The Golden Age of Pin-Up Art - Book One

THE GOLDEN AGE OF

•

ttlBOOK ONE

E---

0 T li E T I

o_u

FETISH & BIZA RR E L:::;::&-*~

-

E

0 T li E T 1 o_u

E

FETISH & BIZARRE

Jar

Soplzislica!ed

collectors o/ !lze Zlnusual

E

THE GOLDEN AGE OF

•

tnBOOK ONE Text by Alberto Becattini

GLITTERING IMAGES edizio ni

d 'essai

Above: Gil Elvgren, plate from his 1952 Brown & Bigelow calendar. Gag: «I'm not shy. I'm just retiring." © Brown & Bigelow Half·tltle page: Original cover art by Peter Driben for Whisper magazine. Vol. 5 # 3, November 1951 . Counter-frontispiece: Pin-up by Joyce Ballantyne, ca. 1958. Frontispiece: Sunny Side Up. Pin-up by Gil Eivgren. © Brown & Bigelow

he cos'e lapin-up art? Prendendo il tennine alta lettera, dovrebbe far parte a buon diritto di questo ambitoartistico ogni immagine femminile dipinra (con tecniche c he vanno dal pastello alia te mpera, dall'acqucrcllo all'olio) concepita peressereappesa al muro- come un poster, dunque, o come un calendario. Una pin-up, per dirsi tale, deve avcre caraueristic he ben precise: tra queste, Ia particolare postura della ragazza ritratta, che dovra necessariamente esscrc scnsuale; o gli indumcnti indossati dalla ragazza, c he do vranno conUibuire (lasciando sapicmemcnte scoperte, o facendo trasparire, parti "calde" de l s uo corpo) a "erotizzare" ulterionnente l'immagine. Secondo a lc uni, Ia pin-up "ortodossa" e quc lla chc csclude Ia presenza dell'elemento maschilc come pure di ogni altro elemento "estraneo", pred iI igendo uno sfondo bianco c he fa della ragazza l'unica protagonista dell'immagine. Piccole concessioni al "contesto" possono essere rappresentate, sc mai, da e lemcnti "funzionali" quali marione tte dalla foggia maschile (che simboleggino il controllo, da parte della pin-up, sull'uomo-osscrvatore), cagnolini (che, con illoro agitarsi, possano provocare il sollcvamento delle gonne de lle Ioro padroncine),

C

oppure oggetti di vario generc (i quali abbiano, se possibile, connotazioni falliche). Noi non c i sentiamo di csserc cos! categorici, e ritcniamo o u im i esempi di pin-up art anche le immag ini "contestualizzate" (accompag nate, cioe, da un background e/o dalla prescnza di un personaggio maschile), purche l'ele me nto fc mminile ne resti indiscusso protagonista e conservi il carisma e Ia sensualita di c ui s i diceva sopra. Rien-

trano dunque- a nostro parere - nell'ortodossla de lle pin-ups anc he queUe immagini chc-una volta estrapola te dal medium c ui era no state in originedcstinate (lacopertina di un libro, per cscmpio, oppure di un alboa fumetti)- possanocsscrc tranquillame nte appuntate ad una parctc, magari all'inremo di un'elcgante cornice. In q ues to volume c i propon iamo di tracciare un'agi le storia della pin-up art negli Stati U niti, con un accento particolarc sui suoi "anni d'oro", idcntificabili con il periodo c hc va dal 1940 ai primi anni '60. Parlere mo di riviste, calcndari, paperbacks, c soprattullo ricorde re mo i princ ipali autori che rive rsaro no gran parte del !oro tale nto in questo particolarissimo ambito artistico. In questo nostro viaggio ci accompagneranno que lle stcsse, bcllissime immagini che hanno fa tto sognare intcrc generazioni, ncl cui policromo marc - per citare uno dc i nostri massimi pocti - ci sara sempre dolce il

naufragare. hat is pin-up art? Literally, a pinup should beagirl painting(done in such techniques as pastels, gouache, watercolours , or oils) conceived to be hung on a wall - like a poster, or a calendar. Yet a pin-up, to deserve this name, must have precise c haracteristics: these inc lude the painted girl's posture, which has necessarily to be sensual; or the clothes the girl is wearing, which will contribute (by deliberate!y uncovering o r revealing, thanks to their transparency, the "ho tter" parts of her body) to make the image more erotic.

W

Pin-ups by Enoch Bolles (top) and Earl Moran (above;© Brown & Bigelow).

PIN UP ART 5

BAKE UP AND

LIVE

George Quintana, September 1937.

Cover featuring Betty Grable from Movie Story Magazine, December 1942.

Model Joan Stevens from the Beauty Parade centerfold, July 1951.

6 ESTHET I QCE

According to some experts, the "orthodox" pin-up painting has 10 exclude the presence of a male partner, as well as any other "alien" elemenL The background has to be white, thus making the girl the sole protagonist of the picture. Some "functional" props may be accepted , such as male-shaped puppets (which symbolize the pin-up's control over the male observer), puppies (which often cause their mistresses' skirts -as well as our blood pressure- to rise), or certain kinds of objects (which have evident phallic implications). We would not be that strict, and think that "contextualized" images (that is, including a background, and/or the presence ofa male figure) may be excellent examples of pin-up art, provided that the girl remains the protagonist of the picture, keeping her charisma and sensuality intact. Thus, in our opinion, the pin-up "orthodoxy" may also include those images which -after being isolated from the medium they had originally been painted for (a book, or a comic book cover, for instance) - can easily be hung on a wall, whether framed or not. The purpose of this book is to give readers an overview of pin-up art in the United States, with a focus on its "Golden Years" (circa 1940 - Early 1960's). We will discuss magazines, calendars, paperbacks, and most of all - we will remember many of those talented artists who made this peculiar genre great. It will be, we hope, a fascinating dream-journey through an ocean of multi-coloured images. And if our ship should sink, we will be more than happy 10 drown.

Above left: Pin-up by Ted Withers for an Artist's Sketchbook Calendar.© Brown & Bigelow Above rig ht: Pin-up girl by Harry Ekman, ca.1958. Gag:« They tell me l"m a stand-out ... Left: Peter Driben, cover from Wink, Vol. 8 # 2, October 1952.

u'est-<:e que l'art pin-up? Si l'on prend cetlC forme d'exprcssion artistique a Ia !cure, toute image de femme que l'on a peinte scion des techniques qui vom du pastel a Ia gouache, de l'aquarelle a Ia peinture a l'huile, con~ue pour etre accrochee au mur - com me l'affiche ou com me Ie calendricr - devrait justement pouvoir cntrer dans ce domaine artistique. Pour qu'on l'appelle ainsi, une pinup, doit possecter des caracteristiques bien precises: l'aUirude tout a fait particuliere de la jeune fille sera necessairement scnsue lle, ou bien les vetements pon~s par celle-ci contribueront a rendre !'illustration encore plus ~rotique (en devoilant savarnmant ou en faisant entrevoir par transparence, Ies zones "chaudes" de son corps). Selon certains, Ia pin-up "onhodoxe" est celle qui exclutla presence de I'element masculin, de meme que tout autre element "~tranger" et qui privilegie ainsi un fond blanc, faisant de

Q

la jeune fille La seule hcro"ine de J'illustration. Toutefois, des compromis au "contexte" de pcu d'importance peuvent etre represemes par des elements "fonctionnels" tels que des marionnettes representant des hommes (qui symbolisent le contr6le, de la pan de Ia pin-up, sur l'homme-observateur), ou bien de tout petits chiens (qui, avec leurs mouvementscontinuels peuventsoulever la jupe de leur proprictaire), ou encore des objets hct.Croclites (qui possectent si possible, des connotations phalliques). Quant a nous, nous ne voulons pas etre aussi catcgoriques, et nous pensons que lcs images "contextualisees" (c'est-a-dirc lcs imagesaccompagnees d'un background el/ou de Ia presence d'un personnage masculin) sont de tres bons exemples de pin-up pourvu que l'element feminin rcstc Ie protagonistc inconteste et qu'il conserve Ie charisme et Ia sensualite dont nous avons deja pari c. Scion nous, les illustrations qui- une fois extrai-

tes du medium auqucl ellesetaicnt dcstinees (La couverturc d'un livre, par excmplc, ou bien un album de BD)- peuvent etre tranquillement accrochees au mur, voire encadrees, rentrent tout a fait dans l'orthodoxie des pin-ups. Dans ce volume, nous nous proposons de presenter une breve histoire de l'illustration de Ia pin-up aux Et.ats-Unis, en insistant sur ses "annees de gloire" qui vont de 1940 jusqu'au debut des annees soixante. On pariera de revues, de calendriers, de paperbacks, et surtout on rappellera lcs principaux auteurs qui employerent une grande partie de leur talent dans ce domaine anistique. Durant notre voyage, cesontces memes trCS belles illustrations qui Ont fait rever d'entieres generations qui nous accompagncrom, dans Ia mer multicolore desquellcs il no us sera toujours agreable de nous laisser transporter au gre des vagues.

Pll\'" UP ART 7

Above: Original cover art by Peter Driben for Titter , Vol. 3 # 2, September 1946. Titter was one of Harrison's successful girlie magazines. Opposite: Cover by Hugh J . Ward for Spicy Adventure Stories (top); cover by Enoch Bolles (?) for Cupid's Capers, October 1933 (bottom).

8 ESTHETIQUE

Sexy Pulps & Girlie Magazines u intomo al 1877 c he, in Francia, sulle copcrtine di riviste qual i La Vie Parisienne, presero ad apparire con regolarit.A illusl.l'aZioni colorate d.i belle ragazze in des habille. n principale au tore di queste immagini in fondo innocenti rna nonilimeno stimo la nli - soprattutlO per il pubblico del te mpo - e ra Rapha~l Kirchner. II suo escmpio ve nne seguito da molti altri taJentosi artisli, tra i quali C. Hc rouard, George Barbier, Pierre Brissaud e I' "oriundo" Umbcno Brunelleschi (nato a Montemurlo, in Toscana, nel 1879), e si iliffusero testate quali Le Journal Amusant, Gai-Paris oLe Sourire, che si rifacevano apertame nte al modcllo de La Vie Parisienne. Rapha~l Kirc hner divenne il vero e p roprio profeta della nconata pin-up art, e la sua farna varco l'occano: nel 19 16, !'impresario teatrale F lorenz Ziegfeld lo incarico di decorare con Je sue inimitabili illustrazioni ilfoyer delle celebri Follies di Broadway. Negli Stati Uniti, i primi esempi di riviste che riprc ndcvano - pur senza raggiungeme Ia finezza - Ia fo rmula de La Vie Parisienne, apparvero a ll'iniz io della Prima Guerra Mondiale. II loro scopo era, almeno inizialme me, quello di tirar su i I morale dei soldati al fronte, propone ndo tutta una serie di panels umoris lici accompagnati da gags ammiccanti. Captain Billy's Whiz Bang (fondato da Will iam H. Fawcett, uno de i nomi piu importanti dell'cditoria statunitense), Jim Jam Jem e il Calgary Eye-Opener furono alcuni dei titoli piu diffusi. Ma lo spinto delle rivistc franccsi, e l'aunosfera libcrtina della Parigi "anni '20" ve nnc ro piu fede lme nte importati da riviste dai titoli "gallici" quali Parisian Life, Gay Parisien-

F

ne, La Paree Stories, Paris Nights, Gay French Life, French Night Life e French Scandals. Queste ed altrc magazines come Snappy,Spicy Stories, Bedtime Stories, Pep, Gayety o Breezy Stories- part.icolarme ntc diffuscacavallo tragli anni '20egli anni '30 grazie a cditori quali Frank Munsey e William M. Clayton - sono collcuivamcnte ide mificate come sexy pulps o girlie pulps. Laddove i pulps tradizionali veicolavano letteratura popolare di stampo avvcnturoso (dal weste rn al mystery, dall'esotico al fantascientifico), i sexy pulps proponevano racconti in testa a sfondo romantico-erolico, accompagnati da illustrazio ni in bianco e nero solitamente rcaliz.zate in uno stile

cartoonyche si rifaceva a quello del celebre John Held,jr. (il quale, peraltro, era stato tra i primi collaboratori di Snappy). Alcuni titoli , quali Stolen Sweets o Taule Tales, includevano anche fotografic di nudi femminili. Nel contcsto della pin-up art, i sexy pulps ri vesLOno una particolarc importanza: il loro "pezzo forte" erano infatli le policrome illustrazioni di copcrtina, realizzatea te mpera, c he ritraevano un unico soggcuo femminile (solitamente su sfondo bianco, per farlo risaltare maggiormc nte) in pose "studiate" permetteme in evidenza le fogge curvilinee. Un particolare accento veniva messo sulle gam be (tanlO che qucsLO tipo di figurazione eancoroggi noto come leg art), c he apparivano ora nude, ora inguainatc in que lle calzc di nylon c he per illc ttorc dell'epoca rappresentavano un fortissimo ric hiamo sessuale. Chiari riferime nli feticistici era no, del resLO, presenti in testate quali Silk Stocking Fun o High Heel Magazine. Durante gli anni della Grande Depressione, quelle riviste rappresentarono, con le !oro invitanti copertinee con le Io ro s toriclle piccanti, un buon dive rs ivo per l'americano medio, affiillO da quotidiani problemi di 50pravvive nza. Gli cditori, da parte loro, cercavano di venire incontro ai le tLOri o ffrendo fino a cinque titoli diversi in abbonamento trimestrale cumulativo per 3,75 dollari corrispondenli alia paga media di tre giomi. Sulla stessa linea delle riviste appcna citate, rna con uno specifico riferime nto al mondo del cinema eai suoi re troscena, si collocavano testate quali Film Fun, Movie 1/umor, Movie Merry-Go-Round eSaucy Movie Tales. II principale copeninista di sexy pulps durante gli anni '20 e '30 fu Enoch Bolles, il

PI:\" U P

ART 9

Hugh J . Ward, November 1934.

