Джил Элвгрен был главным пин-ап художником двадцатого века. За всю свою профессиональную деятельность, которая началась в середине 1930-х годов и длилась более сорока лет, он зарекоменовал себя в качестве явного фаворита среди коллекционеров и поклонников пин-апа во всем мире. И хотя Джил Элвгрен считается, главным образом, пин-ап художником, он заслуживает звания классического американского иллюстратора, который смог охватить различные сферы коммерческого искусства.25 лет работы для рекламы Coca-Cola помогли ему зарекомендовать себя, как одного из великих иллюстраторов в этой сфере. Реклама Coca-Cola включала в себя изображения “Девушек Элвгрена” в стиле пин-ап, большинство этих иллюстраций отображали типичные американские семьи, детей, подростков – обычных людей, занимающихся повседневными делами. Во время Второй Мировой войны и войны в Корее Элвгрен даже рисовал иллюстрации на военную тему для Coca-Cola, некоторые из которых стали “иконами” в Америке.Работы Элвгрена для Coca-Cola отображали американскую мечту о безопасной, комфортной жизни, а некоторые иллюстрации для историй в журналах отображали надежды, страхи и радости своих читателей. Эти изображения были опубликованы в 1940х-1950х гг в ряде известных американских журналов,таких как McCall’s, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping и Woman’s Home Companion. Наряду с Coca-Cola Элвгрен так же работал с Orange Crush, Schlitz Beer, Sealy Mattress, General Electric, Sylvania и Napa Auto Parts.Элвгрен выделялся не только своими картинами и рекламной графикой – он так же был профессиональным фотографом, который владел камерой как же ловко, как и кистью. Но его энергия и талант не останавливались на достигнутом: помимо этого он был преподавателем, ученики которого в последствии стали известными художниками.Еще в раннем детстве Элвгрена вдохновляли картинки известных иллюстраторов. Каждую неделю он вырывал из журналов листы и обложки с изображениями , которые ему понравились, в следствие чего собрал огромную коллекцию, которая оставила свой отпечаток на творчестве юного художника. На творчество Элвгрена оказали влияние многие художники, такие как Феликс Октавиус Карр Дарли (Felix Octavius Carr Darley) (1822-1888), первый художник, которому удалось опровергнуть превосходство английских и европейских школ иллюстрации над американским коммерческим искусством; Норман Роквелл (Norman Rockwell) (1877-1978), с которым Элвгрен познакомился в 1947 году,и эта встреча положила начало долгой дружбе; Чарльз Дана Гибсон (Charles Dana Gibson) (1867-1944), из-под кисти которой вышел идеал девушки, в котором сочеталась “соседка” (girl-next-door) и “девушка мечты” (girl-of-your-dreams), Howard Chandler Christy, Джон Генри Хинтермейстер (John Henry Hintermeister) (1870-1945) и другие. Элвгрен плотно изучал работы этих классических художников, в итоге чего создал основу, на которой базировалось дальнейшее развитие искусства в стиле пин-ап.Итак, Джил Элвгрен родился 15 марта 1914 года, вырос в Сант-Поль-Миннеаполисе. Его родители, Алекс и Голди Елвгрен (Alex и Goldie Elvgren) были владельцами магазина в центре города , где продавали обои и краску.После окончания старшей школы, Джил хотел стать архитектором. Родители одобряли это желание, так как заметили его талант к рисованию тогда, когда в возрасте восьми лет, мальчика устранили с занятий в школе из-за того, что он изрисовал поля учебников. В конце концов Элвгрен поступил в университет Миннесоты для изучения архитектуры и дизайна, параллельно посещая курсы искусства в художественном институте Миннеаполиса. Именно там он понял, что рисование интересует его куда больше, чем проектирование зданий.Осенью того же года Элвгрен женился на Джанет Кумминс (Janet Cummins). И вот, на Новый Год молодожены переезжают в Чикаго, где было много возможностей для художников. Конечно, они могли бы выбрать Нью-Йорк, но Чикаго был ближе и безопаснее.По прибытию в Чикаго Джил старался сделать все для развития своей карьеры. Он поступает в престижную Американскую Академию Художеств в центре города, где и подружился с Билом Мосби (Bill Mosby), опытным художником и преподавателем, который всегда гордился тем, что Джил развивался под его руководством. Когда Джил Элвгрен пришел в Академию, конечно, он был талантлив, но ничем не выделялся из большинства студентов, которые там учились. Но от других его отличало только одно: он твердо знал, чего он хочет. Больше всего он мечтал стать хорошим художником. За два года обучения он освоил курс, рассчитанный на три с половиной: он посещал занятия ночью, летом. В свободное время он всегда рисовал. Он был хорошим студентом и работал больше других. Джил посещал все курсы, на которых он мог получить хоть какие-то знания о живописи. За два года он сделал феноменальный прогресс и стал одним из самых лучших выпускников Академии. Джил потрясающий художник, с которым могут сравниться немногие. Крепкий по телосложению, он похож на футболиста; его крупные руки совсем не похожи на руки художника: карандаш буквально “утопает” в них, но точность и кропотливость его движений может сравниться лишь с мастерством хирурга. Во время обучения в институте Джил никогда не прекращал работать. Его иллюстрации уже тогда украшали брошюры и журналы академии, в которой он учился.Там Джил познакомился со многими художниками, которые стали его друзьям на всю жизнь, например: Гарольд Андерсон (Harold Anderson), Джойс Баллатрин (Joyce Ballantyne).