This pulp art painting sold for $143,000

From a recent sale at Heritage Auction Galleries:

HUGH JOSEPH WARD (American, 1909-1945)
The Evil Flame, Spicy Mystery Stories pulp cover, August 1936
Oil on canvas
28.5 x 19.5 in.
Signed lower right

This is not only the most important Ward pulp cover we've ever offered -- it's one of the absolute best pulp covers that exists, by any artist. Iconic is the adjective that best sums up the entire over-the-top approach that pulps are now celebrated for. As pulp art historian Robert Lesser so vividly recounted about the Ward approach in his book, Pulp Art, Gramercy Books, 1997, "One day in April 1942 Mayor la Guardia spied an unusual Spicy mystery on the newsstand and exploded in instant rage. He ruled on the spot: 'No more Spicy pulps in this city.' H. J. Ward was the cover artist and it was one of his most daring: sexual tension, violence in action, a beautiful woman, all painted with aggressive brushwork to create a cover that couldn't fail to catch the eye."

Via Accidental Mysteries.