Posts Tagged ‘pin up girl’

Artist of the moment…….Pearl Frush

{ November 18, 2013 @ 1:40 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Pearl Frush was an American realist painter who was renowned for her paintings of the pin up girl. Pearl Frush was born in Iowa in the year 1905. For her artistic education Frush attended the Chicago Institute of Art. Sometimes she used her married name of Mann in her work.

Frush was young and attractive and enjoyed playing tennis, sailing, and swimming.

Most of Frush’s work was done in watercolor, her medium of choice. Frush was quite prolific as she was an illustrator and also did many works in oils, pastels, and gouache.

Her most prosperous period as an artist was during the 1940s and 1950s.

Price range information: Works range from $5,000 to $50,000.

In this clip we view a montage of works by Frush Pearl:

Frush is seen by many as one of the top three female artists working in the “pin up” girl genre. The other two would be Joyce Ballantyne and Zoe Mozert.

Sometimes people thought the paintings were so realistic they thought they were photographs that were airbrushed.

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Artist of the moment….Olivia de Berardinis

{ November 16, 2013 @ 12:04 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Olivia de Berardinis is one of the most renown artists working with the pin up girl as her subject of choice. Olivia de Berardinis was born in Long Beach, California in the year 1948. She grew up on the east coast and attended the New York School of Visual Arts.

When Olivia (that is her name she is known by the most) first began her career she worked as a minimalist painter appearing in shows alongside Frank Stella. In the mid 1970s she began to work in the “pin up girl” style and had great success. Her work regularly appears in the magazine Playboy.

She and her current husband started a company to produce greeting cards painted by the artist. Soon after they started another company to sell her “pin up style” artwork.

In this clip we meet the artist and she talks about beginning her career:

In this clip a great montage of works by Olivia de Berardinis:

Olivia works in acrylics, watercolors, and gouache.

Price range information: Original works range from $5,000 to $20,000. Prints can be found starting around $100.

Great to see such innovation in this genre. If you enjoy the pinup girl genre another artist working with this style is the great Mel Ramos. He combines Pop Art with the female figure, below a great example of Mel Ramos’ work.

mel

Olivia and her husband are now based out of Malibu, California.

Another piece featuring a show with Olivia from 2008:

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Artist of the moment…..Zoe Mozert

{ November 1, 2013 @ 1:48 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Zoe Mozert was an American artist who was a leader in the pin up movement.  Zoe Mozert was one of few women illustrators working against such renowned male pin up artists George Petty or Alberto Vargas. Zoe Mozert was born in the year 1907.

For her collegiate education Zoe Mozert attended the Philadelphia School of Industrial Art.

The medium most used by Mozert was pastel. Mozert illustrated many magazine and calenders over her lengthy career.

In this clip we listen to singer Perry Como whilst viewing some remarkable paintings by Mozert. From an artistic standpoint in many works her viewpoints show her great sense of draftsmanship. For instance a profile painting for us whilst but in the mirror the character holds its a three quarters view. What a remarkable artist:

Another selection of works set to 1920s swing music! :

Zoe Mozert passed away in 1993.

Mozert will hopefully be rediscovered soon by the artworld. Technically her work was often times more stronger than those of Gil Elvgren or George Petty. Long live the pin up vibe! Her work seems so strong and honest because on many occasions she served as her own model!

Price range information: Works range from $1,000 to $20,000.

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Artist of the moment…..George Petty

{ October 24, 2013 @ 8:42 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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George Petty was an American artist who was one of the most renowned pinup girl artists in the world. George Petty was born in the year 1894 Abbeville, Louisiana. The Petty family moved to Chicago and his father enjoyed success as a photographer. The artist was skilled a youngster and took classes at Chicago Academy of Fine Arts whilst still in high school. He was so talented he even taught his own course. Petty studied briefly abroad at the Academy Julian in Paris, France before being forced to return home due to the first World War.

Price range information: Works range from $5,000 to $50,000. For his medium of choice the artist used an airbrush, watercolor, or pen and ink.

After returning home to Chicago Petty found much work as an airbrush artist. This job was perfect for him as he spent much of his time as a youngster in his father’s studio learning how to use the airbrush.

Petty appeared on the popular television program Whats My Line:

George Petty is best known for his Petty Pin- Up Girls. These were done exclusively for Esquire and Petty drew the lengths of the legs of his models longer than they actually were. He also shrunk the heads.

George Petty passed away in 1975.

In this clip a very large selection of works by George Petty. Many works from Esquire and also from Rigid Tools are included:

One of the best pin-up artists ever!

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