Artist Unknown, May 1940.

Artist Unknown, July/August 1937.

quale seppe creare- in uno stile volutamente sospeso tra il realistico e il caricalUrale - un modello d i provocante femminilita. carallerizzato da una larga bocca quasi sempre aperta in un sorriso ammiccante e incomiciata cia un rossetto intenso - e daocchi semichiusi,cclati da un trucco pcsante. A rincarare Ia dose di erotismo delle fi gurazioni di Bolles, e finanche a suggerire che Ia pin-up stesse mimando un rapporto sessuale, provvedeva poi Ia costante presenza di oggetti piil o meno esplicit.amente fallici (selle, innaffiatoi, ancore, spade, ecc.). Degni "seguaci" di Bolles furono George Quintana, Ray A. Burley, Earle K . Bergey e Peter Driben. Di alcuni di loro avremo modo di riparlare piu oltre. La prcsenza femm inile fu semprc costante anche sulle copertine dei pulps "avventurosi", e in alcuni casi si puo parlare a huon diritto di pin-up art: si vcdano, ad csempio, leardite, inquietanti figurazionidi Margaret Brundage per Weird Tales ( 1932-45), le curvilinee ragazze spaziali ritratte da Earle Bergey per Litoli fantascientifici quali Startling Stories (c. l939-50) o Captain Future (1941-45), o ledamsels in distress spogliate e vinimizzatecla maniaci escienziati pazzi, ritraue cia William Reusswig, John Newton Howitt, Charles Blaine, Rafael M. DeSoto edaltri per Dime Detective Magazine,Dime Mystery Magazine, Terror Tales, Horror Stories, Romantic Detective, Private Detective Stories ed altre testate consimili, pubblicate soprauutto dalla Popular Publications e clalla Trojan Publishing. Fu proprio quest'ultima casa editrice, che aveva Ia s ua sede a Wilmington, nel Delaware, a lanciare, nell'aprile del 1934, i cosiddetti spicy pulps, che proponevano racconti ne i quali l'avventura e Ia suspense procedevano di pari passo con Ia violenza e l'erotismo.

Fondatoredella Trojan (altrimenti nota come Culture Publications), fu quell'Harry Doncnfeld (1898-1965) che, tra il 1937 e il 1964, sarebbe stato titolare della DC Comics, Ia casa editrice chc ancor oggi pubblica i comic books di Superman e Batman. II nome di Doncnfeld, tuttavia, non apparve mai sulle pubblicazioni della Trojan/Culture: egli si riscrvo il piu "confonevole" ruolo di silent partner, lasciando che fosse il suo socio Frank Armer a figurare come cditore di Spicy Detective, Spicy Western Stories, Spicy Mystery e Spicy Adventure Swries. Gli spicy pulps conobbero illoro maggior fu1gore tra il 1934 e i1 1938, prima che i censori costringessero Donenfe ld e Armer a mitigame i comcnuti. Le Storie avventuroso-erotiche (scritte da au tori quali Robert

Leslie Bellem, Henry Kuttner. Hugh Cave, c persino da quel Robcn E. Howard che aveva crcato il barbara Conan) vennero ben sintctiz.zatc graficamcnte nelle copenine a tempera (che ritracvano di solito belle ragazze discinte, minacciate cia dcmoniache presenze o cia criminali sadici) realizzate con pig Iio real istico cia artisti di valore assoluto quali Hugh J . Ward (rispettabile illustratore di riviste "serie" quali Liberty) e Harry Parkhurst, che anticiparono a tratli il filone feticistico-bondage in auge a parlire da1 secondo dopoguerra. Nel gennaio del 1943, semprc pill bcrsagliati dalla ccnsura, Armere Donenfeld deciscro di trasformare radicalmente i loropulps, sostituendo l'intestazione Spicy con Ia piu neutra Speed (fino a chiudcre definitivamente i battcnti nel 1950). L'era degli spicy pulps era fin ita, rna per fonuna ne era appena iniziata un'altra: quella delle girlie magazines di Roben Harrison. La carricra g iomaJistica di Robert Harrison ebbe inizio negli anni '20, quando -ancora adolescente- lavorava presso il quotidiano scandalisticoNew York Graphic. Anche se dovette accontentarsi di servire da fauorino, negli anni trascorsi al Graphic Harrison imparo un sacco di cose sui giomalismo, e soprattuuo sulle immense potenzialita commerciali della stampa scandalistica. Nei primi mcsi del 1942, nel suo modesto bilocale Harrison deue vita-con Ia preziosa assistenza d i Earl Moran, grande "piuore di donnine"- a un nuovo tipo di pubblicazione, interamente dcdicata allcpin-ups. Le sue48 pagine, infarcitedi servizi fotografici in bianco e nero con magnifichc ragazze in "due pezzi" o lingerie (servizi nei quali lo stesso Harrison compariva di quando in quando come "figurante"), giustificavano appieno il titolo della rivista: Beauty Pa-

10 ESTH ETIQUE

Charles Bla10e, Apnl 1936.

• George Quintana, March 1934.

George Quintana, October 1935.

George Quintana (?), April 1933.

rade- Glorifying the American Girl. L'America era enuata in guerra da pochi mcsi, e-comegitleraaccadutoaJie rivisLC "scollacciate" dcgli anni '10 - i soldati costituirono (almcno all'inizio) una fetta considcrevole dci leuori di Beauty Parade. Per Ie copertinc - anche per evitare guai con Ia censura - Harrison penso bene di non usarc fOlo, rna prefer! continuare Ia tradi.done delle painted covers, e lo fcce assicurandosi prima di tutto i servigi di quell'ottimo PeLCr Dribcn che, nella seconda melt~ degli anni '30, avcva abbell itocon le sue tcmpere lecopertinedi riviste quali Gay Parisienne,

nendo largamente fcdele ai canoni della leg art per quel cheauienealle posture delle sue girls, Driben prcsc a rcalizzare tutta una ser iedi magnilici ritratti femmi nili,e via via che Harrison aggiungeva nuovi tiLOl i al suo cornet- con Tiller ( 1944), Eyeful ( 1944), Wink (1945), Whisper ( l941) eFlirt( 1948), tutti pubblicati con cadenza bimestrale Dribcn prcndeva a dipingcmc le copcrtine, affiancato - piu o meno sahuariamente da Moran (chc si firmava Steffa, essendo sot to contratto con Brown & Bigelow) e dal bravo Billy DeVorss (aulOre, scmpre negli anni '40, anche di molti calendari e poster per Brown & Bigelow). Nonostante Harrison potesse contarc (sin dal 1951) su una modclla d'eccezione come Betty Page, le sue girlie rrUJgazines non rcssero il confron-

to con il patinato, coloratissimo Playboy di Hugh Hefner, e dovcttero capitolare alia melt~ degli anni '50. Harrison, comunque, aveva un asso nella manica: nel diccmbre del 1952 aveva inauguralO una nuova LCstata, Ia scandalistica Confidential. La rivista, chc rapprescntava per molti versi Ia "cattiva coscienza" dcii'Amcricadi Eiscnhowcr,parti con una tiratura di 250.000 copie per arrivarca vcndcme finoaquattro milioni a numero, c Harrison divenne un vero c proprio personaggio, per quanto "scomodo". Soprannominato "The King of Leer" (leueralmcnLC "il rc della sbirciata", rna evidentc l'assonanza con "K ing Lear". lo shakespcariano re Lear), l'cditore viaggiava a bordo di una lussuosa Cadillac bianca, frcqucntava i ritrovi piu in, e vcniva regolarmente invitato

High /lee/ Magazine, Movie 1/wn()r, Silk Stocking Stories eSpicy Stories. Lasciandosi aJie spaJie Ia stiliu..azione (alia lunga un po' sLCrcotipata) di Enoch Bolles, rna rima-

c

r~olErt

~· 35~

George Quintana(?), July 1937.

Peter Driben, December 1937.

S

October,

l93S

IUEE1

Artist Unknown, October 1937.

P I N UP ART 11

sliltlE;lilES 25*

.JUNE

1933

IilES

sliiii.E;IA•ES 25*

AUGUST

1933

Exoticism on some covers from Tattle Tales, a spicy pulp magazine of the Thirties. Illustrations by Artist(s) Unknown.

ai talk shows televisi vi. Almcno fino aHa fine dcgli anni '50, allorchC le protcste di colora i quali si scmivano danneggiati dalle malevole "chiacchiere" di Confidential (in primo luogo, molti attori hollywoodiani), non costrinsero Harrison prima a fare aLto di contrizione e a cambiare radicalmente l'impostazione della ri vista, ed in fine ad abbandonare il campo cditoriale.

twasaround 1877 that,onthecoversof such French magazines as La Vie Parisienne, stancd to regularly appear colour illustrations of scantily-dressed beautiful girls. The main author of these basically

I

innocent yet exciting (especially at that time) images was Raphael K irchncr. His example was followed by scveraJ other taJented artists, like C. Hcrouard, George Barbier, Pierre Brissaud, and by one ItaJian artist, Umbcno Brunelleschi (who had moved to Paris from native Montcmurlo, Tuscany, where he had been born in 1879). Other titles started to appear, includi ng LeJournal Amusant, Gai-Paris or Le Sourire, which were directly inspired to La Vie Parisienne. Kirchner became the real prophet of the newborn pin-up art, and his fame reached New York , w here Broadway impresario R orenz Ziegfcld asked him ( 19 I 6) to decorate the haJis of his Follies with his inimitable illustrations. In the United States, early examples of magazines which imported the Vie Parisienne formula (without reaching iL<; classy levels) appearcd during WW I. InitiaJiy, they were designed to cheer up soldiers by offering them a whole collection of spicy cartoons. Captain Billy's Whiz Bang (founded by William H. Fawcett, one of the most important US publishers),JimJemJam and the Calgary Eye-Opener were among the best-known titles. Yet the spirit which animated the French magazines, and Lhe libertine atmosphere of Paris in the Twenties, .were more fail.hfull y represented in such "Gallic" titles as Parisian Life, Gay Pari-

or "girlie pulps". Whereas traditionaJ pulps published popular adventurous literature (ranging from western to mystery, from exoticism to science-fiction), sexy pulps contained erotic-romantic text stories, accompanied by black-and-white illustrations which were usually drawn in a canoony style reminiscent of John Held's (in fact, H eld himself had been one of the nrst contributing artists). Some titles, like S10len Sweets or Taule Tales, also included nude girl photos. Within pin-up~ sexy pulps are very important, on account of their cover iiJustrations. Done in oils or watercolours,lhese ponrayed one female subject (whose

sienne,La Paree Stories. Paris Nights, Gay French Life, Fren ch Night Life, and French Scandals. These and olhcr magazines such as Snappy, Spicy Stories, Bedtime Stories, Pep , Gayety or Breezy Stories - which

Cover from Tattle Tales. July 1933.

12 EST HE T l QUE

were extremely popular between the 1920's and 1930's, lhanks to such publ ishers as Frank Munsey and William M. Claytonwere collectively identified as "sexy pulps"

Cover from Tattle Tales, March 1934.