В 1936 году Джил с женой возвращается в родной город, где открывает свою студию. Незадолго до этого он выполняет свою первую оплачиваемую работу на заказ: обложку для журнала мод, на которой изображен красивый мужчина, одетый в двубортный пиджак и светлые летние брюки. Сразу после того, как Элвгрен отправил свою работу заказчику, директор компании позвонил ему, чтобы поздравить и заказать еще полдюжины обложек. Затем поступил еще один интересный заказ, который заключался в том, чтобы нарисовать пятерых близнецов Дионне (Dionne Quintuplets), рождение которых стало сенсацией для СМИ. Клиентом был Brown and Biglow – крупнейшее издательство, занимающееся выпуском календарей. Эта работа была напечатана в календарях 1937-1938 гг, которые были распроданный миллионными тиражами. С тех пор Элвгрен стал рисовать самых известных в Америке девушек, что принесло ему огромный успех. Элвгрена начинают приглашать к сотрудничеству и другие компании, например, конкурент Brown and Biglow – Louis F. Dow Calendar Company. Работы художника стали печататься на буклетах, игральных картах и даже спичечных коробках. Затем многие его картины в натуральную величину, сделанные для Royal Crown Soda появились в продуктовых магазинах. Этот же год становится в особенности важным для Элвгрена, так как у него и его жены родился их первенец, Карен. Элвгрен продолжает заниматься заказами и вместе с семьей решает вернуться в Чикаго. Вскоре он познакомился с Хэддоном Сандбломом (Haddon H. Sundblom) (1899-1976), который был для него идолом. Сандблом оказывает огромное влияние на творчество Элвгрена. Благодаря Сандблому, Элвгрен стал художником для рекламы Coca-Cola. До сих пор эти работы являются иконами в истории Американской иллюстрации.Сразу после бомбардировки Перл-Харбор Элвгрену предложили рисовать картины для военной кампании. Первый его рисунок для этой серии был напечатан в 1942 году в журнале Good Housekeeping под заголовком “Она знает, что такое “свобода” на самом деле” и изображал девушку, одетую в офицерскую униформу Красного Креста.В 1942 году родился Джил младший,а в 1943 его жена уже ждала третьего ребенка. Семья Элвгрена росла, впрочем, как и его бизнес. Джил занимается рекламными проектами и так же продает свои старые работы. Он наслаждался жизнью, так как сам был уже уважаемым художником и счастливым семьянином. Когда родился третий ребенок в его семье, Элвгрен уже получал около $1000 за картину, т.е. около $24 000 в год, что в то время было огромной суммой. Это означало, что Джил мог стать самым высокооплачиваемым иллюстратором в США и естественно, занимать особое место в Brown and Bigelow. Перед тем, как начать работать эксклюзивно для Brown and Bigelow, он принял от Филадельфийской фирмы Джозефа Гувера первый (и единственный) заказ. Во избежание проблем с Brown and Bigelow он принял это предложение при условии, что картина не будет подписана. За эту работу под названием “Девушка мечты” он получил $2500, т.к. она была самой большой из тех, что он когда-либо рисовал (101.6см x 76.2см).Сотрудничество с Brown and Bigelow позволило Элвгрену продолжать рисовать для Coca-Cola, впрочем, он мог работать для любых других компаний, которые не имели конфликтов с Brown and Bigelow. Таким образом в 1945 году для Элвгрена и Brown and Bigelow началось сотрудничество, длившееся более тридцати лет.Директор Brown and Bigelow Чарльз Уорд сделал имя Элвгрена узнаваемым. Он же предложил Джилу сделать пин-ап в стиле ню, на что художник согласился с большим энтузиазмом. На этой картине была изображена обнаженная белокурая нимфа на пляже, под лилово-голубым светом луны в цветах сирени. Эта иллюстрация была выпущена в колоде карт, совместно с работами другого художника – Zo Mozert. В следующем году Уорд заказал у Элвгрена еще один ню пин-ап для очередных карт, но на сей раз полностью выполненных Элвгреном в одиночку. Этот проект побил рекорды продаж Brown and Bigelow и носил название “Mais Oui by Gil Elvgren”.Первые три пин-ап проекта для Brown and Bigelow стали бестселлерами компании спустя всего пару недель. Эти изображения вскоре использовались для игральных карт.К концу десятилетия Элвгрен стал самым успешным художником Brown and Bigelow, благодаря СМИ его работы были широко известны публике, в журналах даже печатали про него статьи. Среди компаний, с которыми он работал, были Coca-Cola, Orange Crush, Schlitz, Red Top Beer, Ovaltine, Royal Crown Soda, Campana Balm, General Tire, Sealy Mattress, Serta Perfect Sleep, Napa Auto Parts, Detzler Automotive Finishes, Frankfort Distilleries, Four Roses Blended Whisky, General Electric Appliance и Pangburn’s Chocolates.Столкнувшись с таким спросом на свои работы, Элвгрен задумывался над открытием собственной студии, ведь было уже немало художников, которые восхищались его творчеством и так называемой “майонезной живописью” (так называли стиль Сандблома и Элвгрена потому, что краски на работах выглядели “кремовыми” и гладкими как шелк). Но взвесив все “за” и “против”, он оставил эту идею.Джил Элвгрен много путешествовал, знакомился с многими влиятельными людьми. Его зарплата в Brown and Bigelow изменилась: если раньше ему платили $1000 за холст, теперь он получал $2500 и рисовал 24 картины в год, плюс он получал проценты от журналов, где печатались его иллюстрации. Он переехал с семьей в новый дом в пригороде Winnetka, где он начал строить свою студию на чердаке, наличие которой позволило ему работать еще продуктивнее. Джил обладал великолепным вкусом, к тому же он был остроумен. Его работы всегда интересны композицией, цветовыми схемами, а тщательно продуманные позы и жесты делают их живыми и волнующими. Его картины искренние. Джил чувствовал эволюцию женской красоты, что было очень важным. Поэтому Элвгрен был всегда востребован заказчиками. В 1956 году Джил переехал с семьей во Флориду. Он был полностью доволен новым местом жительства. Там он открыл отличную студию, где обучался Bobby Toombs, по праву ставший признанным художником. Он говорил, что Элвгрен был прекрасным учителем, который научил его вдумчиво пользоваться всеми своими навыками. Во Флорде Джил нарисовал огромное количество портретов, среди его моделей были Myrna Loy, Arlene Dahl, Donna Reed, Barbara Hale, Kim Novak. В 1950-1960 гг каждая начинающая модель или актриса хотела бы, чтобы Элвгрен нарисовал девушку по ее подобию, которая бы потом была напечатана на календарях и постерах. Элвгрен всегда был в поиске новых идей для своих картин. Хотя многие его друзья художники помогали ему в этом, больше всего он полагался на свою семью: он обсуждал свои идеи с женой и детьми.Элвгрен работал в кругу художников, которых он учил или, наоборот, у которых учился; которые были его друзьями, с которыми имел много общего. Среди них были Harry Anderson, Joyce Ballantyne, Al Buell, Matt Clark, Earl Gross, Ed Henry, Charles Kingham и другие.