The Art of Pin-up

One Big Slice of Cheesecake. Pin-up travels the long road from barracks wall to high art

Since TASCHEN released The Great American Pin-up, international interest in this distinctly American art form has increased exponentially. Paintings by leading artists such as Alberto Vargas, George Petty, and Gil Elvgren that sold for $ 2,000 in 1996 are going for $ 200,000 and more today. Pin-up — drawings, paintings, and pastels of an idealized female face and figure intended for public display — was produced between 1920 and 1970 for calendars, magazine covers, and centerfolds. The majority of original paintings were discarded by publishers and calendar companies after printing, making the surviving art that much more precious.

Based on the formidably sized Art of Pin-up, this accessible edition gathers nearly 100 artists alongside in-depth showcases of the top 10 names in the game. Each chapter opens with a reproduction of an original calendar or magazine cover by that artist. The reproduction quality of the paintings, pastels, and preparatory sketches that follow — largely sourced from the original art — invites the viewer to trace the brushstrokes, while the exquisite period calendars, vintage prints, and original model photos document the artists’ creative process. Much of these ephemera were photographed on-site at the historic Brown & Bigelow Company, home to the world’s largest archive of vintage pin-up calendars.

In addition to the chapters on the 10 featured artists, the book includes bios and art of 85 painters, the most complete compendium of pin-up artists ever compiled. All this adds up to a hard-to-beat book on this popular subject.

The editor:

Dian Hanson produced a variety of men’s magazines from 1976 to 2001, including Juggs, Outlaw Biker, and Leg Show, before becoming TASCHEN’s Sexy Book Editor. Her titles include the “body part” series, The Art of Pin-up, Psychedelic Sex, and Ren Hang.

The contributing authors:

Sarahjane Blum is an author, cultural historian, and co-owner of Grapefruit Moon Gallery, which specializes in original American illustration art. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Louis Meisel is owner of one of the oldest pin-up and illustration art galleries in New York. He is the co-author of TASCHEN’s The Great American Pin-up and Gil Elvgren: All his Glamorous American Pin-ups.