Joe Gertler's Memaerobilia

Original Charles Hubbell
Oil Paintings

The major portion of Charles Hubbell’s body of work was commissioned by the Thompson/TRW Company. Most of the hugely popular annual calendars and lithograph original art was done in oil. Eventually The TRW Company donated most of these originals to the Crawford Auto & Aviation Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. (Also known as the Western Reserve Museum, where they can be seen, today.) Original oils are rarely offered on the open market. Most from our collection were in the Smithsonian Exhibition.

Of the original oils from Hubbell’s own collection, which hung in his home or in his Cleveland studio at Thompson Products Co. these are some of his most significant works:

The magnificent Laird Super Solution was chosen as the poster image out of several hundred of his works in the major EAA exhibition at Oshkosh in 1987. The original posters of that exhibit, featuring this image were sold for $10 each at that time. We still have a small supply for those interested in obtaining one. The fact that the Laird painting is signed by Hubbell, designer Matty Laird, and Pilot Jimmy Doolittle makes it the “Star” of the collection.

The matched pair of the 1912 Caudron and Latham’s Antoinette are from Hubbell’s Thompson studio walls.. The Howard Mike is assumed to have been a gift from Hubbell’s protégé Joe Jankowski. As far as is known this is the only aircraft painting done by Jankowski because he interrupted his career to enter a seminary. The Hubbell influence and style are unmistakable.

The Stearman C3R is a very early dated Hubbell of 1929, since Hubble painted over the dated when his paintings didn’t sell quickly. The Curtiss Falcon oil is believed by his son to be one of his earliest and largest oils from 1926.

Finally, what better icon of the Golden Age of aviation could be imagined than the combination of two of its most popular and recognizable names, Charles Hubbell and the Gee Bee? We think of it as the “co-star” of the collection.

All paintings are in original frames. Sizes given below are for the unframed painting in most cases.

Museums: Note that no cash is needed to acquire these important paintings/exhibits. We are open to trade offers from your surplus artifacts and storage items.

Click on any of the images below for a better view

Laird Super Solution
	Laird Super Solution 32” x 19” fiberboard. Doolittle’s 1931 Bendix Trophy Race winner. Signed by Hubbell, Doolittle and Matty Laird. This is a different view than the calendar illustration. Chosen out of all other Hubbells for the 18 x 24 posters for the EAA Hubbell Exhibition, 1987. “Star” of the collection of 130 originals. Framed to 34 x 22 1/2”. Offered @ $22,000

Gee Bee R1

Gee Bee R1. Thin-framed to 24” x 18”, dated 1933. The “co-star” of the collection. One of the “ultimate” pieces of original aviation art embodying Charles Hubbell, Jimmy Doolittle, the “Gee Bee” ultimate air racer of the Golden Age of Aviation. It had belonged to William “Bill” Robertson, a friend to Hubbell and Lindbergh, and was obtained from his grandson.
Possible trades, only.

Curtiss Falcon
	Curtiss Falcon 48” x 31” oil. Obtained many years ago from Hubbell’s son, who wrote that it was painted around 1926-one of the earliest airplane oil paintings I know of. Also one of the largest. Offered @ $12,500

1910 Antoinette
	1910 Antoinette flown by Sir Hubert Latham “First Flight in a Gale Force Wind". 23” x 19” fiberboard. This is a slightly different angle than the published calendar scene. Smithsonian Exhibit # 610. Offered @ $9,500

Caudron
	1912 Caudron 23” x 19” fiberboard. This rarely photographed aeroplane must have been a favorite of Hubbell’s even though he never did a calendar subject of it. In addition to this oil (Only known spatula technique), he painted the same scene twice in watercolor with different backgrounds. Smithsonian Exhibit # 609. Offered @ $9,500

Stearman C3R
	Stearman C3R “Squaretail” 24” x 17” on canvas, dated 1929. “Rare” early date because Hubbell painted over many of the earlier dates. Color scheme is identical to the Laird Super Solution of two years later, even to the “Skyways Flamingo” logo on the fuselage. Skyways was a Cleveland FBO and major sponsor of the “Super Solution.” Offered @ $7,500

Howard “MIKE”
	Howard “MIKE”. 31” x 23” fiberboard dated 1938. As noted-painted by Hubbell’s protégé Joe Jankowski (His only aircraft painting) and assumed “gifted” to Hubbell. Hubbell had only sketched the “Mike” (see Original Pencil sketches) and never painted it. Offered @ $5,000

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To contact Memaerobilia e-mail Joe Gertler at joe@memaerobilia.com

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