Gil Elvgren: All His Glamorous American Pin-ups - Softcover

Martignette, Charles G.; Meisel, Louis K.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3822829307 ISBN 13: 9783822829301

Publisher: Taschen GmbH, 2003

Synopsis

Hard to Find book

About this title

Synopsis:

The perfect moral-boosting eye-candy for every homesick private Post-depression USA was in desperate need of a defining iconography that would lift it out of the black and white doldrums, and it came in the form of Gil Elvgren's technicolor fantasies of the American dream. From the Forties to the Sixties his painted adverts and posters for, among others, Coca-Cola and Pangburn's Chocolates, as well as the long-running Brown and Bigelow calendars, were a bright red white and blue account of the country's aspirations and hopes. As the country plunged into war Elvgren provided the troops with pin-up girls galore. His technique involved photographing models and then painting them into gorgeous hyper-reality, with longer legs, more flamboyant hair and gravity-defying busts, and in the process making them the perfect moral-boosting eye-candy for every homesick private. Elvgren defined the classic "pop" vision of Americana, a bold visualisation that has been endlessly appropriated and recycled in advertising, TV, film and art. His style is instantly recognisable.

Dubbed "The Norman Rockwell of cheesecake", Elvgren's images combine desire for a better life with nostalgia for the nation's innocent apple-pie past.

About the Author:

Charles G. Martignette was an art dealer and collector of original paintings by 20th century American illustrators and artists. His gallery in Hallandale Beach, Florida, houses the world's largest collection of commercial illustration art. As of 1975 he published numerous articles about magazine, advertising, calendar, pulp, paperback, glamour and pin-up art. Paintings from his collection have been exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution as well as many other American and European museums. Charles G. Martignette died in 2008 in Hallandale, Florida.

About this edition

• Publisher: Taschen GmbH
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 3822829307
• ISBN 13: 9783822829301
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272