make this a rare as dragon teeth art work. Meaning, if this is your collecting interest, there is not another on the market to compare it to. Value then is wide open to value. In a few months, after submission, the Army made a formal change in their name for the Army Air Corps to, “Army Air Force”, this change started to diminish production and use of the many images submitted to the MOMA NYC show that was accepted. Though commitments on some remained in production for a time. The Movie industry was also notified and the popular WWII fighting aviation themed movies started to switch to Army Air Force. It wasn’t until after WWII that the the Air Force was separated completely from the Army, and was then a stand alone separate service organization.



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VANGUARD GALLERY OFFERS VERY RARE ART IMAGES:

Many do not know that the vast production of illustration , advertising, WPA, WWII Recruitment, pulp and pinup art was not viewed as "real art" and not appreciated as such. When the Military or advertising, book and magazine companies were done with the art, it was casually thrown away in dumpsters.

I have interviewed personally those that were there, and just at two of these many, throw away events. In just two events, from just two of scores of companies, one in 1957 and the other in 1960, apx 20,000 pieces of art, spanning about 60 years, by great and highly skilled artists were simply thrown away.

In those dumpsters was Normal Rockwell, Gil Elvgren, Earl Moran, Mabel Rollins Harris, Henry Clive, Zoe Mozert, MacPherson, Pearl Frush, Al Leslie, Henry Hintermeister, Roy Best, Art Frahm, Billy Devorss, Runci, Munson, Thompson, Ward, and that is just to name a few of the many lost artist's work from wide ranging genre' of religious, nature, nudes, Pulp Fiction, pin-ups, Calendar, and advertising. So anything that survives, even if preserved or recreated thoughtfully is indeed precious.

VANGUARD'S FINE ART PRINT PORTFOLIO:
As much of the original paintings for vintage illustrations were lost, we at Vanguard Gallery have worked hard, and invested dearly for 25 years to find and preserve or recreate the very best, find the interesting, the historic, the rare and often important works; representing our popular 20 century culture, and interests of the times. As popular art is a real window of society, this art is snap shot on the aspirations, dreams and fantasies of the American people in historically unstable and increasingly violent 20th Century. In time when, family life, love, faith, hope and romance was the glue that held us together, a staple of life, Popular Art was not merely dismissed as "cute nostalgia".

Our more than 20 year journey and mission is more than just to present you with an ascetic image, but windows of appreciations of the recent past, our history, and again a window to your parents and grand parents life.


Like this ? : Please see our other listings of Flying Boats, Aviation, Illustration art and pin-ups by Elvgren, Vancas, Vargas and More.



Also in our other listings you may like :

"LAST FLIGHT, BOEING 314 LEAVES PEARL HARBOR, DECEMBER 7TH 1941"
By Daniel Vancas

I don't just paint pinups... I paint other things of interest to me.
VANGUARD GALLERY
Carmel, by the sea, California.

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