Джил Элвгрен жил полной жизнью. Как заядлый турист, он любил рыбалку и охоту. Он мог часами находиться в бассейне, увлекался гоночными автомобилями, так же разделял увлечение своих детей коллекционированием старинного оружия. Спустя годы, у Элвгрена появилось множество помощников в студии, большинство из которых в последствии стали успешными художниками. Когда у Элвгрена был вынужден отказывать компаниям в сотрудничестве из-за огромного количества работы, арт-директора соглашались ждать год,а то и больше, лишь бы Джил работал на них.Но весь этот успех Джила в 1966 году омрачила ужасная трагедия, которая настигла его семью: жена Джила, Джанет, умерла от рака. После этого он еще больше окунулся в работу. Его популярность остается неизменной, ему не нужно ни о чем беспокоиться, кроме как о результате своей работы. Это был лучший период карьеры Элвгрена, если бы не смерть жены. Способность Элвгрена передавать женскую красоту была непревзойденной. Во время рисования он обычно сидел в кресле на колесиках, чтобы можно было легко передвигаться и смотреть на рисунок с разных ракурсов, а большое зеркало позади позволяло ему иметь общее представление о картине целиком. Главным в его работе были девушки: он предпочитал моделей 15-20 лет, которые только начинали свою карьеру, так как в них была непосредственность, которая пропадает с опытом. Когда его спрашивали о его технике, он говорил, что добавляет свои штрихи: удлиняет ноги, увеличивает грудь, суживает талию, делает губы более пухлыми, глаза – более выразительными, нос – курносым, тем самым придавая модели большую привлекательность. Элвгрен всегда тщательно прорабатывал свои идеи от начала до конца: подбирал модель, реквизит, освещение, композицию, даже прическа была очень важна. После всего он фотографировал сцену и приступал к рисованию. Отличительной чертой работ Джила было то, что глядя на картины, казалось, что девушки на них вот-вот оживут, поздороваются или предложат выпить чашечку кофе. Они выглядели миловидными и полными энтузиазма. Всегда очаровательные, вооруженные приветливой улыбкой, они даже во время войны они дарили солдатам силы и надежду на возвращение к своим девушкам домой. Многие художники мечтали о том, чтобы рисовать так, как это делал Элвгрен, его талантом и успехом восхищались все. Каждый год он рисовал все с большей легкостью и профессионализмом, его ранние картины кажутся более “жесткими” по сравнению с более поздними. Он достиг вершины мастерства в своем деле.29 февраля 1980 года, Джил Элвгрен, человек, который посвятил себя тому, чтобы радовать людей своим творчеством, скончался от рака, в возрасте 65-ти лет. Его сын Дрэйк нашел в студии отца последнюю незаконченную, но тем не менее великолепную картину для Brown and Bigelow. Со смерти Элвгрена прошло три десятилетия, но его искусство до сих пор живет. Без сомнения, Элвгрен войдет в историю, как художник, который сделал великий вклад в американское искусство двадцатого века.+++++++++++++Gil Elvgren (1914-1980) was the most important pin-up and glamour artist of the twentieth century. During his professional career, which began in the mid 1930s and lasted more than forty years, he established himself as the clear favorite of pin-up collectors and fans worldwide. Although most of his work was created for commercial use, it has been increasingly recognized as "real" art by many private collectors, dealers, galleries and museums. And indeed, though Elvgren has been considered as mainly a pin-up artist this last half-century, in reality he deserves recognition as a classical American illustrator whose career encompassed many different fields of commercial art. He was always a master in portraying feminine beauty, but his output was by no means confined to the calendar pinup industry.Thus, part of Elvgren's fame is undoubtedly due to his now legendary series of pin-ups painted over a period of thirty years for Brown and Bigelow, calendar publishers of St. Paul, Minnesota.However, his twenty-five-year stint on advertising work for Coca-Cola helped to establish him as one of the great illustrators in this field as well. While the Coca-Cola artwork included some typical "Elvgren Girl" pinups, most of it depicted typical American families, children and teenagers ordinary people doing everyday things. During World War II and the Korean War, Elvgren even painted military scenes for Coca Cola. Like his famous Brown and Bigelow pinups, the Coca-Cola images eventually became acknowledged icons of American life.Elvgren's Coca-Cola subjects portrayed the American dream of a secure, comfortable lifestyle, but his well-known illustrations for magazine stories often captured timeless scenes that reflected the hopes, fears and joys of their readers. These publishing assignments were commissioned during the 1940s and 1950s by a host of mainstream American magazines, including McCall's, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping and Woman's Home Companion.In the field of advertising, alongside his Coca-Cola work, he contributed to campaigns for well-known American companies and products such as Orange Crush, Schlitz Beer, Sealy Mattress, General Electric, Sylvania, and Napa Auto Parts. What with his work for Brown and Bigelow, the Coca-Cola and other national advertising output and his magazine work, Elvgren was much in demand as an artist.Elvgren stood out not just for his painting and advertising graphics. He was also a notable professional photographer, wielding the camera with the same dexterity as he wielded his brush. And his amazing energy and talent did not stop there, since he was a respected, even revered, teacher of students who often went on to become famous artists in their own right thanks, in no small measure, to Elvgren's personal instruction and encouragement.Long before he attended his first art class in 1933, Elvgren had been impressed by the early "pretty girl" illustrators, among whom were names such as Charles Dana Gibson, Howard Chandler Christy, Harrison Fisher and James Montgomery Flagg. Their "glamour and