The work of
Zoe Mozert

The work of
Billy DeVorss

The work of
Gil Elvgren

 During WWII, the army allowed its crews to paint the nose of their bomber planes with images of beautiful women - either girls left back home or replicas of popular pin ups. While some saw this as a talisman against disaster, others simply claimed that it never hurt to look at a pretty girl.

April 1, 2007 Archive

The Pin Up Girl: A Beautiful Memory
By Laurie Nienhaus

   Its history entwined with burlesque, theatre and even the Gibson girl, the pin up girl and pin up art has historically intrigued both men and women. Mass-produced and designed for popular culture, the pin up represents self-possessed sexuality considered appropriate for viewing.

   Aside from a letter from home or Bob Hope and his troupe arriving at your airbase or on your ship, nothing could better soothe the soul of an American GI in WWII and in Korea than a pinup girl. Technically defined as: a woman whose physical comeliness would entice one to place a picture of her on a wall, the real life pinup girls of Hollywood were certainly hard to resist. There images were also easily had as Hollywood regularly released photos of its stars to a variety of pop culture magazines. The pin up girl page of the military's own magazine, Yank, literally wall papered the tents and huts of soldiers all over the globe.

   Betty Grable with her million dollar legs, the sultry Veronica Lake (pictured above right), Dorothy Lamour as a south seas beauty in a scimpy sarong,  and Jane Russell leaning back against a haystack in a peasant blouse falling from one shoulder - these woman were among the sex symbols of their day and their appealing images not only boosted the morale of fighting men but prompted an entire art form.

   Even those mostly unfamiliar with pinup art are likely to have heard of Alberto Vargas and his Varga girls. Vargas' watercolor style images are particularly voluptuous and after his work became regularly featured in Playboy throughout the 1960's and 1970's, he became the Norman Rockwell of pinup artists.

   However, George Petty, one of the first pinup artists, remains one of the most respected. He is best remembered for "The Petty Girl" - an air brushed pinup image that, while originally modeled after his wife, quickly absorbed the best of a number of different models. First seen in Esquire magazine in the autumn of 1933, The Petty Girl had a large head, an elongated torso and legs, the perkiest of breasts, heavy legs and archly arranged hands and feet. She was soon found on calendars, posters, and advertising ephemera.

   Rolf Armstrong, known as the father of the American pinup, entered the pinup scene early in the 1920's. Working with live models, his close up portraits of women with dazzling smiles and flowing manes were dreamy and sensuous, their faces emerging from a swirl of a single brilliant color. His work appeared on magazine covers as well as on song sheets.

   Zoe Mozert was among the small group of female pin artists, which also included Joyce Ballantyne and Pearl Frush. Mozert was often her own model and is best known for depicting more realistic women on calendars as well as on a variety of magazine covers. While not as sultry as the work of Petty, Armstrong and Vargas, her girl-next-door sirens still had the sex appeal that a pinup girl needed.

   Like Zoe Mozert, Billy DeVorss used live models and aimed for that good-natured girl-next-door look. However, DeVorss' pastel pinups were known for their romantic look, achieved by his giving his subjects an uneven warmth and glow

   Rather than pastels, Gillette Elvgren worked in oils and was a master at producing nostalgic images using lush brushstrokes. His women are often shown with their skirts blowing up about them, revealing silkily clad legs. Today, his originals are second in value only to Vargas.

Those in their 40's and early 50's may not be familiar with the movies that made the early pin up girls so desirable. Netflix has made it easy for us to revisit these beautiful women and the glamorous movies that made them famous. This list is by no means complete!

Betty Grable (1916-1973) in the Academy Award nominated The Gay Divorcee (1934) and in The Pin Up Girl (1944).

Veronica Lake (1922-1977) in her break through film, I Want Wings (1941)

Dorothy Lamour (1914-1996) in the movie that made her a star, Jungle Princess (1936).

Rita Hayworth (1918-1987) in her best known musical, Cover Girl (1944) and in Gilda (1946), the movie that established her as a femme fatale. Also, Lady from Shanghai (1948) which, although not a box office hit, was considered her most acclaimed performance.

Lana Turner (1921-1995) looking almost luminous in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) and in the 5-time Academy Award winning movie, The Bad and the Beautiful (1952).

Jane Russell (1921-) in  the notorious western, The Outlaw (1943), her first movie. It was banned and did not receive wide spread release until 1950.

Ava Gardner (1922-1990) in John Ford's Mogambo, a film for which she received an Oscar  nomination for Best Actress.

Hedy Lamar (1913-1996) in Ecstasy (1933), the adult film that made her a sensation before she even arrived in Hollywood and Algiers (1938), the film that established her mysterious persona.

Interesting Links

 - www.thepinupfiles.com features1500 pin-up art images from classic and contemporary artists with individual galleries, complete with biographies, image notes and links, devoted to each featured artist.

- http://www.pinupart.net is one of the one of the world's premier private collections of pinup art - accumulated over three decades. Images are for sale.

Books

Great American Pin-Up
By: Charles G. Martignette & Louis K. Meisel
One of the best books on pinups available, including over 900 illustrations and samples of almost every single major American pinup artist from the turn of the century to the early 1980's.

Vintage Aircraft Nose Art
By Gary Valant
Contains over 1000 photographs of pin paintings on U.S. military aircraft in WWII and Korea.

For the Boys, The Racey Pinups of WWII
By Max Allan Collins
Lavishly illustrated with hundreds of color images by renown pinup artists

Pin Up: The Illegitimate Art
By Jim Silke
Discusses, with a lot of imagery, the place of pin-up art in the history of art, society during the last 100 years.  

Bettie Page: Queen of Hearts
Jim Silke
A pin up girl of the 1950's, Bettie Page was not, relatively speaking, famous at the time, but there is a revival of interest. The author has a clear understanding of her, of the popular culture of the last 50 years or so, and of Bettie Page's place in our culture. Also included are some of the best images taken of her.

Alberto Vargas: Works from the Max Vargas Collection
By Reed Austin & Hugh Hefner
A recent release that follows the life and amazing work of Alberto Vargas.

These books and others can be purchased from www.collectorspress.com.
Images in this article were reprinted with the permission of Collector's Press. 
 

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