Famous history and literature women characters on cover. Artist(s) Unknown, Bedtime Stories, July, October and May 1933.

bright colours slOOd out against the white background), in suc h poses that emphasized the girl's curves. Legs were depicted with particular attention (which explains the "leg art" term used to refer to this kind of illustration), both when they were naked, and when they were enwrapped in those nylon stockings which represented a strong sexual lure for the reader. Clear fetishistic references were also prescm in such titles as Silk Stocking Fun or 1/igh //eel Magazine. During the Great Depression years, those magazines represented, with tl1e ir alluring covers and their spicy stories, a good distraction for the average American, plagued

.JUNE

DUBARRY

1933

Cover from Bedtime Stories, June 1933.

with daily survival problems. The publishers obviously tried to favour their readers by offering them cumulative subscriptions: in 1935, a three-month sub to five different titles costS 3.75 - corresponding 10 over three days' wages. On the same Line of the above-mentioned titles, yet with specific reference to the cinema and its backstage stories, were such magazines as Film Fun, Movie Humor, Movie Merry-Go-Round and

Saucy Movie Tales . The main sexy pulp cover artist during the 1920's and 1930's was Enoch Bolles. He was able tocreate- usinga stylewhich was partly realistic, and partly ludicrous - a prototype of provoking femininity, c haral:terized with a large mouth - usually wide open in a tempting smile, and framed by a deep-red lipstick - as well as with half
scientists and painted by William Rcusswig, John Newton Howiu, Charles Blaine, Rafael M. DeSoto and many others for such titles as Dime Detective Magazine, Dime

Mystery Magazine, Terror Tales, 1/orror Stories, Romantic Detective, and Private Detective Stories, which were mostly published by PopuLar Publications and Trojan Publishing. The latter publisher, located in Wilmington, Delaware, launched (April, 1934) Lhe so-called "spicy pulps", which contained stories which paired up adventure and suspense with violence and eroticism. The founder of Trojan (a.k.a. Culture Publications) was Harry Donenfeld (1898-1965), the man who was at the head of DC Comics

Cover from Bedtime Stories, Feb. 1934.

PIN UP ART 13

HAVANA NIGHTS bl
1

THE BREAST STROKE bi(A)Co...!l

Cover by Earle K. Bergey, January 1934.

Bathing beauty. Cover from Stolen Sweets, October 1933.

(ofSupennan and Baunan fame) from 1937 until 1964. YeL. Donenfeld's name never appeared in the Trojan/Culture magazines, as he preferred to act as a silent partner, leaving Frank Armer the official role of publisher of Spicy Detective, Spicy Western Stories, Spicy Mystery, and Spicy Adventure Stories. The spicy pulps were particularly popular between 1934 and 1938, before censorship forced Donenfeld and Armer to tone down their contents. The spirit of the adventure-erotic sLOries printed inside the magazines(written by suchauthorsasRobert Leslie Bellem, Henry Kuttner, Hugh Cave, and even by Conan crealOr Robert E. Howard) was well synthesized in their painted covers (which usually depicted half-naked girls threatened by demons or sadistic cri -

14 ESTHETIQUE

minals), done in a strong realistic style by such great artists as Hugh J. Ward (a "respectable" illustrator of slick magazines I ike Liberty} and Harry Parkhurst, who anticipated the feti shistic-bondage genre, widely popular after WW2. In January, 1943, the slings and arrows of censorship convinced Anner and Donenfeld to radically transfonn their pulps, and they replaced the Spicy logo with the tamer Speed. By 1950, even the Speed line had come to an end. The spicy pulp era was over, yet another had just begun, thanks to Robert Harrison's girlie magazines. Harrison's career began in the earl y 1920's, when - still in his teens - he worked for the scandal newspaper New York Graphic. Even though he was only employed as a

copy boy, Harrison learned a lot of things about journalism while at the Graphic, as well as about the great commercial potentialities of scandal. In Early 1942, in his two-room nat, aided by famed girl painter Earl Moran, Harrison gave Life to a brand new kind of magazine, totally devoted to pin-ups. Its 48 pages, chock-fulJ of blackand-white pholOs of girls wearing bikinis or lingerie (with Harrison himself appearing as a "figurant", w hen necessary), certainly justified the magazine's tiLle-Beauty Parade- Glorifying the American Girl. America had been at war for a few months, and - as it had happened w ith the early girlie magazines of the 19 10's - soldiers were (for a few years, at least) Beauty Parade's most faith ful readers. To avoid troubles with censorship, H arrison thought well not to usc photos on the covers, thus continuing the painted cover tradi tion. As his main cover artisl, he managed to hire Peter Dribcn , who had previously embellished such sexy pulps as Gay Parisienne, 1/iglz Heel Magazine, Movie Stories, Silk Stocking Stories and Spicy Stories. Putting aside the stylized approach he had inherited from Enoch Bolles (which had, in the long run, looked a bit stereotyped), yet remaining basically true to the canonsof"legart" as far as his girls' postures were concerned, Driben pa.i nted a whole collection of wonderful female portraits, and as Harrison added new titles to his line of magazines- with Tiller (1944), Eyeful {1944), Wink {1945), Whisper (I 94 7) and Flirt (1948). aU of them published bi-monthly - Driben painted covers for them too, occasionally replaced by Moran (who signed himself with his middle name Steffa a<; he was working under exclusive contract for Brown & Bige-

Cover by Margaret Brundage, Sept. 1935.

low) or by Billy DeVorss (who also painted many girlie calendars and posters for Brown & Bigelow during Lhc 1940's). E vcn Lhough Harrison could count (from 1951 onwards) on an exceptional model named Beuy Page, his girlie magazines were not able to face Lhe competition of Hugh Hefner's Playboy, and had to fold by Lhe Mid-1950's. Harrison, however, had an ace up his sleeve: in December. 1952, he had started publishing yet anolhertitle,ascandal magazinecalled Confidential- Uncensored and Off the Record {later, Lhe subtitle was changed to Tells the Facts and Names the Names). Delving as it did into Lhe darker side of Eisenhower's America, Confidential started out wilh a printrun of250.000 copies. selling over four million at its peak. Harrison himself became a very popular (if "dangerous") character: "The King of Leer" (a<> he was nicknamed) drove around the Big Apple in a white Cadillac. ever-present at all Lhe in-spots, and often appearing on TV talk s hows. This lasted until Lhe late 1950's, when a chorus of remonstrations against Confidential's nasty gossip (Hollywood actors being its favourite victims) urged Harrison to make amends and to radically change Lhe magazine's contents, and later to abandon Lhe publishing field for keeps.

e fut vers 1877 qu'en France, commencercnt 1'1 paraitre rcgulicrement des illus trations en couleurdebelles jeunes filles en deshabille sur les couverturcs de revues telles que La Vie Parisienne. Rapha~l J(jrchncr a cte le principal auteur de ccs images qui, bien qu'assez innocentes, etaient tout de meme excitantes. surtout pour le publicdeceneepoque-la Sonexemple fut sui vi par beaucoup d'autrcs artistes

C

Too

Mueh Temptation By

Gerard Ravel

Unsigned cover, probably by Enoch Bolles, from Gay Parisienne, January 1937.

tres Lalen tueux. parmi lesquels C. Herouard, George Barbier, Pierre Brissaud et l'italien Umberto Brunelleschi (ne a Montcmurlo, en Toscane, en 1879). C'est ainsi que naquirent Le Journal Amusant, Gai-Paris, ou Le Sourire qui imitaient ouvertement le modele de La Vie Parisienne. Raphael Kirchner devint veritablement le prophete de l'art pin-up qui venait de naitre et sa celebrite franchitl'oc&ln: en 1916, I'impresario Lhcatral Florenz Ziegfeld lui demanda de ctecorer avccses illustrations inimitables lefoyer des celebres Follies de Broadway. Aux Etats-Unis, les premiers exemples de revues qui reprenaient Ia formule de La Vie Parisienne, sans toutefois egaler sa finesse, apparurent lors de Ia Premiere Guerre Mondiale. Au toul debut, leur objectif etail

de remonter le moral aux soldaL'> du front et elles proposaienl une scrie de panels humoristiques accompagnes de gags allusifs. Captain Billy's Whiz Bang (fondc par William H. Fawcell, l'un des noms lcs plus importanLS du monde de l'Cdilion aux EtatsUnis). Jim Jam Jem el le Calgary EyeOpener furem quelques-uns des titres de magazines les plus celebres. Mais l'esprit des revues fran~aises, de mcmc que I'atmosphere libertine du Paris des "annees 20", furem importes fidclcmcnt par des revues aux Litrcs "gaulois" Leis que Parisian Life, Gay Parisienne, La Paree Stories, Paris Nights, Gay Fren ch Life, French Night Life el French Scandals. Ccs revues et d'autres magazines comme Snappy, Spicy Stories, Bedtime Stories, Pep, Gayety ou Breezy

PI - UP ART 15

Three covers by Earle K. Bergey from Gay Broadway (Summer 1935, Fall1937) and La Paree Stories (May 1934) pulp magazines.

Stories - particulierement repandus, durant Ia periode aUant des annees 20 aux annees 30, grace a des editeurs comme Frank Munsey et William M. Clayton sont collectivement identifies commc des sexy pulps ou des girlie pulps. La ou les pulps traditionnels vehiculaient une lilterature populaire d'aventures (du western au polar, de l'cxotisme aIa science-fiction), les sexy pulps proposaient des recits d'inspiration romantique et erotique, avec des illustrations en no ir et blanc, realisecs habituellement dans un style cartoonyqui s'inspirait de celui du celebre John Held, jr. Ce demier avait d'ailleurs ete l'un des premiers collaborateurs de Snappy. Quelques revues, telles que Stolen Sweets ou Tattle Tales, con-

tenaient aussi des photos de nus feminins. Dans le contexte de l'art pin-up, Jes sexy pulps acquirent une importance considerable: les illustrations multicolores des couvertures, realisees a Ia gouache, etaient excellentes. Sur ces couvertures, il n'y avail qu'unseul sujet feminin (generalement peint sur fond blanc pour mieux le fa ire ressortir) dont les poses, savarnment etudiees, soulignaientle gal be de leur corps. On mettai ties jambes en relief, si bien que ce genre d'illustration est encore connu de nos jours sous le nom de leg art; on montrait celles-ci tanti'>t nues, tanti'>t moulees dans ces bas nylon qui representaient pour le lecteur de cett.e epoque-la un tres fort appel sexuel. II y avait, du reste, dans lcs noms memes des

revues telles que Silk Stocking Fun ou High Heel Magazine, de claires references fet.ichistes. Pendant les annees de Ia Grande Depression, avec leurs couvertures invitantes et le urs his toires osees, ces revues furent une bonne distraction pour l'americain moyen, afflige par ses problemes quotidiens de survie. De leur c6te, les editeurs cherchaient a faire des prix a leurs lecteurs et leur offraient jusqu'a cinq revues d.ifferentes dans un abonnement trimestriel cumulatif pour 3,75 dollars- cette somme correspondait a Ia paye moyenne de trois jours de travail. Des revues comme Film Fun, Movie Humor, Movie Merry-GoRound et Saucy Movie Tales, ayant comme reference specifique le monde du cinema ct

llltC1!~1-IIR

Three covers by Enoch Bolles from Spicy Strories (December 1937, December 1936) and Gay Parisienne (February 1935) magazines.

16 EST H E T I Q u E

Nude covers by Charles Blaine from Saucy Movie Tales (Dec.1935, March 1935, Sept. 1936).

ses coulisses, se pla~aient dans Ia meme lign~ que les revues cities ci-dessus. Le principal i Uustrateur de couvertures de sexy pulps, pendantles anntes 20 et30, fut Enoch Bolles. Ce demier sut cr~r - dans un style Ami-chemin entre le realisme etla caricature- un modele de femme provocante caracterise par une bouche genereuse- presque toujours entrouvcrte dans un sourire aiJusif et soulignee par un rouge a levrcs intense - et par des yeux A demi-fermcs, recouverts d'un maquillage trcs accentue. Dans les illustrations de Bolles, Ia presence d'objets plus ou moins explicitement phalliques (des selles, des arrosoirs, des ancres, des epres etc ..) accentuait Ia dose d'crotisme, suggerant meme que Ia pin-up etait en

train de mimer un rapport sexuel. George Quintana, Ray A. Burley, Earle K. Bergey etPeterDriben furentdedignes "emules" de Bolles. Nous aurons, par Ia suite, !'occasion de parter de certains d'entre eux. La presence feminine futtoujours constante sur les couvertures des pulps d'aventures, et dans certains cas on peut justement parler de pin-up art. n suffit de regarder, par excmple, les illustrations audacieuses et inquietantes de Margaret Brundage pour Weird Ta/es(l932-45), 1esjeunes filles de l'espace aux courbes genereuses dessinees par Earle Bergey pour des revues de science-fiction telles que Startling Stories (c.l939-50) et Captain Future ( 1941-45), o u que les damsels in distress devetues et victimes de

maniaques ou de savants fous dessintes par William Reusswig, John Newton Howitt. Charles Blaine, Rafael M . DeSoto et d'autres pour Dime Detective Magazine, Dime Mystery Magazine, Terror Tales, Horror Stories,Romantic Detective,Private Detective Stories et d'autres revues semb1ables, publiees surtout par Ia Popular Publications et Ia Trojan Publishjng. Ce fut justement cette derruere maison d'Mition dont le siege etajt a Wilmington, dans le Delaware, qui Ian~. en avril 1934,les spicy pulps. Ces revues offraient des recits dans lesquels !'aventure et le suspense accompagnaient Ia violence et l'erotisme. Le fondateur de Ia Trojan (connue aussi com me Culture Publications) fut Harry Donenfeld ( 1898-1965),

"Phallic symbols": covers from R991 Humor (Dec. 1937, Feb. 1938) by G. Quintana, and from Film Fun (June 1931) by E. Bolles.

