Sexy girls with tiny waists wearing little or see-through negligees, fringed dresses, high stilettos, swimsuits, leather biker gear, teeny shorts, skirts riding high, cowgirls, stocking tops on show, blouses semi unbottoned - you get the picture! Since German publisher Taschen released The Great American Pin-up, paintings by leading artists such as Alberto Vargas, George Petty, and Gil Elvgren that sold for $2,000 in 1996 are going for $200,000 and more today. Pin-up - drawings, paintings, and pastels of an idealized female face and figure intended for public display - was produced between 1920 and 1970 for calendars, magazine covers, and centrefolds. The majority of original paintings were discarded by publishers and calendar companies after printing, making the surviving art that much more precious. This attractively priced edition showcases the top 10 names in the game and hundreds of sexy girls depicted. Each chapter opens with a reproduction of an original calendar or magazine cover by that artist. The reproduction quality of the paintings, pastels, and preparatory sketches that follow - largely sourced from the original art - invites the viewer to trace the brushstrokes, while the exquisite period calendars, vintage prints, and original model photos document the artists' creative process. Much of these ephemera were photographed on-site at the historic Brown & Bigelow Company, home to the world's largest archive of vintage pin-up calendars. Text in English, French and German. 15.6 x 21.7cm, 512 pages. New from Taschen.
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