Above: Fur draped beauty with orchid

Above: The artists signature

A luminous and glowing glamour girl painting by the well listed prolific pin up illustrator and Hollywood Portrait artist Edward Runci. This fine oil on stretched canvas features a Haddon Sundblom/Gil Elvgren color palette and painterly technique. A formally posed beauty queen in purple gloves and fur with an orchid and a inviting smile awaits you. Condition, like the work, is flawless.

Above: Verso view of stretched canvas on original pine stretchers

Above: Nicely framed in quality gallery gold gilt frame

Edward Runci, like Medcalf, is an outstanding but unfortunately little-known master of pin ups in oil. His luxuriant brush strokes reveal a talent and skill comparable to Elvgren. Runci like many of the others studied with Sundblom.

Runci was a portrait artist in Hollywood when he was approached by a calendar company for pin-ups. Although he did few pinups (probably less than 100) he was one of the best. Runci’s early 1950s girls are rosy-checked, voluptuous, often blonde Marilyn Monroe-types whose wholesome sensuality radiates off the canvas. He also dabbled in the glamour-gown sub-genre, creating startlingly life-like effects in the silky folds of garments.