PIN UP ART 17

Peter Driben, April 1955 (Vol. 14 # 2).

B. Page on cover, Aug. 1953 (Vol. 10 # 1).

Peter Driben, Oct. 1954 (Vol. 10 # 2).

ce meme Harry Donenfeld qui futle t.itulaire de Ia DC Comics de 193 7 a 1964, la maison d'edit.ion qui public encore de nos jours les comic books de Superman et de Batman. Jamais pourtantle nom de Doncnfeld n'apparut sur les publications de 1a Trojan/Culture: il sc rescrva lc ro le plus "confortablc" de silent partner, e tlaissa que son associe Frank Armer figure comme Cditeurde Spicy Detective, Spicy Western Stories, Spicy Mystery et Spicy Adventure Stories. Les spicy pu/psconnurentl'apogeede leur glo irecntre les annecs 1934 et 1938, avant que lcs censcurs obligcm Doncnfeld et Armer a mitiger leur contcnu. Lcs his to ires eroticoaventurcuses, &:rites par des auteurs comme Robert Leslie Bellem, Heruy Kuttner, Hugh Cave, et par ce meme Robert E. Howard qui avait crcc le barbare Conan,

furem savamment synthetisees et peintes a Ia gouache sur les couverturcs ou !'on presentait de belles jeunes fiUes, a demi-vetues, menacecs par des presences demoniaqucs ou par des criminels sadiques. Ces iUustrations,empreintesderealismc,ontete dessinecs par des artistes d'une indeniable valeur, commc Hugh J. Ward (respectable iUustrateur de revues "serieuses'' te lle que Liberty)et Harry Parkhurst qui anticiperent, par moments, le ftlon fetichiste-bondage en vogue a partir du demier apres-guerre. En janvier 1943, Armer et Doncnfcld, toujours plus harccles par Ia censure, decidcrent de transformer radicalemcnt leur pulps: ils changerent Ia parole Spicy avec Speed qui ctait plus neutre; puis ils tinirent par tout Iiquidcr en 1950. L'ere des spicy pulps etait revolue, mais hcureuscment, uneautre vcnait

de commencer: celle des girlies magazines de Robert Harrison. Au debut des annees 20, Robert Harrison commen~a une carriere de joumalistc, alors qu'il n'etait qu'adolescent. II travaillait dans un quolidien a scandales: New York Graphic. Meme s'il avait du se contenter d'un paste subalteme de gar~on de courses durant les annees passees au Graphic, il y apprit enormement sur le journalis me, surtout sur les innombrables capacites commerciales de Ia Presse a scandales. Durant les premiers mois de l'annee 1942, dans son modeste deux-pieces, Harrison lit naltreavec 1a collaboration de Earl Moran, grand "peintre de filles"- un nouveau genre de publication, entierementconsacreeaux pinups. Ses 48 pages, couvertes de reportages photo en noir et blanc avec de magnifiques

-

l5<

HOW CHORUS

......

OIRLI ARI MADE

• -

" Ktw......

-·--. MAOUINI

Billy DeVorss, Dec. 1947 (Vol. 1 # 1 ).

18 E ST H E T I

QC E

Peter Driben, Sept. 1948 (Vol. 2 # 3).

Billy DeVorss, July 1949 (Vol. 5 # 6).

Peter Driben, cover from TiNer, Vol. 9 # 5, April 1953.

poupees en maillms de bain "deux-pieces" ou en lingerie justifmient totalementle Litre meme de Ia revue: Beauty Parade-Glorifying 1he American Girl. Harrison apparaissait d'a.illeurs dans ces reportages comme "figurant". L'Amerique venait de rentrer en gucrredepuispeu,lessoldats(tout du moins au debut) reprcsentcrent une bonne tranche des lecteurs de Beauty Parade, com me cela etail deja arrive pour les revues "osecs" des annees 10. Pour les couvertures, Harrison eutla bonne idee de ne pas utiliser de photos; il prefera continuer Ia tradition des painled covers, pour eviter aussi d'eventuels ennuis avec Ia censure. II s'assura les services de I'excellent Peter Dri ben qui avail, pendant Ia deuxieme moit.ie des annees 30, egaye avec ses gouaches les couvertures de revues com me: Gay Parisienne, lligh Heel Magazine, Movie Humor,SilkSwcking Stories et Spicy Stories. Dribcn abandonna les illustrations stylisees d'Enoch Bolles qui, a Ia longue, apparurent un peu stereotypCcs, mais, tout en restant fidele aux canons de Ia leg ar1 pour Ia position de scs girls, il realisa toute unc seric de magnifiques portraits fcminins. Au fur eta mesure que Harrison ajoutait de nouveaux titres de revues a son camet-avec Titter (1944), Eyeful (1944), Wink( l 945), Whisper(l941)etFlirt (1948), qui sorta.icnttous les deux mois, Driben en illustrait les couvcrturcs - aide, plus ou

Peter Driben, cover from Eyeful, Vol. 2 # 6, March 1946.

moins rcgulicrement - par Moran (qui Steffa, puisqu'il ctait sous contrat avec Brown & Bigelow) et par le trcs talentue ux Billy De Vorss (auteur de nombreux calcndriers et affiches pour Brown & Bigelow, toujours dans les annecs 40). Bien que Harrison put compter, a partir de 1951, sur un modele d'except.ion comme Beuy Page, sigr~ait

Steffa (Earl Moran), March 1948 (Vol. 1 # 2).

ses girlie magazines furent ecrases par le Playboy aux brillantes couleurs, en papier couche d'Hugh Hefner, et its durem capiwler vers le milieu des annees 50. Mais, Harrison avail encore de nombreux atouts dans son jeu: en deccmbre 1952, il ir~augura une nouvelle revue a scandales, Confidential. Ce magazine, qui representait, sous bien des aspects, Ia "mauvaise conscience" de I'Amerique d'Eiscnhower, debuta avec un t.irage de 250.000 exemplaires pour arriver a en vendre jusqu'a quatre millions par numero. Harrison devint un veritable personnage, memes' it etait plut.6t"derangeant". Sumomme "The King of Leer" (dontla traduction litterale est "le Roi du Regard en coulisse" mais dont I'assonance avec "King Lear", Je roi shakespearien, est evidente), l'editeur voyageait a bord d'une Juxueuse Cadillac blanche; il frequentaitles lieux de rencontre les plus chics et on l'invitait regulierementdans les talk shows televises. Cela dura au moins jusqu'a Ia fin des annees 50. Les protestations de ceux qui se sentaient leses par les "medisances" malveillantes de Confidential (tout d'abord, de nombreux acteurs d'Hollywood) obligerent Harrison, dans un premier moment, a se repentir publiquement puis a changer radicalement Ia ligne directrice de sa revue et enfm a a bandonner !'e dition.

PI N

UP ART 19

A1argaretBrundage Covers for «Weird Tales» pulp magazine

20 E S T H E T I Q U E

.e1t . ,. . ...u. W ' ~-:.::~

---ale.r · t

•
li

•

IO ~ ~[lf N

/'-...

'

',,

·;

) .,.

.. , .. ,

,,

• , . ·. • •

• •

••• • • ~· t .(• • • 11•1 •1 I ... U tt• • •

t•• s t I t Ill

u-...Jeird

"Talef .~

..·/:_.; .

·:

--

·~ . ~\ . .

,

·;":

, ..l

-•

--..

'

.

•..

...-

. 1'

.... .. \ ... .

.

'

PI:\ C p

ART 21

22 E S T H E T I Q t; E

Above: Covers from Weird Tales: September 1938, September 1933, March 1936, September 1937, January 1936, and November 1936. Opposite: Covers from Weird Tales: January 1934, June 1933, November 1934, and September 1934. Page 20: Cover from Weird Tales, November 1937. Page 21 : Covers from Weird Tales: August 1938, October 1933, November 1935, Nov. 1933, March 1938, January 1938, October 1932, June 1938, and October 1937. Margaret Brundage did 67 covers in all for Weird Tales, the well-known pulp magazine, from 1932 to 1945. Weird Tales is copyright e Weird Tales, l td

PIN UP ART 23

Harry J. Parkhurst Hugh J. Ward John Newton Howitt .. . Covers for «Spicy Detective Stories», «Spicy Mystery Stories», «Horror Stories», «Terror Tales», and other pulp magazines

24 E S T H E T I Q C E

P I :\ li P A R T 25

26

EST H E T I Q U E

Above. Torture and sadism on pulp magazine covers by: Charles Blaine, New Mystery Adventures, December 1935; Wilham Reusswig, Dime Detect1ve Magazine, September 1933; William F. Soare, Horror Stones, June/July 1937; Jerome Rozen, Private Detective Stories, June 1940; Harry J. Parkhurst, Spicy Mystery Stories, October 1937; Rafael M. DeSoto, Ten Detective A ces, June 1936. Opposite: Six covers by John Newton Howitt from Horror Stories (July 1935), Dime Detective Magazine (March 1934), Terror Tales (October 1935), Horror Stories (August/September 1937, September 1935), and Terror Tales (January 1935); and three covers by John Drew from Horror Stories (Feb./March 1937), Terror Tales (Nov./Dec. 1937), and Horror Stories (March 1940). Page 24: Harry J . Parkhurst, cover from Spicy Detective Stories, May 1935. Page 25: H.J. Ward, covers from Spicy Mystery Stories (August 1935, June 1935, and May 1936) and Spicy Detective Stories (Dec. 1934). Dime Detective Magazine, Horror Stories, and Terror Tales are copyright e Argosy Commumcations Inc. Private Detective Stories is copyright e Trojan Publications Spicy Detective Stories, Spicy Mystery Stories. and Spicy Adventure Stories are copyright e Culture Publications

PI

~-

C P A RT

27

Enoch Bolles Covers for «Film Fun» and other magazines


JANUARY

F11N

e Good O!de xmas Sheer /

J \.lly

f)

c;OEC IAl CJ\NOID ..:AMEQl\ FEl\'fUQES

"\HE TlE -t'\-\A 1' ~U tvDS /

P I N U P ART 29

FOorr:o~

TOOT'S SWIET

30 E S T li E T I Q C E

iHOUGHT/

..,,. , ••

1!1:16

.ti n

g o~

I a,.

GAY

0~

MACAI.INE

Above : Covers from Gay Book Magazine (July 1936, Spring 1934) and Breezy Stories (February 1937, April1937, and June 1936). Opposite: Covers from Film Fun: April 1939, March 1934, December 1935, June 1938, March 1933, June 1935, December 1937, February 1936, and February 1935. Page 28: Cover from Film Fun, December 1933. Page 29: Covers from Film Fun: November 1937, January 1937, October 1937, and July (year unknown).

PIK

U P ART 31

Peter Driben Covers for «Beauty Parade» and other Harrison girlie magazines


BEAUTY PARADE

BEAUTY

PARADE

FARMER'S NAUGHTY DAUGHTER

JULY 25~

P I N U P AR T 33

BEAUTY PARADE '"f..ht World's loueliest Girls

34 E S T H E T I Q

uE

au. 254

GALS WEAR THE PANTS!

BEAUTY PARADE

.

MODELS • PI N-Ul'S

BEAUn PARAD

PIN

U P AR T

35

EAUTY IUDE

__-

7··?-~

., """'Cirto .........

~- .. .,; ....,.,_._

.; .......,

.; .._111111111 ...

