Dear Greetings, There's never been a more exciting time to be part of the Illustration Art team at Heritage Auctions. On November 15th, we are thrilled to be offering two auctions that highlight the strength of the field, reaching back through Golden Age pioneers like Maxfield Parrish, J.C. Leyendecker and Norman Rockwell, showcasing the significant Frank Collection of Science Fiction & Fantasy Art, and featuring iconic work of various illustration genres, like paperback legend James Avati, and movie poster art by John Alvin and Robert Peak, whose original final poster art for Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now is the awe-inspiring cover lot for our Fall Signature Illustration art auction. Illustration Art is a broad field-the visual language of culture. It incites imaginations and visions of the future, reflects and challenges values, and even becomes history with indelible images like those by Rockwell and Peak. I'm humbled to get to share and celebrate its stories with its expanding collecting community, and to grow the opportunities Heritage offers for collectors to encounter the work. 2024 has been a year of remarkable growth for Illustration Art at Heritage. In addition to the three Signature Auctions we have mounted and the strong presence of Illustration in our American Art sales, we have expanded our sales schedule to offer regular Showcase sales which provide more occasions for collectors to buy and sell these important works. Our inaugural Showcase Auction is scheduled for December 9th, and I encourage everyone to check it out. And if you aren't already, I invite you to keep an eye on the Weekly Comic & Animation Art sales which close every Wednesday, where I find a treasure from a talented paperback, pulp, or pin up artist virtually every single week. But it's not just an exciting time at Heritage-Illustration Art itself is having a robust and vital year. The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockton Massachusetts recently concluded its wildly successful What, Me Worry? The Art and Humor of MAD Magazine which brought works by artists like Mort Drucker, Norman Mingo, and even Frank Frazetta into direct conversation with Golden Age masters. While it's too late to catch that show, it's not too late to make a trip to see the sort of focused Illustration Art museum exhibitions that are bringing new context and audiences to the genre. I'm writing to you from Wilmington, Delaware, where I just visited the Jazz Age Illustration exhibit at the Delaware Art Museum-if you're in the area it's not to be missed. If you're on the West Coast, there's still time to check out Sci-Fi, Magick, Queer L.A.: Sexual Science and the Imagi-Nation, at the USC Fisher Museum of Art. The exhibit tackles the importance of science fiction fandom and occult interests to U.S. LGBTQ history, spotlighting the stories of artists like Margaret Brundage. If you do catch either of these, or any other shows, feel free to email me and let me know what you think. It's a joy to be a part of this collecting community, and I'm excited to continue to share it with you in 2025.
|  | Sarahjane Blum Director of Illustration Art SarahjaneB@HA.com Heritage Auctions 445 Park Ave New York, NY 10022 1-800-872-6467 Ext. 1549
Featured Lots from the November 15 Illustration Art Auction
James Allen St. John Tarzan and His Mate, 1947
Greg and Tim Hildebrandt The Fellowship, Urshurak promotion, 1979
Edmund (Emsh) Emshwiller Rat in the Skull, IF Science Fiction digest magazine cover, December 1958
Alex Schomburg Beside the Golden Door, Amazing Stories digest magazine cover, February 1964
Robert Peak Apocalypse Now, original final movie poster key art, 1979
James Avati Sanctuary and Requiem for a Nun paperback cover, 1954
Featured Lots from the November 15 American Art Auction
Joseph Christian Leyendecker Weapons for Liberty, The Saturday Evening Post cover, conceived 1917, published 1918
Dean Cornwell Uncle Sam's Air Force, 1952
Norman Rockwell Boy and Dogs, New Puppies, 1958