romance" successors McClelland Barclay, Haddon H. Sundblom, Andrew Loomis, Charles E. Chambers and Pruett CarterChad also left their mark on the young artist. Elvgren had begun early on to tear out of countless magazines individual pages or cover pages of artists he admired or who interested him, and this now became a ritual with him. As the tear sheets ritually piled up week after week, month after month, they eventually formed a very comprehensive collection that.would later influence not only his painting techniques but also his approach to particular commissions.To fully appreciate the significance of Gil Elvgren's art and accomplishments, it seems appropriate to start by reviewing briefly the two groups of artists whose influence is evident at the outset of his career. Subsequently, other artists who inspired him during his career will be introduced as we progress chronologically through his life and art. Mention will also be made of the artists who ceaselessly tried to imitate his style. Some of these were former students, others were friends, while many more never met him but knew his work from collecting their own tear sheets, just as he had done. By thus explaining the context in which Elvgren's work was created, we shall arrive at an informative, fully rounded and, we hope, entertaining picture of Gil Elvgren as a man and artist.THE EARLY YEARS OF AMERICAN ILLUSTRATIONFor many art historians, Felix Octavius Carr Darley (1822-1888) was the first American illustrator of note. He had a prolific career, working both for book publishers (illustrating works by leading writers of the day such as Poe, Hawthorne, and Longfellow) and on magazines, as a regular contributor to Harper's Weekly. More significantly, Darley was the first American illustrator to successfully challenge the dominance of English and European schools of illustration over American commercial art.In 1853, the year that Darley became a member of the National Academy, Howard Pyle was born in Wilmington, Delaware. Twenty-five years later, Pyle emerged as the true father of American illustration. Not only was he an enormously productive artist, he wrote many famous books and stories as well. He was moreover the founder of the Brandywine School, whose influence on American illustration art would endure for about a century. Almost all twentieth-century illustrators who worked in a painterly style rather than the style of advertising graphics style (thus also Elvgren) were directly influenced by the teachings of Pyle (1853-1911) and his best students, Harvey T. Dunn (1884-1952) and Frank Schoonover (1877-1972).Elvgren shared his admiration for the Brandywine School's philosophy of painting with Norman Rockwell (1877-1978). The two men first became acquainted in 1947, when they both attended a Brown and Bigelow Managers' Convention in St. Paul , and a friendship developed. Elvgren and Rockwell were two of a kind: both had the knack of portraying real people in totally believable situations. The difference was that Rockwell had the choice of an almost unlimited array of subjects for his paintings, whereas Elvgren seemingly had less freedom in his pin-up assignments. Yet soon Rockwell likewise took the opportunity to tell Elvgren what the latter had already often heard from other artists that he admired his work and envied him for his job of painting the world's most beautiful women. Their meeting marked the beginning of a long association, which led eventually to their even sharing artistic secrets at their annual encounters.The development of glamour illustration in the twentieth century was the consequence of an earlier general growth in commercial art as printing techniques continued to evolve and improve. In the late nineteenth century, the output of commercial art had expanded rapidly to keep pace with the voracious demand for illustrations in the new weekly and monthly periodicals and magazines. One of the first lessons that publishers learned was that magazines would sell better with illustrations, both on the covers and inside, with the articles. The technical advances coincided with a population boom in the United States, which fueled still more the demand for periodicals and newspapers and thus for quality artwork as well.Within ten years of Pyle publishing his first illustrations, the American public was treated to the first real pin-up. This idealized All-American creation, blending the "girl-next-door" with the "girl-of-your-dreams," was born of the brush of Charles Dana Gibson (1867-1944) in Boston around 1887. Quickly becoming the sweetheart of America, the Gibson Girl was depicted primarily in pen-and-ink drawings. Her picture appeared in all the early periodicals, including Scribner's, Century and Harper's Weekly. Her success was so overwhelming that Gibson Girl drawings were soon seen on the front covers of such popular magazines as Life and Collier's and in expanded formats as two-page centerfolds. The single female of the early drawings developed into a group of females, then a man and a woman or mixed groups. The male figures became known as Gibson Men and were enthusiastically taken up by the admirers of the Gibson Girl.By 1900 the Gibson Girl (and the Gibson Man) had attained unprecedented international popularity. The image of the Gibson Girl was seen almost everywhere throughout the United States and Europe. Gibson's drawings were published and reproduced as prints, lithos, calendars, centerfolds and magazine covers as well as on numerous advertising specialty products such as playing cards, notepads, ink blotters and ladies' fans. Even wallpaper, fine china, jewelry boxes and umbrellas carried the pictures. Between 1898 and 1900, Harper's and Scribner's between them published five hard-cover artbooks containing collections of Gibson's drawings. The last of these, entitled A Widow and Her Friends, bore a drawing on its front cover that the artist called the epitome of the Gibson Girl .The Gibson Girl enchanted more than one generation of Americans. Though she had her beginning in the early Art Nouveau