Gil Elvgren

1914-1980 | Browse Artwork

Above: Gil Elvgren's finished painting

Gil Elvgren: the most technically proficient and gifted commercial pin-up artist of the 20th century

Gillete Elvgren is regarded today as the most technically proficient and gifted commercial pin-up artist of the 20th century, a prolific and hard working perfectionist who created luminous portraits of the mischievous girl next door for the Louis F. Dow Calendar Company and later the Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company.

Elvgren worked as a commercial illustrator for many of the slick magazine publications, studying under his mentor Haddon Sundblom, and developed an accomplished and technically superior style with great commercial appeal, perfectly capturing the look and feel of post war America. His advertising accounts included Coca- Cola, Sylvania, Orange Crush, Schlitz Beer, General Electric, and Napa Auto Parts.

Above: Gil Elvgren Photo Courtesy Marianne Ohl Phillips

Gil Elvgren: The Spirit and Sensuality of American Feminine Beauty

Gil Elvgren's ability to capture the spirit and sensuality of American feminine beauty was unsurpassed. His pin-ups were pictures of real girls in real, everyday situations. Sometimes they were a bit exaggerated, but they always worked.

When Elvgren was once asked what feature of a model most interested him, he replied, "A gal with highly mobile facial features capable of a wide range of expressions is the real jewel. The face is the personality." The model was the all-important factor in making a painting strong. He preferred young models (15 to 20 years old) just starting their careers, and valued models who were enthusiastic and interested in the project, though he said that they were very hard to find.

When asked about his techniques, he explained the distinctive "touches" he added to every painting how he built up the bust, lengthened the legs, pinched in the waist, gave the body more hyper-defined curves, worked over the facial features and expression, added just a little more of a tip and tilt to the nose, made the mouth fuller and the eyes a bit larger. He ended by saying that he liked to create the feeling that, underneath all the surface charms, there was a delicious warmth of mischief behind the model's eyes.

Above: Myrna Hanson as posed by Gil Elvgren in A Frame Worth Picturing

Above: A Frame Worth Picturing by Gil Elvgren sold at Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Gil Elvgren's Love of Realism

The distinguishing mark of Elvgren's pin-ups compared with those of his contemporaries is that the Elvgren Girls looked like real people. At any moment, the girl might step out of the painting and say good morning or good night or offer the viewer a cup of coffee, a drink, or an invitation.

Above: Gil Elvgren with Work in Progress

Elvgren Girls had personality and zest; they were lively, friendly beauties brimming with enthusiasm. They were sweet-faced, but also generously endowed by nature. They could easily kindle a twinkle in anyone's eye and often had one in their own. For more than thirty years, from the 1940s to the 1960s, they epitomized the American Girl.

Elvgren is the subject of several recent books and his painting "Anchors a Wow" serves as cover art for Taschen's 1996 monograph "The Great American Pin-Up" by Charles Martignette and Louis Meisel.