This is a large preliminary charcoal drawing by Gil Elvgren that evokes two calendar works the artist completed for Brown & Bigelow; 1951’s Party Line and 1958’s A Good Connection. This is signed by Gil Elvgren lower right, above a note by the artist for the art director at Brown & Bigelow, Clair Fry (himself a fellow artist and good friend of Elvgren’s). This comes from a collection of Elvgren preliminary graphite drawings we acquired which were found in a house in Sarasota, Florida where the artist once lived. Gil Elvgren took, on average, one week to complete each of the 400+ pin-up paintings he created for Brown and Bigelow. With this time frame, it was impossible to use a live model for the actual paintings so Elvgren sketched quick charcoal and/or graphite reference preliminary ideas from life and enlisted Peter Darro (a pin-up artist in his own right) as studio assistant and photographer. Elvgren used these drawings and photographs for reference while at the easel working on his iconic pin-up paintings. Included for reference are scans of the calendar images. We do not have copies of the prints to include but vintage printed versions are readily available on eBay.

There is slight overall tanning to the paper with losses along the edges, handling creases, and signs of age related wear. Most issues are not visible as matted.