period, she was still going strong in the Roaring Twenties as a flapper girl jitterbugging and dancing the Charleston in speakeasies. Gibson updated the style and manner of his drawings, and the fashions in them, to win over a new audience .Next on the scene was the celebrated Christy Girl. Created by Howard Chandler Christy (1873-1952), she soon enjoyed a widespread popularity that came close to equaling that of the Gibson Girl. The Christy Man logically followed, since the artist painted so many romantic boy-girl scenes. Christy began his career with front cover assignments for the leading magazines , then followed with book illustrations . Even famous novels such as James Fenimore Cooper's Last of the Mohicans were illustrated with scenes featuring the Christy Girl. From 1921 until his death, Christy lived in and maintained a studio at the Hotel des Artistes in New York. On the walls of the hotel restaurant, he painted a landmark series of sensual nudes that still draw people from all over the world. In 1921, at the peak of his career, he retired from commercial illustration to concentrate on portrait painting. His most famous commission, a portrait of the airwoman Amelia Earhart, was completed in 1932 as an oil on canvas and later published by Town & Country as the front cover of their February 1, 1933 issue. It was the only exception to Christy's decision in 1921 not to make commercial use of his work. Exhibited in Christy's show entitled "Portraits of Celebrities" at the Baltimore Museum of Art in January 1936, the painting hung between portraits of Will Rogers and William Randolph Hearst. Shortly afterwards, it disappeared and has resurfaced only recently; this lost treasure is thus reproduced here for the first time in more than sixty years..In 1921, at the peak of his career, Christy retired from commercial illustration to concentrate on portrait painting. Christy henceforth lived and worked at the Hotel des Artistes in New York for the rest of his life. On the walls of the hotel restaurant, he painted a landmark series of sensual nudes that still draw people from all over the world.Another member of the select group of glamour illustrators whose products bear their name was Harrison Fisher (1875-1934). His Fisher Girl, rivaling the creations of Gibson and Christy, first appeared in Puck about 1898. During the 1910s and 1920s, Fisher had the prestigious assignment of painting all the front covers for Cosmopolitan . Eventually, like Christy, he decided to restrict himself to portraits. In fact, it became a pattern among future generations of illustrators: having achieved the highest level of success in the commercial field, advertising artists longed for acceptance in the field of "fine" art. Portrait work seemed the best route to the recognition they sought from museums, critics and the fine-art community. Unfortunately, by the time their commercial careers had ended, many of them were no longer at the peak of their artistic or physical capabilities.Gil Elvgren studied the work of these early classic glamour artists closely, as the Gibson-Christy-Fisher clan had created the basis from which all later glamour (and pin-up) art developed. Another early artist whom Elvgren emulated was John Henry Hintermeister (1870-1945). Although much of his art focused on Americana themes, he did do a number of sensual pin-up and glamour paintings for calendar publication .The last of the great early American illustrators who influenced both Gil Elvgren and Norman Rockwell was J. C. (Joseph Christian) Leyendecker (1874-1951). Rockwell worshiped Leyendecker and in his autobiography called him his greatest idol, mentor and source of inspiration. Rockwell would often go to downtown New Rochelle in the early evening just to watch Leyendecker get off the train on his return from his Manhattan studio. Years later, when Rockwell's career had evolved into a success story similar to Leyendecker's, the two became friends. Elvgren also admired Leyendecker, his admiration dating from the time he began to attend classes at the Chicago Academy of Art. From there, he would occasionally visit the Art Institute in order to see Leyendecker's early student drawings, which were in its permanent collection.Leyendecker's career began to flourish about 1895 with a commission to create a front cover for a fashion catalogue. His painting for this commission, Art in Dress Fall & Winter , is a superb rare example of the incorporation of Art Nouveau design into a depiction of a young, beautiful, and highly fashionable couple. By 1899 Leyendecker had notched up his first Saturday Evening Post cover, which was the beginning of an almost lifelong relationship between the artist and the Curtis Publishing Company. Of over 300 Post covers he did, the greatest were painted during the mid to late 1930s, being notable for their whimsical and capricious character.Leyendecker's most famous image, the Arrow Collar Shirt Man, was created as advertising for shirts by menswear outfitters Cluett Peabody during the 1920s and 1930s. So popular was the handsome model who appeared in these advertisements that every week hundreds of letters proposing marriage were received from women by the artist and the company's advertising agency. Although most of Leyendecker's advertising commissions were for men's fashions, he always enjoyed including a beautiful girl in his work. His legendary ad series for Hart, Schaffner and Marx matched the Arrow Collar work, both in popularity with the public and success in sales.What Elvgren and Rockwell so admired in Leyendecker's work were two primary skills virtually unmatched by any other artist or illustrator of the period. First, he had his own unique way of incorporating the bare canvas into a painting so that it served both as a color in itself and as an element of the final composition. Many other illustrators attempted, without success, to copy this feature of his style. Second, Leyendecker was an exceptionally strong graphic designer who constructed his pictures almost in the same way as an architect designs