Lips in a bow, legs on display. Why did pin-up become so popular and how did the recognized masters of this genre create?

Pin-up, appeared in the 30-40 years of XX century in the United States, quickly gained considerable popularity. Artists, such as the famous Gil Elvgren or Earl Moran willingly drew half-naked beauties with perfect looks, inadvertently falling into various racy situations. However, the true masters of this genre managed to maintain a good balance between piquancy and decency, so vulgarity in their pictures is not much, rather a graphic embodiment of ideal male ideas about beauty.

Gil Elvgren. Pin-up

And all these beauties do not seem inaccessible and unattainable at all, like goddesses and naiads in the paintings of academicians. They are ordinary girls you see on the street, only somewhat idealized - with a more attractive appearance. Elvgren specified her standards: “the body of a 20-year-old, the face of a 15-year-old, and a minimum of clothing.” And it was these very young, but already quite mature beauties in pin-up pictures that drove men crazy.

Gil Elvgren. Pin-up

Pin-ups had already outgrown the level of “illustrations for soldiers and truckers”, who were at first its main customers, and became an integral part of mass culture. It is often used to advertise various products, willingly printed in men's magazines, so that the artists who created in this direction, very well earned. However, such pictures required a lot, so Elvgren invented an original way how to draw pin-up quickly and efficiently.

Gil Elvgren. The Merry Nymph

He photographed his models in the right pose and in the right clothes, and then drew pin-ups from the photos. His models were posed by aspiring actresses and models, for whom it was a good income: sometimes they received half of the artist's fee.

Actress and pin-up Gil Elvgren.

Therefore, such work is not squeamish even recognized stars, such as Marilyn Monroe, who at the beginning of her career often posed for the artist Earl Moran. This creative alliance was beneficial for both: Monroe was exposed to the general public, made new acquaintances and managed to conquer Hollywood.

Earl Moran. Pin-up modeled by Marilyn Monroe

For pin-up posed Brigitte Bardot and Ava Gardner, and the number of unknown models and counting is difficult. And not all of them had to have perfect looks: artists often embellished them thoroughly, achieving the proper level of attractiveness, drawing a more youthful and innocent face, giving it a flirtatious expression of “ripe virginity”.

Gil Elvgren. Pin-up

Bow-tied lips and ridiculous situations, because of which the girl had to bare her precise legs, raising her skirt, became the trademark of a good pin-up. Yet it is exciting but not trivializing, the emphasis was often not just on the girls, but on a general positive attitude to life. An American soldier who fought in World War II had to know that there was a girl waiting for him at home no worse than in pin-up pictures, he just had to fulfill his duty to the end and come home alive and well.

Pin-up photo on the nose of an airplane

However, some artists, such as Peter Dreeben, somewhat departed from the classic canons of pin-up and drew beauties not in everyday circumstances, but as if they were models posing for men's magazines.

Peter Dreeben. Pin-up

Driben's illustrations did not show too much domesticity, but there were plenty of female charms. Critics even began to say that there was more vulgarity in them than piquancy, but this did not prevent the artist to stamp his creations in large numbers, the demand for them was consistently high.

Peter Dreeben. Pin-up

Well, Fritz Willis, went even further and began to draw pin-up in the style of nude, deciding to open the breasts on his girls. However, in order not to spend on posing models - and not all of them would agree to be filmed in this form, Willis wrote pin-up from his wife Pat.

Fritz Willis. Pin-up

Despite the frivolous genre, he painted oil paintings according to all the rules of academic art, and they were sold like hotcakes, giving a tangible addition to the family budget.

So pin-up is very different, if this topic is interesting, we will continue it in the next publications, there is more to tell about it.

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