Gil Elvgren

Time for another “it’s the arts!” installment.  With the new year here, it’s time for a new calendar, and I got one of Gil Elvgren pinups.  I had bought a book of his art at Barnes & Nobles some time ago (Gil Elvgren: The Complete Pinups, by Charles G. Martignette and Louis K. Meisel) and enjoyed the illustrations.  It’s actually somewhat of a very nice “coffee table book”, for what passes for my coffee table; that is, in my case, a “green tea and beer” book.  He was active from the 1930s to the 1970s, mostly associated with Brown & Bigelow.  The girls are always pretty, shapely, with killer legs, firm breasts, and nice butts.  Many of them wear stockings and garter belts, and quite a few are tasteful nudes (no full frontal nudity, except for “Harem”).  Each pinup has a clever title.

            So far as I can tell, 99.9% are white.  One Asian (“Reclining Oriental Nude in Studio”), one amiga (“Pleasant to Si” – a delicious Latina in a sombrero, barely covered by a poncho), but no blacks or mixed-race women, so the effect is “classic NASCAR babeage”.  They’re nice to look at and admire, but hardly calculated to elicit any definite physiological reaction, compared to the far more racier and explicit imagery available nowadays.  Here are some samples.  Enjoy!