buildings. Again, it is difficult to find artists who equaled Leyendecker in this respect. Elvgren and Rockwell were among the more successful, although nearly every illustrator of the twentieth century tried.Another member of the Gibson-Christy-Fisher club of glamour artists was James Montgomery Flagg (1877-1960). He painted many mainstream subjects, as did the others in the group, but the focus of his work was painting pictures of beautiful American women. Like Christy, Flagg was a darling of the media; both often featured in newspaper and magazine articles, or in newsreels in US movie theaters. Although he became legendary for his classic World War I recruiting poster, (Uncle Sam I Want You) his Flagg Girls had their own admirers, including Elvgren (the two met briefly in New York in the mid 1950s). Elvgren was most impressed with Flagg's command of the pen-and-ink medium, evident in his depiction of Garbo and Friends. This illustration was used as the endpapers in Susan Meyer's James Montgomery Flagg (Watson-Guptill, New York, 1974). Although Elvgren himself never worked in this medium, he nonetheless appreciated Flagg's (and Gibson's) talent for brilliant line drawings.Many of the leading illustrators who directly influenced Elvgren as his career began to take shape in the late 1930s were students of Howard Pyle's Brandywine School. Chief among them was Harvey T. Dunn, Pyle's protg and most accomplished student. Dunn also became an influential teacher who passed on his own form of Pyle's philosophy to hundreds of artists. Dean Cornwell (1892-1960) was perhaps the most famous of Dunn's former students and his influence was so great on Elvgren's generation of artists that they called him the Dean of Illustrators.That Dunn was crucial to Elvgren's development is clear from the huge file of tear sheets of Dunn's work that he collected. Three inches thick, this contained mostly examples of Dunn's magazine story illustrations and advertising subjects. Also in the file was a fascinating Time magazine article dated June 9, 1941 about Dunn and one of his most famous paintings. The work depicted a sensuous (and, at that time, highly provocative) full frontal nude that Dunn had painted in 1939, and it was accompanied by a photograph of the artist standing proudly in front of his creation. The article related how, when Dunn's nude was exhibited in May 1941 at the Guild Artists Bureau in New York (in a show entitled "Sexhibition"), George Baker, the gallery's director, invited the public to vote in five categories: best company on a desert island; best company in a desert; best company; best; and Whew! The caption the magazine used revealed the results Four Bests and a Whew! Dunn's painting had won in all five categories.Finally, McClelland Barclay (1891-1943) was also a role model for Elvgren and his peers during the 1930s. His highly stylized Art Deco paintings portrayed the "beautiful people" of the period, with special emphasis on the women. Among his well-known series of ads for Lucky Strike cigarettes, he featured Miss America of 1932 endorsing her favorite brand. Barclay's powerful story illustrations for Cosmopolitan greatly impressed the young Elvgren; they were painted in a bold, brash style that utilized unusual perspectives in the composition. His work for Fisher Body (General Motors) helped to cement his reputation. Unfortunately, Barclay died in World War II while painting battle scenes on a ship that was torpedoed.With these various artistic influences fresh in our minds, we can now turn to the story of Gil Elvgren and his remarkable career. ELVGREN: THE FORMATIVE YEARSIn 1933, as the Great Depression held America captive in its grip, an idealistic nineteen-year-old eloped with his high school sweetheart. It was a cold day in St. Paul, Minnesota, but for Gillette A. Elvgren and Janet Cummins the air was rich with the sunshine of romance, excitement and future challenges. Elvgren knew a lot about cold days. He was born on one in 1914 (March 15), and experienced many more as he grew up in St. Paul-Minneapolis. His parents, Alex and Goldie Elvgren, owned a paint and wallpaper store in downtown St. Paul, and its neon sign spelt out the family surname in a script lettering very similar to their son's early artistic signature.After leaving University High School, Elvgren wanted to be an architect. His parents had encouraged him in this, because they had already noted signs of his natural talent for drawing from the time he was eight, he had occasionally been sent home from school for sketching in the margins of his schoolbooks. Elvgren eventually went to the University of Minnesota to study architecture and design, but also took art courses at the Minneapolis Art Institute. It was there, during a summer class in 1933, that he decided the process of creating art suited him far more than designing buildings or parking lots.In the fall of the same year, he made a second important decision, one that would enrich his life for the next thirty-three years: he would marry Janet Cummins. The couple waited almost two months before telling their families of the marriage, which added a special celebratory note to that year's Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. In the New Year, the newlyweds moved to Chicago for the artistic opportunities it offered. New York might have been their first choice, but Chicago was closer to home and just the place to further Gil's art education. It was also smaller than New York and perhaps somewhat less threatening.On arriving in Chicago, the young artist set about establishing himself. Ever a prudent man, he vowed to absorb and learn as much as possible as quickly as possible, so that he could start work as soon as possible. He enrolled at the prestigious American Academy of Art in downtown Chicago, where he struck up a close friendship with Bill Mosby, an accomplished artist and teacher who always remained proud of how Gil developed under his watchful eye. In an interview now in Brown and Bigelow's archives, Mosby recalled those days at the