H. Loveland Hawaiian Shore

Got this nice seascape in recently dated 1941 by an H. Loveland. I have not been able to find any info on the artist yet, but according to the label on the back, it is entitled "Hawaiian Seas". The label also reads "Association of Honolulu Artists", and finally a price of $50. It's going to need some cleaning as it has yellowed quite a bit, and there is some very minor paint loss that will need touching up, but otherwise a real nice painting. (click for larger image)

Fantastic Four 266 Cover

In all my years of comic art collecting, there has only been one piece I have regretted selling - this cover. Well, after it being absent from my collection for several years, it is finally back!

The story goes back a few years - another comic art collector friend and I were discussing John Byrne's Fantastic Four years, and we decided to choose our favorite covers. Our choices were very different, and somehow this cover came out as my top choice - a classic image that I fell in love with as soon as I saw the original comic book back in the mid-80's. He said "I bet you could find that one", and with his encouragement, I contacted a dealer friend to inquire if he knew where it might be (he being the guru of all things Byrne). Turns out he knew exactly where it was; at HIS house! Shortly thereafter, we made a deal and it was mine. I won't go into the foolish reasoning that got me to sell it after that, but suffice to say, I regretted it. Well, I was happy to right that wrong recently and get this baby home again.

This cover, depicting The Invisible Woman, The Thing, and Charisma, is done entirely in marker, which is typical for this period of Byrne art. One thing of note - the figures are HUGE on this cover - probably the largest figures on any of the covers he did during his stint on the Fantastic Four. I actually did the overlay on this cover the first time I owned it, since none of the lettering is actually on the art. I also tweaked the scan in Photoshop - the lettering is quite white compared to the paper stock of the art. I'm going to re-do the overlay and match the color with the paper stock. (click for larger image)

If you want to read more about this cover, John Byrne's run on the Fantastic Four, and my chase of John Byrne art, check out some of my CFA-APA articles (link).

Di Angelo Painting

Just got a new painting in and I am loving it. Probably dates from the late 40's, early 50's and is signed Di Angelo. Very nicely painted image of people strolling through a market. It has a beautiful hand painted frame with a very interesting old label on the back that says "Artistic Framing, Bloomingdales NY". I'll have to do some research on this one... (click for larger image)

Did a little research and it looks like this is the Italian artist Pasquale D'Angelo (1896 - 1955). The seller told me it was from the 30's, which makes sense given the artists life span. I found a very similar work by the artist of an alley scene that was probably done about the same time as this painting, and even looks like the same city.