GEORGE QUAINTANCE (1902-1957)
"Moonglow." Oil on canvas. 610x610 mm; 24x24 inches. Signed in canvas, lower right. 1940. Quaintance was one of the early American pioneers of homoerotic fantasy art. His illustrations for Physique Pictorial magazine in the early 1950s helped to popularize his work. While best known for his images of overtly masculine and campy cowboys, gods, matadors, and other idealized physical specimens, he was also an accomplished portrait painter and landscapist. Outside of his portraiture, there are few known images of women in his ouevre. This monochromatic canvas is a particularly beautiful and sensual study of the female form.Provenance: Private collection, Los Angeles. Literature: Dian Hanson and Reed Massengill, Quaintance, (New York: TASCHEN, 2010); page 32.