Institute:Teaching art is like teaching mathematics or anything else. There are certain basic principles, which anyone can learn. You can teach anyone to draw and paint, but you can't make him or her an artist.When Gil Elvgren came to the American Academy, he had talent. Yes, but no more than most of the students who come here. The thing that set him apart from all the rest was a fierce determination to do one thing. So many of the students come here without a clearly defined idea of what they want to do. Gil, from the very first, knew exactly what he wanted. He wanted to be a good painter more than anything else. Into two years he packed three and a half years of work. He had classes during the day; he went to night classes and classes during the summer. In the off-hours and on weekends he painted.He was a good student and worked harder than anyone I have ever seen. He took every course that could teach him anything about painting. We tried to tell him that it was not good to put all his eggs in one basket and that he should take some of the courses in advertising layout and lettering that would give him a more flexible background for commercial work. He admitted that there was logic in this and appreciated the interest in his welfare, but persistently refused to have anything to do with [those subjects]. In the two years, his progress was phenomenal. Without question he turned out to be one of the most successful of our alumni.He is a fine painter; as a draftsman there are few who can equal him. He has amazing hands. They don't look like the hands of an artist. He's built like a football player and a pencil is almost buried in that paw of his, but the touch he has and the subtle variations he is capable of can only be compared to the sensitive skill of a great surgeon.Aside from his skill and ability, he is also one of the nicest guys in the business. He wears the same size hat today that he did before anyone had ever heard of Gil Elvgren.In fact, Elvgren never took a break or stopped working from the moment he enrolled at the Institute until the day he graduated two years later in almost half the normal time. His student paintings were so good that the school often used them to illustrate their catalogues and brochures. During his years at the Academy, Elvgren met a number of fellow artists who would become his friends for life. Some of them formed an informal network whose members would help one another professionally throughout their careers. They included Harold Anderson, Joyce Ballantyne, Al Buell, Thornton Utz and Coby Whitmore, who were later tremendously influenced by Elvgren's art. Even at this early stage of his development, his peers were struck by his artistry, and the way his hands worked magic on the canvas.Yet at this point in his career, he had still to sell a single painting or receive a first commission. Gil might feel his time was approaching, but the Elvgrens struggled financially during their time in Chicago. Their reward was the tremendous progress Gil knew he was making.In 1936 they decided to move back to St. Paul, where Gil proudly opened a studio. Fortunately, it was not long before he received his first paid commission: a front cover for a fashion catalogue, depicting a handsome young man decked out in a snazzy double-breasted jacket and summertime-cool white slacks. The original artwork was executed in oil paint on illustration board and was unsigned, as the company's art director had specifically requested. No sooner had Elvgren delivered the artwork than the company's president called to congratulate him and to commission another half dozen catalogue covers. The young artist was on his way!The next interesting' call followed within weeks. This time, it concerned a possible advertising commission for which Elvgren would have to present himself and his portfolio. The assignment, he learned, would be to paint a portrait of the Dionne Quintuplets, who had created a sensation in the American media. This was the break Elvgren had dreamed of but had not expected for several years. And more than just the beautiful children, the commission had another decisive bonus the client was Brown and Bigelow, the world's largest and most important calendar company. Elvgren's two Dionne Quintuplets paintings were published in calendars for 1937 and 1938 to enormous success. That Brown and Bigelow paid the quintuplets a total of $58,097.17 that year in royalties indicates how tremendously popular Elvgren's first two calendar pictures were. Needless to say, everyone at the company was happy with Elvgren. Starting his career by painting America's most famous, most loved and most admired young girls, he had become that rarity an overnight commercial success.Early in 1937, Elvgren was approached by Brown and Bigelow's biggest competitor, the Louis F. Dow Calendar Company, also located in St. Paul. Their art director wanted Elvgren to paint a series of pin-up girls, an assignment he eagerly accepted. The young artist could scarcely believe his good fortune: not only had he been lucky to get such tremendous "breaks" so soon after opening his first studio, but he would also now be painting beautiful girls and seeing his work widely reproduced in calendars. What Elvgren did not realize was that the Dow Company would reproduce his work in several additional formats, including notepads, ink blotters, mutoscope cards, matchbook covers and playing cards. They even produced specially designed booklets with an Elvgren pin-up on the cover and a dozen Elvgren prints inside measuring 8" x 10" (20.3 x 25.4 cm).When Elvgren left Dow in 1944 to work for Brown and Bigelow, the company hired an artist to paint over certain areas of the pin-ups he had executed for them; in this way, Dow could use the images a second time without having to pay Elvgren any fees or royalties. Fortunately, the artist selected for this task, Vaughan Alden Bass, was very competent and approached the job with great respect for Elvgren's talent. Thus, Bass generally painted over only the clothing and/or the background of an Elvgren