Page 32: Cover from Beauty Parade. Vol. 13 # 5, November 1954. Page 33: Covers from Beauty Parade: December 1955 (Vol. 14 # 6), August 1955 (Vol. 14 # 4; o riginally created for the July 1949 issue), March 1951 (Vol. 10 # 1), and July 1951 (Vol. 10 # 3). Page 34: Covers from Beauty Parade: August 1948 (Vol. 14 # 5), June 1949 (Vol. 8 # 2). January 1953 (Vol. 11 # 6), and November 1953 (Vol. 12 # 5; originally painted for the August 1949 issuA of Flirt). Page 35 : Covers from Beauty Parade: December 1946 (Vol. 5 # 6), October 1947 (Vol. 6 # 4), March 1953 (Vol. 12 # 1), May 1947 (Vol. 6 # 2), August 1947 (Vol. 6 # 3), Apri11948 (Vol. 7 # 1), December 1947 (Vol. 6 # 5), August 1946 (Vol. 5 # 4). and June 1948 (Vol. 7 # 2).


H IH

25C

Above: Covers from Rirt February 1953 (Vol. 6 # 1), August 1951 (Vol. 4 # 4), April1953 (Vol. 6 # 2), August 1949 (Vol. 2 # 4), and February 1955 (Vol. 8 # 1). Opposite top: Covers from Beauty Parade: March 1952 (Vol. 11 # 1) and March 1955 (Vol. 14 # 1). Opposite bottom: Covers from Whisper. March 1949 (Vol. 2 # 6), November 1948 (Vol. 2 # 4), and May 1948 (Vol. 2 # 1).

P J N UP ART 3 7

Above: Pin-up girl by Gil Elvgren. © Brown & Bigelow Opposite: Mutoscope cards by Rolf Armstrong (top) and Earl Moran (bottom).© Brown & Bigelow


Brown & Bigelow, the Pin-up Factory ulla sponda sinistra del M ississippi. nella parte s ud-orientale del Minnesota, sorge St. Paul, capitale di quello stato fin dal 1858. Nata net 1820 come insediamento di commerc ianti di pelli, e oggi (insieme con Ia "gemella" Minneapolis) un notevole centro indus triale ed un importante me rcato granario, di bovini e suini. Ma per alme no mezzo secolo, SL Paul c stata anc he (ed e questo che a noi piu interessa) il maggior centro di produzione della pin-up art "made in USA": risale infatti at 1903 Ia pubblicazione, da parte di Brown & Bigelow, di un girlie calendar abbellito da un dipinto di Angelo Asti intitolato Colette. Sta di fauo che Brown & Bigelo w e il no me della primae piu importante casa produttrice di cale ndari del moodo, ehe ancor oggi ha Ia sua scde su Plato Boulevard, nella c itta del Minnesota. Quel primo calendario a soggetto femminile e il suo succcsso commerciale (ne furono vendute o ltre un milione e mezzo di copie) aprirono Ia strada alia produzione in serie di girlie calendars e - d i conseguenza - alia creazione di uno staff di artisti specializzati nella realizzazione di irnmagini sempre piu ammiccanti e sensuali. Pur continuando a realizzarc calendari di ogni gene rc. Brown & Bigelow pensarono bene di dedicare una considerevole "fetta" della loro produzio ne aile "donnine dipinte". trasformandosi per mo lti versi in una vera e propria "fabbrica delle pin-ups".

S

La superiorita di Brown & Bige low ne l senore dei pin-up calendars e de lla pin-up art in gencralc, fu dete rminata dalla loro abilita ne ll'assicurarsi quasi tutti i miglio ri artisti de l scllo re, anche e soprauutto "rubandoli" alia concorrenza con alle ua nti propostc finanzia rie. Durante gli anni '20 e '30, Rolf Armstro ng ( 1889-1960) fu Ia ve ra

"punta di diamante" di Brown & Bigelow. Ex pug ileeskipper di fama. Armstrong. c he si era forma to artisticarnente a l Chicago Art Institute. c roo una scrie infinita di delicate immagini, quasi tutte rcali7.zatc con coIori a pastcllo c basate su mode lle piuuosto che su foto. Era, forsc, proprio quest'ultimo aspetto a fare Ia diffe renza tra le pin-ups d i Armstrong e quclle di altri artisti s uoi contcmporanei, a rcndcrlc piu vivc e "calde", sia quando assumevano aueggiamcnti sofisticati esognanti, s iaallo rchCsi mostravano biric hine e giocose. Arm trong fu fo rse il primo a conciliare Ia pin-up art con l'arte "scria". c reando opere che avrebbcro fauo Ia loro bella figura suiIa parcte di un negozio d i barbiere come su quella di un musco. Fino ai primi anni '40, i princ ipali clienti di Brown & Bigelow (come pure di altri editori specializzati nella produz io nedi calendari) furono le irnprcsccommcrciali e-limitatarncnte at periodo bcllico - i soldati. I calendari con pin-ups, c he potevano avere un'unic a illustrazione, oppure sci, o dodici (una per ogni mese de ll'anno) venivano starnpati lasciando. tra lapin- upe ledate de l calendario, lo spazio per Ia starnpigliatura del nome de lle varie diue, c he avrcbbcro poi curato la distribuzione de i ca.lendari ai propri clienti e dipendenti, come "omaggio di fine anno" oppure a fini pubblic itari. I calendari coo pin-ups avevano, di conseguenza, una diffusio ne assai ampia, per c ui Ia nudita (pur se mediata dalla riproduzione

PI N

U P ART 39

Zoe M ozert portraying movie star Jane Russell for The Outlawmovie poster (1946), reproduced above.

artistica) era general mente evit.at.a. Furono gli anni '20 e '30 a vcdere Ia maggior diffusione di figure nude sui pin-up calendars, anche sc l'ambientazione "esotico-onirica" contribuiva non poco a farprendere a quelle figurazioni le dovute dist.anzc dalla vita di tutti i giomi. Con l'avvento della Scconda Guerra Mondiale, le pin-ups di Brown & Bigelow tomarono, pcrcosi dire, alia rcallA: i raga1.zi aJ frome avevano bisogno di qualcosa che ricordassc loro i lati piu piacevoli di quella quotidianita cui erano st.ati strappati, e le "girLf dipime" di Brown & Bigelow - con i loro modi un po' infantili e le Ioro gam be lOmite, con i Ioro aueggiamenti apparentemente sprovvcduti e le loro boc-

che camosc - facevano delloro meg Iio per surrogare, in questa loro ambiguita di fon do, ora Ia sorella, ora l'amica sinccra, ora Ia girl-friend, ora il non meglio identificato "oggeuo del desiderio" del private a stclle e striscc. Fu proprio durante il pcriodo bcllico chc Brown & Bigelow - soprauuuo in ragione della crcsccnte richicst.a di pin-ups da parte delle Fort-e Arrnate - diversificarono Ia propria produzione "riciclando" le immagini dei calendari o crcandone di nuove per altri formati c altri media. Le "donnine dipintc" targate B&B apparvero su manifesti, scrie di mini-poster, canoline (denominate mutoscope cards) ouenibili da distri-

Draw1ng by M11ton Candf from Male Ca// wart1me stnp, Apn14th, 1943.

10 E S T H E T I Q

uE

e M11ton Caniff

butori automatici al prezz.o di cinque cents ciascuna, e ancora su scatole di fiammiferi, portasigareuc e pcrsino bretclle (per uomo, natural mente). La popolarita delle pin-ups em talc, chc sulle fusolicre di molti acrci da combattimento artisti non profcssionisti presero a dipingere donn inc copiandole dai calendari di Brown & Bigelow, oppurc dai paginoni di Esquire [vcdi il sccondo volume], inaugurando cosl un scuorc "pcriferico" della pin-up art passato aJ Ia storia con Ia denominazione nose art (dove con "nose" si intendeva, appunto, Ia fusolicra dell'aerco). Sc, poi, accadeva che un pill·llp artist di chiara fama venissc arruolato, lc Forzc Arrnatc amcricane non si lasciavano ccrto sfuggirc l'occasione di aggiungcre ai suoi doveri militari it compito d i rallegrare le truppc con le sue titillanti illustrazioni: e quanto accadde, per escmpio, ad Earl MacPherson (n. 1911 ), che dopo aver rcalizzato per Brown & Bigelow due Artist's Sketch Pad Calendars ncl 1940 e 194 1, vennc reclut.ato in Marina cd ebbc modo di dccorare con lesuepin-ups posti di guardia cd alloggi per gli ufficiali. Net 1941, Esquire aveva inaugurato Ia vcndita per posta c aJ deLLaglio di pin-up calendars, aprcndosi le pone dj un mcrcato fmo ad allora incsplorato, net qualc ben presto si gcttarono a capofitto anche Brown & Bigelow, che contrapposcro aile statuarie girls di Albeno Vargas le figurazioni piu "sbarazzine" rna non meno scnsuali create cfaj loro artist.i. Durante gli anni '40 e '50, 1a company di SL Paul poteva contare su nomi di assoluto valore quali Earl Moran. Gil Elvgrcn, ~ Mozen, Ted Withers, K.O. Munson, Freeman Elliot. AI Buell, Jules Erbit, Fritz Willis e altri ancora. Ma furono

Nose art. Drawing by Milton Can iff from a Male Call strip (June 17th, 1945), and his heroine on the "nose• of a B-25.

soprattutiO i primi tre a "lasciare il segno" nella s10ria della pin-up art. Earl Steffa Moran era nato 1'8 dicembre 1893 a Plaine, neli'Iowa, e ancora adolescentc si era dedicato all'illustrazionc segucndo Ia lezione di Charles Dana Gibson, James Montgomery F lagg e Coles Phillips. Dopo aver studiato presso il Chicago Art Institute c 1'Art Students League di New York, lavoro come aiuto-tipografo c poi come discgna10re di moda. Nel 1934 entro in forza allafactory di Brown & Bigelow, sostituendo progrcssivamente Rolf Armstrong come !oro principale pin-up artist. Trc anni dopo Moran aveva un s uo studio a Manhattan, dove l'artista creo i suoi piu bei dipinti a pastcllo ispirandosi con le sinuosita di magnifiche modelle, tra le quali si distinscro anche lc giovani e non ancora famose Marilyn Monroe e Jayne Mansfield. Moran realizzo anche illustrazioni pubblicitarie per Scars, Roebuck & Co., copcrtine per riviste quali Life c Beauty Parade (di quest'ultima, come si e vista, era anche co-ediiOre) e poster cinematografici (come quello per Something/or the Boys, 1944). Dopo Ia fine del sodaliziocon Brown & Bigelow (1958), Moran dipinse nudi femminili per committenti privati fino a circadueanni prima della sua morte, che avvenne il 17 gcnnaio 1984 a Santa Monica, in California. L'amore per Ia pittura e per i colori nacque mol10 pres10 nel grande Gillette A. Elvgren ( 1915-1980), forse anche perc he suo padre era proprietario di un grande negozio di vernici a SL Paul, nel Minnesota. Dopo aver studiaiO alia American Academy of Fine Arts, Elvgrcn si era occupato soprattutiO di illustrazione pubblicitaria lavorando a Chicago nella studio di Haddon Sundblom (famoso autore dei manifesti della CocaCola) insieme con altri artisti del calibro di AI Buell, Andrew Loomis e Harry Ekman, prima di dedicarsi alia pin-up art realizzando, fin dagli anni '30, calendari, poster e car10line per Ia Louis F. Dow Co. di SL

Joseph, Missouri,e poi (dal l945)perBrown & Bige low. Le sue bellissime girls erano dipinte in uno stile "morbido", talvolta finanche "etereo", che certo risentiva della lezionedi Sundblom ed aveva aspetti comuni con quello usa to da Peter Driben perle copertine di Beauty Paradee delle altre riviste di Robert Harrison. Memorabili furono anche le pin-ups che Elvgren tratteggio per diverse campagne pubblicitarie della CocaCola. Tolte, forse, le sue primissime prove, Elvgren fu l'unico, tra i pin-up artists di Brown & Bigelow, a mantenere livelli di assoluta eccellenza in tutti i suoi dipinti, e soprattutiO a creare delle figurazioni che ancora oggi, a quasi cinquant'anni di distanza, non appaiono affatiO datate. CondotiO ad una morte prematura dalla sua passione per

Gil Elvgren, 1954. e The Coca-Cola Co.

