Art Deco Blonde in Black Satin

Risqué and fetching maidens have always been popular artistic subjects. In advertising terms, pretty girls sell--and in Victorian America they were used to advertise everything from bicycles to bourbon, images that quickly morphed into the modern pin up girl. By the 1930s, calendar companies such as Brown & Bigelow marketed colorful, fun, and sexy visions of the perfect woman to an insatiable public. From the art deco sophisticates depicted by Rolf Armstrong and Billy Devorss, to the cheesecake beauties Gil Elvgren and Art Frahm envisioned, top notch illustrators took up the challenge of painting the perfect woman. During World War II, George Petty and Alberto Vargas created patriotic lithe modernist heartbreakers for the pages of Esquire Magazine to keep servicemen company, and soon there was a calendar girl for every taste--whether you preferred the girl next door or the one from the wrong side of the tracks. In post-war America, the youthful spirit personified by Earl Moran’s cheesecake depictions of Marilyn Monroe reigned, and pin up and glamour art remained unflaggingly popular. Today, original pin up and glamour art is more coveted by collectors than ever, and its influence on contemporary fashion, art, and culture is everywhere.