Recently, there have been more and more voices in Russia saying that life in Soviet times was not so bad. The trees were taller, the bushes were thicker, and most importantly - this time without joking - people were kinder and there was confidence in the future. True, partly it resembled a dull certainty, when everything was known in advance and a person could predict with great certainty his life path; study at school, then depending on successes there - at the institute, technical school or vocational school, the army for young men, marriage, birth and upbringing of children, artwork in the specialty, interspersed with trips to the sanatorium, retirement and old age. Not that all this was bad, but often people who were really active, enterprising and energetic had no incentive to advance further, although even in the present time, the success and wealth of some "powerful people" are not always identical to their abilities and certainly not to their moral qualities.
Natalia Ershova. An enviable groom
Perhaps that is why Russians remember the Soviet times with longing and nostalgia. Here we need to take into account the "time filter" - the bad and negative things that were in the Soviet Union, gradually forgotten, left only bright memories of youth and maturity, and what was good there. Today's young people imagine life in the Soviet Union from good comedies by Gaidai or Ryazanov, trying not to get into all the vicissitudes of Soviet life, so in general they have a positive attitude to the Soviet time, although it is unlikely to be close to them, especially if they get to know it better - well, how can you live without computers, the Internet and cell phones.
Natalia Ershova. Sitting well
Artists also play on nostalgia, in particular, Muscovite Natalia Ershova. She has created a whole series of artworks in pin-up style. About this style and artwork Ershova and we will talk in more detail.
The fashion for such pictures - the dream of a trucker and a bachelor - began in the 1920s. The publishers of "Brown & Bigelow" calendars had an idea for a million - to publish pictures with "pinned up" girls (to pin up - from English - "to pin" or attach a poster to the wall). But the photographic technique was imperfect - it was difficult to get beautiful and colored photos of half-naked frivolous beauties, so the publishers turned to artists who were ready to "paint life and girls" with bright colors.
Gil Elvgren. Pin-up hottie.
And since the main audience of such calendars were bachelors, it was necessary to add an element of flirtatiousness and frivolity acceptable for that time. Therefore, instead of strict and decent dresses, beauties with model parameters and high hairstyles were dressed in short skirts, revealing slender legs in stockings and garters. One of the most popular artists who created in this style was Gil Elvgren. He drew hundreds of such drawings, for all tastes: attractive housewives - envy husbands, which at home waiting for such a beauty, self-confident emancipated ladies, independently making their way in life and even girls-cowboys.
Gil Elvgren. Pin-up beauty.
The models were aspiring actresses and young models. And Elvgren almost always retouched their appearance, correcting all the flaws. In general, a master of Photoshop and photos for glossy magazines, taking into account the technology of the early XX century.
A photo of a sitter and a pin-up beauty.
He earned very well - concluded a contract, under the terms of which publishers paid 1 thousand dollars - a huge amount for those times, for each drawing. And it all paid off, which clearly indicates the immense popularity of pin-ups.
Could not pass by and advertisers - one of the first were the bosses of Coca-Cola, who proposed to put on an advertising poster beauty in the style of pin-up. Sales skyrocketed and that idea was adopted by many other companies and, it seems, are not going to abandon it until now, just drawings gave way to photos of models. Although the same approach - perfect appearance, minimum of clothes and retouching with the help of photoshop remained.
Gil Elvgren. Pin-up hottie.
Heroes of pin-up pictures became not only beauties, but even Goering and Hitler. In Germany to support the spirit of German soldiers was issued a similar series of propaganda posters.
But especially popular pin-up became during the Second World War - even politicians gave each other calendars with beauties, and supplying them to American soldiers was one of the duties of military leaders. It was believed that a soldier fights better if he thinks that when he returns home he will meet such a beauty or she is waiting for him. Al Buell (Alfred Leslie Buell) was a prominent master of pin-up pictures at the time, and his artworks were still a bit different from the usual advertising consumerism.
Al Buell. Pin-up poster and its depiction on an airplane.
One of the most expensive artists in this direction was Alberto Vargas. He drew perfect beauties on a light background, partly resembling famous movie stars of the time. And some of them were naked or dressed purely symbolically, so it is pure eroticism. Now many of his artworks are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Alberto Vargas. Pin-up beauty.
Well, in our homeland appeared quite a few artists exploiting the Soviet theme in the pin-up style. In addition to Natalia Ershova, mentioned at the beginning of the article, we can remember and Valery Barykin. And, strangely enough, the Soviet reality in the pin-up style looks though somewhat unusual, but quite harmonious.
Natalia Ershova. Fight drunkenness
If our mores were simpler, we might have had our own Soviet pin-up artists. Yes, in the Soviet Union there was little advertising - and many pin-up pictures are just purely advertising, but they idealize and embellish reality, and at that time, many artists were doing it, including even such respected artists as Deyneka, Gerasimov and Plastov. Pin-up pictures are no worse than socialist realism, and the demand for them would have been amazing, especially in times of scarcity.
Natalia Ershova. Striker.
Perhaps Soviet officials simply categorically forbade to imitate so clearly the "decaying effects of the West" and artists were afraid to disobey them in order to avoid serious trouble. Although it is not excluded that such pictures were created privately, to order for a particular buyer.
Natalia Ershova. And in our courtyard.
But now Russian artists have complete freedom in this style, which they take advantage of. As for Natalia Ershova, she graduated from art school and found herself in this style. She has many customers - large companies that need advertising calendars, publishers of postcards and various glossy magazines. She draws her pictures authentically, with a lot of small details familiar to all the people who lived in the times of the Soviet Union, that's why you want to look at them. It is also an opportunity to return to the past, albeit embellished - the way many people who lived at that time want to remember it.
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