le bevande alcoliche, Elvgren estato considcraiO per anni una sorta di "Vargas dei poveri", rna oggi, per fortuna, si comincia a render giustizia al suo incredibile taleniO, e le sue opere hanna raggiunto quotazioni da capogiro. Fu nei primi anni '30 che Alice Adelaide Moser (nata il 4 luglio 1907 a Colorado Springs, nel Colorado) decise di cambiare il suo nome nel piu evocativo ~ MozerL Iniziata ai segreti dell'illustrazioneda Thornton Oakley, allievo del grande N.C. Wyeth, Ia Mozert lavoro per qualche tempo come vetrinista a Philadephia prima di realizzare, intorno al 1933, i suoi primi pastelli a soggetiO fcmminile. Fino al 1940, le sue illustrazioni ornarono le copertine di riviste quali Romantic Movie Stories, True Confessions e Screen Book, nonc he di sexy pulps quali Paris Nights, e nel 1938 !'American Weeklydi William Randolph Hearstpubblico dodici suoi dipinti. La Mozert realizzo pure moltissime illustrazioni pubblicitarie per committenti quali Irresistible Perfume, Dr. Pepper e Kool Cigarettes. Intomo aJ 1941 , ~ invio alcuni suoi dipinti di nudi femminili a David Smart, ediiOre di Esquire, che se ne most.rO entusiasta e ne compro una dozzina, anche se per qualche motivo non li pubblico mai. Subito dopo, Orion Winford, dircttore artistico per Brown & Bigelow, offri alia Mozert un contralto in esclusiva a condizioni molto favorcvoli, e l'artista accettO di buon grado. II suo primo "nudo di donna" per B&B, Sweet Dreams, fu il piu vendutodallacompagniadi SL Paul nel 1943. Le delicate pin-ups a poi[ della Mozertcontinuarono ad apparire peri tipi di Brown & Bigelow fino alia meta degli anni '60 (quando per ognuna di esse ricevcva tra i 4000 e i 5000 dollari), rna l'artista ebbe modo di distinguersi anche in altri settori dcll'illustrazione: memorabile fu soprattutto il manifesto da lei realizzato per il film The Outlaw (II mio corpo ti scaldera, 1943), raffigurante Ia "bomba sexy" Jane Russell.

PIN UP ART 41

Andrew Loomis. Underwater Fantasy. Plate from Figure Drawing for A/lit's Worth Walter T. Foster art book.


Nonostante pane delle sue opere riscnta di una certa lcziosita chc ccrtamcntc ne attenua (almena per quanto riguarda il pubblico maschile) l'impauo "epidenn ico", occorre riconoscere che Ia Mozert, scomparsa ne l 1993, fu una delle poche artiste del gentil sesso (le altre f urono Joyce Balla ntyne, Ruth Deckard e Pearl Frush) a sopravvivere agevolmente - fone di una preparazione tccnica di tutto rispetto e di una notevolissima sensibilit.a espressiva- in un settoreartistico pensato per i maseru e (almeno numericamente) dominato dai maschi. Lo "stile B&B" ebbc - come si accennava prima-diversi seguaci ed imitatori, inparticolare nel settorc dei calendari. II maggiore concorrentc di Brown & Bigelow fu La Shaw-Barton Company d i Coshocton, nell'Ohio (peraltro fondata da loro ex dirigenti), che nel 194 I pubblico un celebre calendario a immagine unica intitolato Going Places, il cui autore era quel MacPherson che Brown & Bigelow avevano avuto souo contralto per tre anni. All'inizio del 1946, congedatosi dalla Marina degli Stati Uniti, MacPherson riprese a dipingerc calendari nel suo idiosincratico stile da "quademo degli schizzi" (che venne imitato in partico1are dal suo ex assistente T.N. Thompson), e fu proprio Ia Shaw-Barton a pubblicarli, fino al 1957. Occorre anche ricordare che MacPherson c l'autorc dell'unico libro "didau.ico" mai uscito sulla pin-up art , pubblicato nel I 954 da Walter T. Foster nella sua celebre collana ed intitolato Pinup Art: How to Draw and Paint Beautiful Girls. Un'altra cditrice, Ia Kemper-Thomas Company di Cincinnati, pure neii'Ohio, produssc moltissimi pin-up calendars tra

Pin-up artist Earl Moran in his studio. gli anni '40 e i prim i anni '60, affidandoli ad artisti d i talento quali Arthur Sarnoff (n. 1912) e Bill Randall (n. 19 11). Un altro editore, A. Fox, si specializzo- a cavallo tra gli anni '50 e '60- nella produzione di pin-up calendars le cui immagini mettevano scm pre in panicolare evidenza le mutan· dine delle girls: tra i !oro au tori spiccavano Jay ScottPike{n. 1924), un artista spccializzato ne l ritrarre soggeui femm inili anche peri comic books (dovesi occup(>, tra l'altro, di "tarzanicli" quali Lorna the J ungle Girl e

}ann of the Jungle), Art Frahm e il non meglio identificato Slattery. Nessunodei suddetti editori, tuttavia, arrivo mai a minacciare piu di tanto la supremazia di Brown & Bigelow. L'unico, vero, temibilissimorivalcdc llafactorydi SL Paul fu una bella rivista di grande fonnatochc per molti amanti della pin-up art rappresento(e ancor oggi rapprescnta) un veroe proprio "scrigno deltesoro": stiarno parlando, natural mente, di Esquire .

Nude painting by Earl Moran.

P I .t\ U P A R T 43

Good girl art by RoH Armstrong, ca 1949.


e> Brown & Bigelow

Gil Elvgren with Marlene Reilly, one of his models, in 1951.

n the left bank of the Mississippi, in South-eastern Minnesota, there lies SLPaul, the capital city of that state since 1858. Founded in 1820 by skin traders, St. Paul is today (together with its "twin," Minneapolis) a great industrial and agricultural centre. Yet, for at least half a century, St.Paul was also the main source of US pin-up art. In fact, the first US girlie calendar was issued in 1903 by Brown & Bigelow, embellished by a painting by Angelo Asti entitled Coleue. Brown & Bigelow is the name of the ft.rst and largest calendar company in the world, which is still going full steam ahead today, in its PlatO Boulevard plant in St.Paul. That ft.rs t girlie calendar, and its commercial success (over 1,500,000 copies were sold) inaugurated a massive production of calendars feawring sexy girl paintings, which ofcourse needed a specialized staff of artists. Though it continued to publish any kind of calendars, Brown & Bigelow decided to devote a considerable deal of its production to painted girls, thus becoming a veritable "pin-up factory". Brown & Bigelow's superiority in the pinup calendar field (as well as in the pin-up art field as a whole) was largely a consequence of its abilily in hiring all the best artists, whom it offered alluring wages. During the

0

Roxanne, a pin-up girl by Gil Elvgren. © Brown & Bigelow

1920's and 1930's, Rolf Armstrong ( 18891960) was B&B's top artist. A fonnerboxer and champion yachstman who had studied at the Chicago Art Institute, Armstrong created a whole series of delicate images, most of which done in pastels after live models rather than photOs - which was probably why they were so lively and "hot", both when their attitude appeared sophisticated and dreamy, and when they looked playful and misc hievous. Armstrong was perhaps the first artist who was able to conjugate pin-up art with fine art, creating works which would certainly cut a fine figure in a museum as well as they did on the wail of a barber's shop. Up until the Early 40's, the main clients of B&B (as well as of other calendar publishers) we re commercial outfits and - during wartime - soldie rs. Pin-up calendars, which consisted of one, six, or twelve illustrated pages, were primed leaving enough room between the picture and the calendar dates for the client company to print its own name and advertisement. Each company would then distribute the calendars tO its custOmers and employees, as a gift a nd/or a promotional piece. Consequently, pin-up calendar distribution was wide, and nudity (if toned down by the artistic medium) was generally avoided. Nude paintings were

rather customary in the 20's and 30's, yet their exotic/dreamlike settings contributed to keep them far from everyday reality (and from censorship). With theoutburstofWW2, the B&B pin-up calendars went back to reality. Soldiers needed something which could remind them the most pleasant aspects of the everyday life they had been taken away from, and the B&B girls, with their apparently naive attitude and their fleshy lips, did their best tO incarnate any kind of woman- the sister, the friend, the sweetheart. as well as the unidentified "object of desire" of the American private. During wartime, due to the ever-growing request of pin-up paintings, Brown & Bigelow "recycled" calendar paintings, or created new ones, for other fonnats and media, such as posters, mini-poster series, postcards (known as "mutoscope cards") obtainable from a machine at five cents each, match boxes, cigarette-cases , and even braces. Painted pin-ups were so popular, that many an aircraft fuselage was decorated with them (this peculiar branch of pinup art being known as "nose art") by nonprofessional artists who copied them from the B&B calendars or from the Esquire gatefolds [see Book Two). If, then, a professional pin-up artist happened tO be drafted, the Armed Forces didn't think twice and ad-

PIN UP ART

45

Two pin-ups by Arthur Sarnoff, 1946. © Kemper-Thomas Company

ded art chores to his military dulies: this is the case with Earl MacPherson (born 1911) who, after painting two Artist's Sketch Pad Calendars for B&B in 1940 and 1941, joined the U .S. Navy and decorated the Ward Room with huge pin-up painlings. ln 1941, Esquire magazine started selling its pin-up calendars by mail and through retailers . Thus a new, hitherto unexplored market was fo und for pin-up art, and Brown & Bigelow naturalJy plunged into it, countering Alberto Vargas's "statuesque" g irls with its more easy-going, yet equally sensuous pictures. These were created, through the 40's and 50's, by a number of highlytalented anists which included Earl Moran, GilElvgren,Zoe Mozen, Ted Withers, K.O. Munson, AJ Buell, Freeman Elliot, Jules Erbit, Fritz Willis, and many others. Yet it was mainly the first three of them who made the history of pin-up an. Earl Steffa Moran was born on December 8, 1893 in Plaine, Iowa. SliiJ in his teens, he fell in love with illus tration, carefully studying the works of such greats as Charles Dana Gibson, James Montgomery Flagg, and Coles Phillips. After studying a t the Chicago Art Institute and the An Students League in New York, Moran worked as an apprentice printer, and later as a fashion designer. In 1934, he joined the Brown &

46 E S T I I E T I

QL E

Bigelow "factory ",eventually replacing Rolf Armstrong as its top pin-up artist. Three years later Moran was working out of his own studio in Manhattan, where he created his finest pastel paintings, drawing inspiration from the curves of many a gorgeous model, including young Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield. After leaving Brown & B igelow in 1958, Moran continued painLing female nudes as private commissions unlil abouttwo yearsbefore hisdeath, which took place in Santa Monica, California, on January 17, 1984. The great Gillctle A. Elvgren (1915-1980) became fond of painting and colours at an early age, perhaps because his father owned a large paint store in St. Paul, Minnesota. After studying at the American Academy of Fine Art, Elvgrcn became a full-ncdged illustrator when he joined the Haddon Sundblom studioinChicago.ForSundblom (who is universally known for his Coca-Cola poster art), E lvgrcn did mainly advertising illustrations, working together with other great artists such as AI Buell , Andrew Loomis, and Harry Ekman. From the 1930's onwards, he devoted himself mainly to pinup art, painting calendars, posters and postcards for the Louis F. Dow Company of St. Joseph, Missouri, and later (from 1945 onwards) for Brown & Bigelow. His beau-

tiful girl oil paintings were done in a soft. almost "ethereal" style, which was certainly influenced by Sundblom's and had something in common with Peter Driben's cover paintings for Robert Harrison's magazines. Elvgren also did memorable pin-ups for several Coca-Cola advertising campaigns. Apart from his early renderings, Elvgren was the only pin-up artist who worked at top levels during his thirty-odd-year tenure with B& B, as well as one of the few who created picllU'es which are not at all affected by the passing of time. Led to an untimely death by his excessive fondness for alcoholic drinks, E lvgren has long been considered a son of "second-choice Vargas", yet today - at long last - his incredible talent has been recognized and prices fo r his original paintings have gone over the top. It was in the mid-1930's that Alice Adelaide Moser (born July 4 , 1907 in Colorado Springs, Colorado) decided to change her name into the more exotic Zoe Mozen. After learning the basics of illustration and painting from Thornton Oaldey (himself a discipleofN. C. Wyeth), Mozert worked for a while as a shop-window decorator in Philadelphia before doing herftrstfew pastel paintings portraying beautiful girls (circa 1933). Until 1940, her illustrations graced the covers of such magazines as Romantic

Pin-up by Joyce Ballantyne. Gag: "'can never get things straight.•

P l N

II P

A RT

47

Two pin-ups by Fritz Willis: plate from the 1962 Artist's Sketchbook Calendar, and Lola (1966). e Brown & Bigelow

