George Brown Petty IV (1894–1975) — American artist, who became widely known as the author of frivolous, but in his own way very attractive pictures with half-naked and naked girls, which were popular with all men at the time, and so much so that during World War II, American pilots decorated the fuselages of their planes with images of “Petty's girls”.
George Petty's pin-up
He formed a new standard of beauty, albeit somewhat idealized, but at the same time and down-to-earth. Such girls, as in pin-up pictures, could be found in ordinary life, and it is no coincidence that Petty used aspiring actresses and even his daughter Margery Jule as models, each time drawing a new face to her figure.
George Petty's pin-up
Originally from Louisiana, his father worked as a photographer and moved to Chicago with his family when George was 6 years old. Petty learned the ins and outs of his father's work from a young age, including how to use an airbrush and helping him retouch photos.
George Petty's pin-up
He was much more attracted to creativity than to the exact sciences, which is probably why he did not do well in school. But he was happy to take on all artistic duties, such as designing wall newspapers. Already in high school he took night classes at the Chicago Art Academy.
George Petty's pin-up
After school he went to Paris, where he studied at the private Julian Academy. Although they charged a decent tuition fee, they taught to the best of their ability, without excessive academic conservatism. It is no coincidence that its graduates were artists John Singer Sargent, Alphonse Mucha and Henri Matisse. But in 1916 had to return to Chicago. By that time Petty's father had died, and this tragic event saved him from being drafted into the army. To engage in photography Petty did not want to, as painting and illustration attracted him much more. So he closed his father's photo studio and got a job at an advertising agency. There he first drew a pretty girl on skates for the advertising catalog of the company Marshall Field.
George Petty's pin-up
In the agency had to retouch a lot of photos with an airbrush, which allowed him to master this tool at a very high level. Later, this skill came in great use to the artist when working on the drawings of his famous “Petty girls”.
George Petty's pin-up
In 1926, Petty had saved enough money to open his own studio. He drew illustrations for various magazines, mostly women's, created all kinds of advertising and would probably have remained in history as a mediocre illustrator, if not for the cooperation with the famous men's magazine Esquire. In 1934, he began to draw for it his pin-up pictures, which immediately became very popular.
George Petty's pin-up
You could say they were promoting the magazine to its customers. It was something new in glossy journalism - explicit enough color drawings of idealized girls, but not too vulgar to be classified as an adult-only magazine, with appropriate distribution restrictions.
George Petty's pin-up
Due to the imperfect printing of those years and technical difficulties, it was difficult to print color photographs in magazines, and they were replaced by drawings. “Petty's Girls” became the prototype not only of pin-up, but also of modern glossy erotic magazine photography.
George Petty's pin-up
Petty's illustrations were often cut out of magazines and pinned to the wall with pins. This is how the term “pin-up beauty” came to be. Pin-up was especially popular during World War II. Petty's beauties were painted on airplanes, for example, on the famous Memphis Belle bomber. The commander of that airplane personally contacted Petty and asked his permission to post the picture. Petty, of course, agreed - it was a sign of recognition and a great advertisement.
Memphis Belle airplane photo.
Petty has worked with Esquire all his life, but once he had a serious quarrel with the management and left to join the rival True Magazine. He managed to almost double the circulation of that magazine in three years, but then returned to Esquire.
He retired from the business in 1965, when he was 69 years old, and quietly lived out his life, remaining in history as the first pin-up artist who set the basic standards of the genre.
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