Above: The artist’s signature loer right

Above: Detail

This 1953 deliriously sexy nude pin up oil painting by Gil Elvgren for the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company dates to the artist’s best period. This image was used in a deck of playing cards under the title Cee Bee (To Hold) Fascinating Figures and belonged to the estate of Charles Martignette, co-author of The Great American Pin Up.

Above: Cee Bee (To Hold) as the image appeared for Brown & Bigelow playing cards (included in sale)

Above: Detail

Above: Verso view

Gil Elvgren only painted a handful of nudes, and as a result they are extremely desirable among die-hard Elvgren collectors. Elvgren gifted the painting to silent screen icon Harold Lloyd and personally inscribed the banner to Lloyd, creating an incredible association for this painting. Lloyd was himself a respected pin-up photographer, capturing images of such glamorous icons as Marilyn Monroe and Bettie Page. As Charles Martignette and Louis Meisel note in Gil Elvgren All His Glamorous American Pin-Ups,”Because of Elvgren’s great popularity, Brown and Bigelow often used him for special promotions. Elvgren had the opportunity to meet many people, including a number of celebrities, some of whom became close friends. One such person was film star Harold Lloyd, who, in about 1950, introduced Elvgren to 35mm stereo color photography.” This artwork (as inscribed to Lloyd) is pictured as figure 251 Gil Elvgren All His Glamorous American Pin-Ups.

Painting is handsomely framed in a gold museum quality wide profile gallery frame.