A boldly colored and tightly rendered likely preliminary pastel pin-up illustration by Earl Moran, showing an art deco sailor girl living the life aquatic. This dates to the late 1930s, as the outbreak of war in Europe caused both a premonition of America’s eventual involvement into what would become World War II, and a boost in industrial production (particularly shipbuilding) that helped finally break the grip of the Great Depression in the US, and gave the country an upsurge in pride and patriotism. The change in mood in the country led to a number of these pin-up sailor girl uniformed “ship-shape” images. Moran did a series of similar pastels for The Brown & Bigelow calendar company–all with this electric cobalt blue background, one with this same model in fact, all in defiantly proud “Yes We Can” poses. Pastel is in a very fine state of original conservation and handsomely matted and framed behind glass in a period frame.

Below for comparison purposes are views of several published Brown & Bigelow calendar images from this same era and genre.