Movie Stories, True Confessions, and Screen Book, as well as those of sexy pulps like Paris Nights. In 1938, William Rando lph Hearst's American Weekly published twe lve of her paintings. Mozert also did several advertising illustrations for Irresistible Perfume, Dr. Pepper, Kool Cigarettes, and other companies. In 1941 , Zoe sent some of her nude paintings to Esquire's publisher David Smart, who looked enthused and bought a dozen of them. For some reason, though, he never published any of them. Shortly after, Orion Winford, an art director at Brown & Bigelow, offered an exclus ive contract to Mozen, who d idn't think twice and joined the ~pin-up factory" staff. Her ftrSt female nude for B&B, Sweet Dreams, was the company's top seller for 1943. Mozen's delicate pin-ups continued to appear under the B&B imprint until the mid- 1960's(when the artist was being paid between $ 4,000 and S 5,000 for each o f them), yet she was able to made a name for herself in other fields o f illustration, too: the mo vie poster she did for 1943's The Outlaw, portraying sexy bomb Jane Russell. is a case in point. Though some times Mozert's pin-up paintings look a bit too affected, and lack the "neshy" quality which more attracts the male public, no one can deny that she was (Mozert died in 1993) the only female pin-


up artist (others worth remembering were Joyce Ballantyne, Ruth Deckard, and Pearl Frush) who managed to make it big - on account of her talent and excelle nt taste in a field which was do minated by males. The "B&B style" had - as we said before -several followers and imitators, particularly as regards the calendar field . Brown & Bigelow's major competitor was the ShawBarton Company ofCoshocton, Ohio (founded by former B&B executives), which produced (1941) a famous one-sheet calendar entitled Going Places. Its author was Earl MacPherson, who had been a B&B for three years. Early in 1946, after serving in the U.S. Navy, MacPherson started painting pin-up calendars again in his idiosyncratic "sketchbook" style (later imitated by his former assistant, T .N. Thompson), which were published by Shaw-Barton untill957. It must also be remembered that MacPherson authored the only ex isting "didactic" book on pin-up art, published by Walter T. Foster in his famous art book series, e ntitled Pin-up Art: How to Draw and Paint Beautiful Girls (1954). Another company, Kc mper-Thomas of Cinc innati, Ohio, produced several pin-up calendars between the 1940's and 1960's, entrusting them to such talented artists as Arthur Sarnoff (b. 19 12) and Bill Randall

(b. 1911 ). Another publisher, A. Fox, specialized in pin-up calendars whose pictures almost inevitably focused on girls' panties. They were painted, between the 1950's and 1960's, by such artists as S lauery and Jay ScottPike (bom 1924), who also drew several girl characters (including jungle girls Lorna and Jann) for the comic books. None of the above-mentioned companies ever we nt so far as to seriously threaten B&B's supremacy. Competition came from another field, magazine publishing, when a beautiful, large-sized monthly started appearing in 1933, eventually becoming a veritable treasure chest for pin-up art collectors. Tha t magazine was Esquire.

t. Paul, capitalc du Minnesota depuis 1858, a etc batie sur Ia rive gauche du Mississippi, dans Ia partie sud-orientale de cct ctaL Nee en 1820, commebasepour lescommcrcantsen pcaux, e lle est aujourd'hui, avec sa "jumelle" Minneapolis, u n centre commercial rcmarquable et unimportant marchc de blc, de bovins e t de porcins. Mais, cc qui nous imcresse le plus de celte ville, c'est que St. Paul a Ct£ aussi le plus grand centre de production de l'art pin-up madein USA.C'esten 1903qu'a etC public, par B&B, un girlie calendaromc

S

d'une pcinture de Angelo Asti intitulec Coleue. D'aillcurs, Brown & Bigelow est cerlaincmcntle nom de La premiere maison d'edition Ia plus imponante de calendriers du monde. Son siege social sc trouve, encore aujourd'hui, Plato Boulevard, dans Ia ville de St. Paul. Ce premier calendrier, centre sur Ia femme, ainsi que son succes commercial, puisqu'on en vend it plus d'un million et demi d'exemplaires, favoriserentla production en strie de girlie calendars e t par constqucnt Ia creation d'une equipc d'artistes specialists dans Ia realisalion d'illustrations toujours plus scnsuelles et allusives. B&B, tout en conlinuanl a realiser des calendriers de toute sortc, jugerent opponun de dedier une "tranche" considerable a leur production de "jolies poupees pcimes". Sous bien des aspects, ils se transformcrem en une veritable "usine des pin-ups". La superiorite de Brown & Bigelow dans le secteur des pin-up calendars et de I'art pinupen general, fut determinec par leur habilcte a s'assurer Ia collaboralion de presque tous les meille urs artistes dans cette branche. lis allcrcnt meme jusqu'a lcs "voter" a Ia concurrence avec des proposiLions financicrcs trcs avantageuscs. Pendantles annecs 20 et 30, Rolf Armstrong (1889-1960), fut certainement leur element le plus prestigieux. Ce demier, ex-boxeur et skipper repute, qui avait r~u sa formalion artisliquc au Chicago An Institute, crea toute une serie d"illustrations dclicates, presque toutes realisees avec des couleurs pastel s'inspirantde modeles plut6t que de photos. Peut-etre s'agissait-il Ia de !'aspect qui differenciait les pin- ups d'Armstrong de celles des autres anistes qui etaicnt ses contemporains. Ce la les rcndait plus vivantes et plus "chaudes", aussi bien quand elles prcnaient des poses sophistiquees et reveuscs qucquand elles se montraiemcoquines etludiques. Armstrong futpcut-etrcle premier qui concilia l'artpinup avec !'art "serieux" car il composa des reuvres qui pouvaient faire unc bonne impression aussi bien sur le m ur d'un salon de barbier que sur celui d'un musee.

Jusqu'au debut des annees 40, les entreprisescommercialesainsiquelessoldats,durant uniquement Ia pCdiode de Ia guerre, furent lcs principaux clients de Brown & Bigelow (tout com me ceux d'autres &liteurs sp&:ialises dans Ia production de calendriers). On imprimait lcs calendriers avec pin-ups, pouvant contenir une seule illustration, ou bien six, voire douze (une pourchaque mois de l'annee). avec un espace blanc entre Ia pin-up et lcs dates, pour pcrmettre d'appliquer le Limbre des differcntcs entreprises qui veillaient par Ia suite a distribuer ces calendriers a leurs clients ou employes commc "cadcau de fin d'annee" ou pour fairc de La publicite. C'estdonc pourquoi les calendriers avec pin-ups etaient abondamment diffuses et que Ia nudite (bien que mitigee par Ia reproduction artistique) eta it gcncralementevitee. Ce futdurantlesannees 20 etles annees 30 que les illustrations de nus sur les pin-up calendars connurentleur plus grande diffusion, mcme si le fait d'avoir place ces nus dans un contexte "exotico-onirique" contribuaitlargement a mettre des dis tances entre ces illustrations etla vie de to us lcs jours. A vee Ia Deux ieme Guerre Mondialc, ces pin-ups furent, pour ainsi dire, repartees a Ia rCalite: les jeunes du front avaient besoin de quelque chose qui leur rappelle les aspects lcs plus agreables dece quotidien d'ou on les avaitarraches,et, les reproductions des girls de B&B avec leur auitudc un peu puerile, leurs jambes bien roulecs, leur componement apparemment na:if et leur bouche pulpeuse, faisaient de leur mieux pour remplacer, dans cctte ambiguitC de fond, tant6t Ia sreur, tant6t l'amie sincere, tant6t Ia girl-friend, tant6t "eel objet du desir" du private americain. Ce fut justement pendant Ia periode de Ia guerrcque Brown & Bigelow diversificrent

'

-~

leur production, surtout parce que les Forces Armees reclamaient plus de pin-ups. lis "recyc lcrent" les iII ustrations des calendriers et en crccrent de nouvelles pour d'autres formalS Cl d'autres medias. Les "jolics poupees" griffl~es B&B apparurent sur des affiches, des series de mini-poster, des cartespostales (appelees mutoscope cards) que I'on pouvait se procurergriice a des distributeurs automatiques a cinq cents l'une, ou encore sur des boites d'allumenes, des port.e-cigarenes et meme des bretelles (pour hommes, bien entendu). Ces pin-ups eurent un tel succes que des anistes non professionnels peignirent sur le fuselage d'avions decombatles "jolies poupees" qu'ilsavaiem copiecs des calendriers de Brown & Bigelow, ou bien des pages centrales de Esquire [voir le deuxicme tome]. C'cst ainsi qu'ils inaugurerent un secteur "peripherique" de !'art pin-up qui devint celebre avec le nom de nose art, car nose designait justementle f usclagede l'avion. S'il ani vail ensuitequ'un artiste renomme dans !'art pin-up soit enr6le, les Forces Arrnees americaines ne laissaient pas echapper !'occasion d'ajouter au devoir militaire decedemier, celui d'egayer les troupes avec ses illustrations chatouillantes. C'est cc qui se produisit avec Earl MacPherson (ne en 1911), qui, apres avoir realise pour Brown & Bigelow deux Artist's Sketch Pad Calendars en 1940 et 1941 , fut recrute en Marine et put ainsi decorer avec

____

-.-,-,.-,.__---....

Hawaiian girl by Earl Mac Pherson from Pin-up Art: How to Draw and Paint Beautiful Girls (1954), a Walter T. Foster art book.

P I 1'\ U P A R T 49

Fetish srtuations in two pin-up artworks by Gil Elvgren. © Brown & Bigelow

ses pin-ups les postes de garde e t les logements pour les officiers. En 1941, Esquire inaugura Ia veme au detail de pin-up calendars par correspondance, il ouvritlesportesa un marchequijusqu'aJors eLait inexplore. Brown & Bigelow s'y jeterent Ia te te la premiere, ils opposerent aux girls sculpturales d'Aiberto Vargas les illustratio ns plus "coquines" mais tout aussi sensuelles crcecs par leurs artistes. Pendant les annees 40 et 50, Ia company de S t. Paul pouvait compter sur des noms de tres grande vaJeur comme Earl Moran, Gil Elvgren, Zoe Mozert, Ted Withers, K.O. Munson, Freeman Elliot, AI Buell, Jules Erbit, Fritz Willis ct bien d'autres e ncore. Mais ce furent surtout les trois premie rs qui "marquerent" l'histoire de l'art pin-up. Earl Steffa Moran, ne le 8 decem bre 1893 a Plaine dans !'Iowa, sc consacra a!'illustratio n, aJors qu'il n 'l~t.ait qu'un adolescent, il suivit les l~ons de Charles Gibson, James Montgomery Flagg ct Coles Philips. Apres scsetudes au Chicago An lnstilutcet a I'Art Students League de New York, il travailla comme aide-typographe, puis comme dcssinateur de mode. En 1934, il pcrcra a Ia factory de Brown & Bigelow, e til re mplacra progressivement Rolf Armstrong en qualite de principal pin-up artist. Trois ans plus tard, Moran ouvrit un studio a Manhattan. Ce futla qu'il crea scs plus belles pcintures pastel, s'inspirant des courbcs somptueuses

