Off Her Pins, a classic cheesecake pin-up girl by Arnold Armitage
This is a fresh-to-the-market pin-up calendar painting by Arnold Armitage published in the 1940s by The Louis F. Dow Calendar Company, St. Paul, Minnesota. This bowling themed cheesecake offering features a classic situational mishap scene wherein a brunette in a flirty red ensemble finds herself exposing more than she intended after taking a fall after throwing a gutter ball.
Grapefruit Moon Gallery just unearthed a collection of new-to-the-market pin-up paintings that had previously been in a house in Saint Louis Park, MN since the 1970s!
This painting is in a fine state of conservation and has been recently cleaned and revarnished.
About the artist: Arnold Armitage
Arnold Armitage (1899-1991) was a British-born artist and illustrator, best known for his work with pin-up art. He moved to the United States around 1925 and settled in Hollywood, California, working for the Foster and Kleiser Company, which produced billboards. During the 1930s, he developed a reputation as a designer specializing in billboards, and he designed many of these for American corporations.
About 1940, Armitage began a series of “pretty girl” paintings for the calendar market. While not strictly pin-ups, these works were very reminiscent of the work of Gil Elvgren. Armitage’s pretty girls were well received in both the United States and England.