Heritage Auctions Signature Illustration Art Sale New York Preview, April 2026

Select pieces were on view at the midtown Manhattan reception Wednesday evening for the Heritage Auctions Signature Illustration Art Sale to be held on April 21 in Dallas. Naturally, I couldn't resist photographing some of these highlights, starting with the bold illustration by Patrick Nagel that appears on the catalogue cover.

Untitled [Tracy Vaccaro in Polka Dot Dress], 1983

Patrick Nagel

Untitled [Close Up—Heidi Sorenson], 1983

Patrick Nagel

Patrick Nagel

And Forsaking All Others
Edward Sorel
The New Yorker, June 15, 1998

Constantin Alajálov
The Saturday Evening Post, April 13, 1946

Garth Williams

James Gurney

To bring out the colors, I enhanced this 1917 advertising illustration image for Kellogg's Corn Flakes by J. C. Leyendecker:

J. C. Leyendecker

J. C. Leyendecker

J. C. Leyendecker

Edmund F. Ward

Mead Schaeffer

Gil Elvgren

Gil Elvgren

Dean Cornwell

Thomas Blackshear II

Frank R. Paul

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Jacques Louis David's Copy of Color and Light by James Gurney

Color and Light:  A Guide for the Realist Painter is Dinotopia author James Gurney's 2010 art instruction book, the follow up volume to Imaginative Realism. Naturally, Gurney brought copies of it with him to the artists's gathering Baby Tattooville's Fifth Anniversary Celebration in 2011 and personalized a number of them. This is the story of one of those books.

Bladesmith (and, let me repeat, not French neoclassical painter) Jacques Louis David is the recipient of this personalized book. Gurney's wonderful drawing of a dinosaur riding a bicycle is just what any devotee of realist painting would want to see. In David's copy of the book, Gurney reassures him that "It's OK to be a dinosaur." Let this blog be a testament to that.

The signed book, with its drawing, was sold last year on AbeBooks.

James Gurney
AbeBooks listing accessed November 2, 2025

https://www.abebooks.com/signed/SIGNED-Color-Light-Guide-Realist-Painter/32333976245/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=viewbook#&gid=1&pid=2h

James Gurney
AbeBooks item description

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Jacques Louis David's Copy of Imaginative Realism by James Gurney

Imaginative Realism:  How to Paint What Doesn't Exist is Dinotopia creator James Gurney's 2009 art instruction manual. Gurney teaches how to ground one's fantasy art in seeming reality, something he himself excels at. It is the first of two volumes. Did he have copies of this book with him at Baby Tattooville in 2011? Why, yes, he did, thanks for asking.

Jacques Louis David, it will be remembered from yesterday's post, is the unhyphenated Hollywood bladesmith and not the hyphenated painter friend of Marat, so don't go accusing me of committing any anachronisms. Gurney's dinosaur drawing in David's copy of the book is full of great lettering and imaginative . . . mischief.

This copy of the book was sold last year by Book_Mob on AbeBooks.

James Gurney
AbeBooks listing accessed November 2, 2025

https://www.abebooks.com/signed/SIGNED-Imaginative-Realism-Paint-What-Exist/32333978879/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=viewbook_low

James Gurney
AbeBooks item description

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Jacques Louis David's Copy of Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara by James Gurney

Dinotopia:  Journey to Chandara (2007) is the fourth book in James Gurney's Dinotopia series. An interesting copy was sold last year by Book_Mob of Santa Clarita.

At the artist gathering Baby Tattooville in 2011, Gurney met Jacques Louis David, not the hyphenated 18th century painter of The Death of Marat but a 21st century bladesmith whom he painted in profile. David posed wearing a pair of steampunk goggles made by his employer, Hollywood armorer Tony Swatton, that Gurney then borrowed for his own profile picture. Thus Gurney's drawing in David's copy of Journey to Chandara includes steampunk-inspired fantastical contraptions in the guise of a "cave exploration suit for a T. rex."

James Gurney
AbeBooks listing accessed November 2, 2025

https://www.abebooks.com/signed/SIGNED-Dinotopia-Journey-Chandara-Gurney-James/32333979854/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=viewbook_high

James Gurney
AbeBooks item description

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Heritage Auctions Signature Illustration Art Sale New York Preview

On Wednesday evening, Heritage Auctions held a reception at its Park Avenue gallery space. The Dallas-based auction house offered its New York audience a preview featuring highlights of the Signature Illustration Art sale coming up on November 4. (There was some other work here, as well.) The pieces looked wonderful in person. Come, have a look at some of them.

Frank Frazetta

Eugene Iverd

Charles Addams

Edward Sorel

E. H. Shepard

Chesley Bonestell

Gil Elvgren

Olivia De Berardinis

George Petty

Charles Dana Gibson

Harrison Fisher

F. X. Leyendecker

J. C. Leyendecker

J. C. Leyendecker

Harvey Dunn

Dean Cornwell

Gerald Brom

The Brothers Hildebrandt

Thomas Taylor

Neal Adams

Comic Art Signature Auction

Attributed to Haddon Sundblom

Patrick Nagel

The Brothers Hildebrandt (far left), Charles Dana Gibson, N. C. Wyeth, and E. H. Shepard

 

Note:  We're in luck! The entire Heritage Auctions Signature Illustration Art sale coming November 4 may be viewed here.

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