50 E S T II E T I Q C E

de magniliques modeles, parmi lesquc lles on pcut c iter Marilyn Monroe et Jayne Mansfield qui et.aient tres jeuncs e t encore inconnues aCCllC epoque-la. Moran realisa aussi des illustrations publicitaires pour Sears, Roebuck & Co, des couvertures de magazines com me Life ctBeauty Parade (il etait aussi co-ed.iteur de ceue dcmiere re· vue, comme on l'a deja signaJe) et des affiches de c inema (com me celle pour Somethingfor the Boys, 1944). Lorsque se term ina sa collaboration avec Brown & Bigelow ( 1958), Moran peignit des nus fcmin ins pour des commissionnaires privcs jusqu'a deux ans avant sa mort. n s'eteignit le 17 janvie r 1984 Santa Monica, en Califomie. Ce fut tres tot que !'amo ur pour !'art et lcs couleurs naquit chez le grand Gillette A. Elvgre n ( 1915-1980), probablement parce que son pere etail proprietaire d'un grand magasin de peintures a St. Paul dans le Minnesota. Apres ses etudes a !'American Academ y of Fine Arts, Elvgren s'est surtout consacre a !'illustration publicitaire. 11 a travaille aChicago c hez Haddon Sundblom (le celebre auteur des aflichcs de CocaCola) avec d'autresartistes de la trempc d'Al Buell, Andrew L oomis et Harry Ekman, avant de se dedjer a I'art pin-up. A partir des a nnees 30, il a realise des calendrie rs, des affiches et des cartes-posrales pour la Louis F. Dow Co. de St. Joseph, au Missouri, el (a partir de 1945) pour Brown & Bige low. Le

a

style de ses trcs belles girls et.ait "souple", parfoisethcre; il subissaitprobablement l'innuence de Sundblom et il possedait des elements communs avec celui de Peter Driben pour ses couvertures deBeaucy Parade et des autres revues de Robert Harrison. Les pin-ups que Elvgren dessina pour plusieurs campagnes publicitaires de CocaCola furent aussi memorables. A pan ses tout pre miers essais, Elvgren futle seul des pin-ups artists de Brown & Bigelow qui continua a conserver dans ses dessins un t.rCs hauL niveau de perfection. Mais il ful surtout celui qui crea des illustrations "indatables" encore aujourd'hui aJors que cinquante ans se som deja ecoules. Mort premature ment a cause de son gout excessif pour l'aJcool, on a longtemps considere El vgren une sorte de "Vargas des pauvres", mais hcureuscmcnl aujourd'hui, on commence a re ndre justice a son incroyable talent; d'ailleurs ses a:uvres ont aueint des prix faramine ux. Alice Adelaide Moser (nee le4 juilletl907 a Colorado Springs) decida de changer de no m, vcrs lc debut des annees 30, el choisit Zoe Mozertqui lui semblait plusevocateur. Elle fut init.iee aux secrets de l'iUustration par Thomson Oakley, eleve du grand N.C. Wyeth el travailla pendant uncertain temps comme etalagiste a Philadelphie avant de realiscr, ve rs 1933, scs premiers pastels fcminins. Jusqu'en 1940, ses illustrations

Leg art in two pin-up artworks by Gil Elvgren.
egayerent les couvertures de revues telles que Romantic Movie Stories, True Confessions et Screen Book, mais aussi des sexy pulps comme Paris Nights. En 1938l'American Weekly de William Randolph Hearst publia douze de ses dessins. Zoe Mozert reaiisa aussi de nombreuses illustrations publicitaires pour des commissionnaires comme Irrestible Perfume, Dr. Pepper et Kool Cigarettes. Vers 1941, Zoe envoya quelques-uns de ses nus feminins a David Smart, editeur de Esquire; ce demier en fut enthousiaste et en acheta une douzaine, pourt.ant, pour une raison qui nous echappe, il ne les publia jamais. Peu apres, Orion Winford, directeur artistique pour Brown & Bigelow, offrit a Zoe Mozert un contrat d'exclusivite a des conditions tres avantageuses que l'artiste se fit un plaisir d'accepter. Son premier "nu feminin" pour B&B, Sweet Dreams, fut !'illustration Ia plus vendue de Ia societe de St. Paul en 1943. On continua a publier les delicates pin-ups a poi! de~ Mozert pour le public de Brown & Bigelow jusqu'a Ia moitie des annees 60 (lorsque pour chacune d'entre elles, I'artiste touchait de 4000 a 5000 dollars). Mais, cette artiste put aussi se distinguer dans d'autres branches de !'illustration: son affiche pour le film The Outlaw (Le Banni, 1943) avec Ia "bombe sexuelle" Jane Russell fut memorable. Bien que Ia plupart de ses reuvres soient empreintes d'une certaine mievrerie qui

attenue ainsi !'impact "epidermique" (tout du mains pour ce qui conceme le public masculin), il faut reconnaitre que Zoe Mozert, morte en 1993, fut une des rares artistes femmes (Joyce Ballantyne, Ruth Deckard et Pearl Frush en furent aussi du nombre) qui put survivre aisement dans une branche artistique faite pour les hommes et dominee (tout du mains numeriquement) par Ies hommes. Elle arriva a ce resultat grace asa soli de preparation technique et a sa tres grande sensibilite artistique. Le "style B&B" eut, comme nous l'avons deja evoque, differents emules et imitateurs, surtout dans le domaine des eatendriers. La Shaw-Barton Company de Coshocton dans I'Ohio fut Ia plus grosse concurrente de Brown & Bigelow; ceue societe fut d'ailleurs fondee par quelques ex-dirigeants de B&B. En 1941, cette demiere publia un celebre calendrier n'ayant qu'une illustration dont Ie nom etait Going Places creee par ce meme MacPherson qui avail signe, auparavant, un contratavec Brown & Bigelow d'une duree de trois ans. Au debut de 1946, une fois termine son service dans Ia Marine des Etats-Unis, MacPherson recommen~ a peindre des calendriers dans un style tout a fait personnel de "camet d'ebauches" qui fut d'ailleurs imite par son exassistant T.N. Thompson. Ce futjustement laShaw-Bartonqui lespubliajusqu'en 1957. Il faut aussi rappeler que MacPherson est

l'auteur du seul livre "didactique" sur l'art pin-up, pub lie en 1954 par Walter T. Foster dans sa celebre collection, avec Ie titre suivant: Pin-up Art: How to Draw and Paint Beautiful Girls. Une autre maison d'edition la Kemper-Thomas Company de Cincinnati, toujours dans l'Ohio, produisit de tres nombreux pin-up calendars dans Ia periode qui vades annees 40 au debut des annees 60. On confia leur realisation a des artistes de talentcommeArthurSamoff(neen 1912)et Bill Randall (ne en 1911). Un autre editeur, A. Fox, se specialisa, acheval sur les annees 50 et60, dans Ia production de pin-up calendars dont les illustrations mettaient toujours en evidence les petites culottes des girls: parmi leurs auteurs, on remarque Ies noms suivants: Art Frahm, un artiste connu sous le nom de Slattery etJay Scott Pike (nt en 1924), celebre pour ses sujets feminins, presents aussi dans les comic books ou il dessina entreautresLorna the Jungle Girl et ]ann of the Jungle. Aucun des editeurs que nous avons mentionnes ne parvint jamais a ebranler Ia suprematie de Brown & Bigelow. Le seul et unique rival redoutable de Ia factory de St. Paul fut une belle revue de grand format qui representa et qui represente toujours pour les amoureux de l'art pin-up une veritable "coffre au tresor": et nous sommes, naturellement, en train de parter d'Esquire.

PIN UP ART 51

Earl Moran Girlie calendars and pin-up photos


P TN

TJ P

A RT

S~

Pages 52·55: Pin-ups from mutoscope cards and girlie calendars produced by Brown & Bigelow. © Brown & Bigelow

54

ES T H ET I Q U E

WHY-WB'RB BARELY ACOUAJNTBD

PI

U P ART 55

.\'o kisses, and a girl a111l her !toney arc soon par/rd.

In these pages: Norma Jean Dougherty (future movie star Marilyn Monroe) in some photos («!> Playboy) shot by Earl M oran (1946-48) ...


... and pin-ups painted by the artist from those shots. © Brown & Bigelow

PIN

U P AR T 57

Time to Call. Brown & Bigelow.


Marilyn Monroe nude painting, Late 1940s. P I ~

C P A HT

59

Gil Elvgren Girlie calendars and pin-up paintings


PIN

UP ART 61

62 E S T I I E T I Q U E

PIN UP ART 63

"This skin / love to touch."

6ft EST II ET I QC E

Hey Honey... it's a cinch!

PI

UP AR T

65

66 EST II ET I QUE

PI

U P AR T 67

68 ESTHETIQUE

Above: .. Nothing to sneeze at." Brown & Bigelow

Pages 60-68: Pin-ups for Brown & Bigelow reproduced from original posters and girlie calendars. e Brown & Bigelow

PIN UP ART 69

Earl MacPherson Pictures from «Artist's Sketch Pad Calendars», «Pin-up Art: How to Draw and Paint Beautiful Girls», and pin-up photos

70 E S T II E T I Q t.; E

THE

PASTELS

are a pplied with my finger tips, to give a flesh-l ike qua lity and ,,-a te r color is used with small brushes

fo r detail in the eyes and teeth. Note a lso the use o f p rops, such as hats, aprons, etc.. which are an im portant part of the pose. The o ri ginals of these illust rations are 21"' x 28"' overall , which is large enoug h for all reproduction purposes a nd also a convenient painting size.

P T

TT P

A P 'T

71

1->AINTINa -the 1i1N-U1'

I

,,

\

'\

\ 1:

\{I ~

THE ADO\'!::

'

illust rations arc from th e l\ lacPhcrson Sketchbook. an annual advettising ralendar, produced by the

Shaw-Barton Co. of Coshocton. Ohio, with a distribution of over a million ropics.

Thc~e

illustrations arc for your

study, particularly in the use o f color and al~o to aid in thf' training o f vour mod e l~. The medium used is pastel and water color.

Pages 70-73 : Drawings and pages from Pin-up Art: How to Draw and Paint Beautiful Girls art book, Walter T. Foster, 1954.

72 ES THETJ QUE

I

I ·" ~<;·?··~. tl.

~~

r;, . .,, . :

·-

.............

' ~"""" ~ N. \1,. ":::.: r~ ,."- "' . r.::M ,...i'

P TN

TT P

·'

A RT

7~

Top: Betty Morelius posing for a MacPherson pin-up girl painting (right) in the Early 1940s. Above: Lili in a photo shot by the artist, and a plate from the 1941 Artist's Sketch Pad Calendar(© Brown & Bigelow).

74

EST H ET I Q

uE

I$

f,y (fo.ll...'U

rr. _.;_ ......... _ ... ......................

""' ......... _ .. .,;,.M ,..,_,.,.,"L)~ f

• ·• ,

.,

I

~Ate"~ ~ • J: )J

•

..

u~

u

~

1:.

•

tt

'.l

l.f~11t;'fl_..,

:'

:~ ~

:.J

:s .. .)..'

~

.....

~..

:,,

\1

~

'

,

.-

.!

p.

~-Au'1'.sl C'

J

"'

<"

..

'

T •

t

1

1.: 1.1 14 "'~ :J ..!.:~,~~~:7.:1 ID

II

,, '" ,, u

:, ,... ,,

Minta Hoia (above left), Earl MacPherson's favourite model, posed for the 1954 Artist's Sketchbook Calendar, titled Hunter's Barton). All pictures on this and previous page are from the book Memoirs of Earl MacPherson. ~ Earl MacPherson P T

Guide (~

T1 P

Shaw-

A R 'r

7C\

Zoe Mozert Brown & Bigelow girlie calendars and mutoscope cards

76 E S T H E T I

QU E

All pictures on this and following page are copyright CO Brown & Bigelow

PI N U P AR T 77

Introduction 5 Sexy Pulps & Girlie Magazines 8 A1argaretBrundage 20 Harry Parkhurst, Hugh J. Ward, Jo hn Newton Howitt... 24 Enoch Bolles 28 Peter Driben 32 Brown & Bigelow: the Pin-up Factory 38 Ear/A1oran 52 Gil Elvgren 60 Earl A1acPherson

70 Zoe Mozert

76

Above: Earl Moran, pin-up girl from his 1949 Brown & Bigelow calendar. © Brown & Bigelow Opposite : Gil Elvgren, plate from his 1952 Brown & Bigelow calendar. © Brown & Bigelow Final page: AI Moore, plate from the 1950 Esquire Girl Calendar. © Esquire Associates

The Golden Age of PIN-UP ART Book One Testi I Text: Alberto Becauini Redazione I Editorial staff: Riccardo Morrocchi, Stefano Piselli Ricerca fonti I Research: Alberto Becattini, Riccardo Morrocchi, Stefano Piselli Grafica e impaginazione I Concept & design: Stefano Piselli Traduzione inglese I English translation: Alberto Becauini Traduzione francese I French translation: Susanna Longo Stampa I Printed by: C.E. Nerbini, Firenze Copertina I Cover: Gil Elvgren © Brown & Bigelow Retrocopertina I Back cover: Peter Driben II copyright delle immagini riprodotte a fini di studio e documentazione si intende dei singoli autori e/o editori o di chiunque altro ne detenga i diritti This book contains photos and drawings included for the purpose of criticism and documentation All pictures copyrighted by respective authors, publishers and/or other copyright holders © Copyright dell' opera: Glittering Images edizioni d'essai, Firenze Tutti i diritti riservati. Tous droits reserves. All rights reserved

Printed in Italy Firenze, Dicembre 1994

To be continued in Book Two ...

E

0 T li E T I QU FETISH &BIZARRE

E

Per Adulti - For Adults Only - Pour Adultes

GLITTERING I

M

A

edizioni

G

E

S

d'essai

The Golden Age of Pin-Up Art - Book One

Recommend Documents