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Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

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Pin-Up & Glamour Art

The Ice-Capades of 1942

Artist:George Petty
Date:1942
Medium:Mixed Media on Illustration Board
Dimensions:Sight Size 13" x 17" Framed 22 3/4" x 26 3/4"
Condition:Excellent with slight fading
Original Use:Cover for Ice-Capades Program, 1942 Season
Detail
The artist’s signature lower middle
The artwork as it appeared as the cover of the 1942 Ice-Capades Program (included in sale)

This 1942 patriotic Petty Girl was the first of George Petty’s iconic pin up illustrations commissioned by the Ice-Capades, then in its second season and soon to become a cultural institution. Developed by RKO as a theatrical extravaganza on ice and held at Rockefeller Center in New York City, the event was wildly popular and the souvenir programs became a huge part of the brand. Petty would go on to illustrate all 7 of the subsequent 1940s Ice-Capades programs, and his take on the leaping, beaming ice dancer became a large part of the promotion of the event. After parting ways with the show due to creative differences in the 1950s, Petty effectively came out of retirement to create 5 more covers for the show in the early 1960s. Illustration shows a pretty blonde Petty girl figure skater in a form-fitting and revealing little blue number with a star-adorned headdress.

In 1942, Petty was already a star illustrator after a successful decade working in advertising and for Esquire magazine. The artist’s signature creation The Petty Girl made her debut in the autumn of 1933 in a full-page cartoon accompanied by a snappy caption in Esquire magazine’s inaugural issue. For the rest of the decade, she would appear every month, not only as a stand-alone feature in the magazine, but also in ongoing advertising campaigns for Jantzen Knitting Mills and Old Gold Cigarettes. By 1940, Petty had become a national celebrity. His relationship with Esquire had worn thin, however, and when they secured the services of Alberto Vargas a year later, he left the magazine – already having contributed a rich legacy to the history of pin-up art. His prominence only increased with his partnership with the Ice-Capades, to the extent that in 1950 Hollywood immortalized the artist in the film The Petty Girl based on the fictitious exploits of his long limbed pin-up creations with George Raft cast as Petty.

Handsomely framed and silk matted under glass
Detail
View before framing
Verso view of illustration board with publication notations
Frame corner profile

This work comes out of a recently unearthed New York collection that included a number of Petty Ice-Capades originals. We were fortunate enough to acquire two of the works, which had remained in private hands and institutions since their creation. Examples from this series rarely come to market. In 2010, this illustration for the cover of the 1965 program, the only example that has come on the auction market brought $16,730.00.

Sold at auction in 2010 for $16,730.00

The Ice-Capades of 1942

Artist: George Petty

Filed Under: Pin-Up & Glamour Art, Sorry, It's Sold
Tagged With: 1940s, advertising, art deco, erotic, Figure Skating, George Petty, glamour, Golden Age, Ice-Capades, machine age, magazine cover, original cover art, pin up, The Golden Gallery
Added to Gallery: January 10, 2017

 

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