Category: Artworks

Bright spring color and gentle whimsy set the tone in “Birthday Greetings,” an illustrated scene of fluffy yellow chicks scattered across fresh green grass. A small sign with the words “Birthday Greetings” sits at an angle, as if tucked into the meadow like a note on a gift. The playful composition is framed by a…

A cheerful “Happy Birthday, 3 Year Old” arcs across the top of this illustrated keepsake, framing a wide-eyed kitten with bright teal eyes and a mischievous smile. The character is dressed in green overalls with a pink bow at the neck, paws tucked into oversized red mittens that read as both playful costume and cozy…

Snow blankets a quiet countryside while an absurd little drama plays out in the foreground: birds cluster around what looks like a buried, bundled figure, with one creature perched upright like a startled sentinel. The soft, watercolor-like palette and delicate border feel unmistakably Victorian, yet the scene leans into mischievous holiday weirdness rather than pious…

Victorian holiday humor could be wonderfully strange, and this Christmas card artwork leans into that tradition with gleeful abandon. In a marshy landscape, a Santa-clad alligator stands upright like a gentleman, complete with red coat, white trim, and a bulging sack slung over one shoulder. Nearby, another gator rises to meet him, while a tall…

A row of squat, heavy-bodied frogs sits like a committee on a bare stage, their broad toes splayed and their eyes fixed forward. The artist exaggerates every feature—the mottled skin, sagging bellies, and stern mouths—until each creature reads as a distinct personality rather than a simple specimen. Against the warm, minimal background, the lineup feels…

Plate 16 reads like a surgical lesson rendered in ink and wash, arranging numbered figures across a single sheet to guide the eye through “various operative stages” in removing a tumour from the uterus. Hands, instruments, and draped fabric take center stage while the patient’s identity is deliberately absent, a reminder that medical illustration often…

A quick, hand-drawn route map—equal parts note and artwork—sits at the heart of “Alexander Calder to Ben Shahn, 1949.” With bold strokes of black, red, and washes of yellow, the page charts a trip from Washington toward New York, marking highways like R. 47, R. 6, R. 25, and R. 59, and calling out towns…

A quick, intimate note—inked in loose, expressive handwriting—floats above a small painted drawing, merging personal correspondence with artwork in a single page. The sheet carries the texture of age and handling, while the lively linework and wash suggest an artist thinking on paper rather than preparing a polished finished piece. Titled “Warren Chappell to Isabel…

Elegance takes center stage in “Codorniu, 1898,” a richly colored period advertisement that leans into the glamour of fin-de-siècle nightlife. A woman in a sweeping, pale dress reclines on a deep blue settee while a formally dressed gentleman offers a glass, the moment poised between flirtation and ritual. Above them, the bold “CODORNIU” lettering anchors…

Bold lettering announces “Pèl & Ploma” above an elegant, softly colored illustration of a fashionable figure seated in a café-like interior, surrounded by tables, chairs, and the quiet clutter of reading. The brushwork and sketchy lines feel deliberately lively, balancing refinement with immediacy in a way that suits an arts-and-letters publication at the turn of…