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| A Perfect Pair |
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| Artist: | Al Buell |
| Date: | 1940s |
| Medium: | Oil on Canvas Mounted on Board |
| Dimensions: | Sight Size 21" X 16 1/2" Framed 28" X 34" |
| Condition: | Excellent |
| Original Use: | Original Pin-up Calendar Art for The Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company |
| Price: | S O L D !! |
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| Above: Full view of oil on canvas |
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| Above: Detail of Illustration |
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| Above: Al Buell at work in his Florida studio 1956 |
A rare surviving commissioned calendar art pin-up painting by Al Buell titled on verso A Perfect Pair. From a series of paintings Buell did for Brown & Bigelow as The Playmate Series. This was for the month of October and dates to the late 1940s. Buell worked with Gil Elvgren in the Sundblom studios in Chicago and his accounts included Coca-Cola. His oils are among the best in the genre, they capture the pretty girl next door (albeit generally under-dressed) and have a wholesomeness rare for the pin-up. We sold this painting in 2007 to a customer who purchased several large works from us recently and we were happy to take this back in trade and offer it again for sale as it remains the nicest Buell we have come across. In recent years, pin-up art as a whole and Al Buell works in particular have enjoyed a rapid increase in valuation, with prices for the artist recently topping $20,000.00 at a well advertised national auction.
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| Above: Framed View in period fine wood frame |
Often his pin-ups have solid black backgrounds, a la Walt Otto; in other cases, he creates full settings, particularly in the pseudonymous paintings (signed "Al Leslie") he did when moonlighting from Brown & Bigelow at lesser companies. In these paintings Buell strayed into the area of embarrassed coy cuties, often accompanied by cute puppies who inadvertently caused skirts to be raised.
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| Above: Detail |
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| Above: The artist's signature |
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| Above: Verso notations and title |
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