Dreams in Neon

Works by Patrick Nagel stun bidders at Heritage Auctions’ illustration art sale in Dallas By Michael Clawson

Pin-up style art has been popular, in one form or another, in every decade of the 20th century, with several key artists making larger cultural contributions that have lived long past the artwork. Many of those artists had work available during Heritage Auctions’ Illustration Art sale on April 21 in Dallas.

Patrick Nagel (1945-1984), Untitled (Close Up – Heidi Sorenson), 1983. Acrylic on canvas, 48 x 40 in. Estimate: $80/120,000 SOLD: $150,000

The sale saw works from Albert Vargas from the 1940s, Gil Elvgren from the 1950s, and Patrick Nagel, whose neon-soaked acrylic paintings defined beauty and glamour in the 1980s. Nagel not only had the top lot, but the top three lots: the three works, all untitled, sold for a combined total of $375,000. These results and others helped bring the sale to nearly $2.5 million with a 98.7 percent sell-through rate. Not only were sales high, but so was participation, with more than 1,400 bidders registering to make offers on 335 lots.

Ludwig Bemelmans (1898-1962), Madeline at Notre Dame. Watercolor and ink on paper, 15 x 22 in. Estimate: $8/12,000 SOLD: $93,750

Gil Elvgren (1914-1980), Jill Needs Jack, 1950. Oil on canvas, 30 x 24 in. Estimate: $32/48,000 SOLD: $81,250

Outside of the Nagel pieces, the sale also saw a lot of interest in the work of Elvgren, the iconic pin-up artist whose works often walked to the very edge of racy scandal during a modest period of American illustration in the 1950s. He had four works in the top 10, including Jill Needs Jack, showing seductive motorist reveal her stockings as she waits for someone to fix a flat tire. The painting sold for $81,000, nearly doubling the high estimate of $48,000.

Alberto Vargas (1896-1982), Call Waiting, 1940. Watercolor on board, 26 x 39 in. Estimate: $12/18,000 SOLD: $55,000

A decade prior to Elvgren was Albert Vargas, whose nudes and quasi-nude figures sensationalized men’s magazines. His watercolor Call Waiting from 1940 sold for $55,000, more than triple the high estimate of $18,000.

Other artists with strong sales included Ludwig Bemelmans, whose watercolor for the children’s book Madeline at Notre Dame sold for $93,000, and James Bama, who had a Doc Savage paperback cover sell for $81,000, as well as other work from Mort Küntsler, H.R. Giger and Mead Schaeffer.

Heritage Auctions has long supported American illustration with dedicated sales, and the house has routinely returned exceptional results for artists such as J.C. Leyendecker, Norman Rockwell, Frank Frazetta and others. —

Top 10 LOTS
Heritage Auctions’ Illustration Art, April 21, 2026 (Including buyer’s premiums)
Artist Title Low/High ESt. SOLD
Patrick Nagel Untitled (Close Up – Heidi Sorenson) $80/120,000 $150,000
Patrick Nagel Untitled (Tracy Vaccaro…) $120/180,000 $125,000
Patrick Nagel Untitled, Playboy interior $40/60,000 $100,000
Ludwig Bemelmans Madeline at Notre Dame… $8/12,000 $93,750
James Bama Mad Mesa, Doc Savage cover $24/36,000 $81,250
Gil Elvgren Jill Needs Jack $32/48,000 $81,250
Gil Elvgren Sweet Sue $32/48,000 $75,000
Gil Elvgren Sheer Nonsense $32/48,000 $71,875
Gil Elvgren Ski Bunny, NAPA Auto Parts ad $24/36,000 $68,750
Alberto Vargas Call Waiting $12/18,000 $55,000