Pin-Up Art of Gil Elvgren

I've always liked pin-up paintings.  I think it's because they have a classic look to them;  they are vintage, after all.  I also like them because they are so unrealistic.  Let's face it.  Most women are not shaped that way.  But I think they can be enjoyed for what they are:  fun, popular art. 

Perhaps the most well-known pin-up artist was Gil Elvgren (1914-1980). 

 

 

A graduate of the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts and the American Academy of Art in Chicago, Elvgren enjoyed a successful career from the 1930's through the 1970's working for companies such as Coca-Cola, Sealy Mattress Company, and General Electric as well as various other publishing and advertising companies.  He also created illustrations for Good Housekeeping and The Saturday Evening Post during the 1940's and 1950's.  Today Elvgren is still considered the most important pin-up and glamour artist of the 20th century. 

 

Personally, I prefer the paintings that include parrots. 

 

 

Or beaches...

 

 

And here's even a musical pin-up girl!

 

 



 

I think it is also fun to see the "before" photos for some of these paintings. 

 

 

 

I'll close with perhaps the most famous pin-up girl of all, Betty Grable.