painting and left the face, hands, and legs untouched. A good example of Bass's approach is the overpainted version of Elvgren's A Perfect Pair, which can be compared with the picture first published by Dow in a series of portraits, including a calendar, a twelve-print booklet, a mutoscope card, and a matchbook cover.In 1938 Elvgren received his first commissions for several lifesize die-cut in-store display figures of both men and women. More than 6,500 of his almost lifesize pin-ups for Royal Crown Soda were distributed to grocery stores throughout the United States. His die-cut wall-unit displays portraying a grandfatherly type known as the Toasting Scotsman were designed for Frankfort Distilleries of Louisville, Kentucky and produced by the Mattingly and Moore Company. The year 1938 was also significant for Gil and Janet Elvgren for a quite different reason, becoming the proud parents of their first child, Karen.For the next two years, Elvgren remained busy with various advertising commissions, some magazine editorial work and of course his pin-ups for Louis F. Dow. With the fantastic success Gil was enjoying professionally and the added joy that their first child brought to their home life, the couple felt ready to consider how best to shape their future. Most of Elvgren's business was coming from Chicago and New York. There was no question in his mind that he could do even better if he were based in one of those two art centers. As they had once before, they selected Chicago, and the family of three prepared to move.Shortly after his arrival in the Windy City in 1940, Elvgren secured a position at the noted Stevens/Gross Studio. There he met the man who would become his true mentor, Haddon H. Sundblom (1899-1976). Not only would the two men become the best of friends, but Sundblom's influence on Elvgren's artistic development was enormous. The older artist was already something of an idol to Elvgren. The younger man had been assembling a file of tear sheets on Sundblom long before they met, and while most of the sheets were magazine story illustrations, the famous Coca-Cola ads also figured among them. (It was Sundblom who in due course introduced Elvgren to the Coca-Cola Company, as a result of which Elvgren's Coca-Cola ads appeared beside Sundblom's on newsstands, billboards and calendars.)Sundblom and Howard Stevens had established the studio that developed into Stevens/Gross back in 1925, in association with their friend Edwin Henry. While Elvgren admired the painting styles of all three artists, it was Sundblom that impressed him most. When Elvgren arrived in Chicago, Sundblom was painting a national series of ads for the Cashmere Bouquet Soap Company. Sundblom had done only a few pin-up and glamour paintings exclusively for that market, but they were real winners. Most of the time, he had used his own name and signature on his pin-ups. However, if a pin-up subject was meant to be intentionally provocative (for instance, one in which the model is wearing lingerie or some kind of transparent material), Sundblom would not sign the painting. In such cases, the publisher (almost always Louis F. Dow) would use a "slug" signature giving Sundblom's nom de plume, Showalter.As their friendship developed, Sundblom introduced Elvgren to Andrew Loomis (1892-1959), who was also one of Elvgren's early heroes. Elvgren had admired Loomis for his glamour pin-ups as well as his prize-winning magazine story illustrations, which were brilliantly designed and constructed. Loomis was also teaching at Elvgren's former school, the American Academy of Art, so it is likely they would have met anyway. In the event, as a result of his meeting with Loomis, in 1940 Elvgren agreed to teach night classes at the Academy that fall. Earl Gross and Howard Stevens both agreed with Sundblom that Elvgren was the perfect candidate to take over much of the Coca- Cola advertising work that their studio was producing for the Atlanta-based company. The decision was a major milestone in Elvgren's career it led to the first of a twenty-five-year series of advertising works for Coca-Cola that are now considered landmarks in the history of American illustration. Elvgren's first job was to paint an image for a die-cut in-store stand-up display for national distribution. The enthusiastic response by Coca-Cola's art director and executives was the harbinger of things to come.Having completed his first billboard painting for the Coca-Cola account, Elvgren brought the artwork into his class at the Academy of Art to illuminate a facet of the advertising illustration business. He hoped to impress his students with the fact that this painting would soon be seen as a giant highway billboard. For reproduction purposes, the image was divided into twenty-four separate sections, which were later reassembled or glued together to form the advertising sign. Elvgren was particularly proud of one Coca-Cola Girl painting that he created for a full-page national magazine ad, and requested that the original artwork be returned to him, later giving it to his friend Al Buell.Immediately after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, General Electric asked Elvgren to do some national advertising work for their War Effort campaign. His first ad painting for the company, published in June 1942 as a full page in Good Housekeeping , carried the caption "She Knows What Freedom Really Means" and depicted a proud Elvgren Girl dressed in an officer's uniform of the Red Cross Motor Corps. By the time the US had become involved in the war, Elvgren had already had his pin-ups published and reproduced on millions of advertising specialty products and, of course, on calendars of all sizes and shapes. With the need to encourage the troops, the Louis F. Dow Company very smartly repackaged some of the special twelve-print Elvgren pin-up booklets so that they could be easily mailed without an envelope from the United States to GIs fighting abroad. These proved a smashing success.On the home front also, Elvgren's pin-ups produced for Dow continued to enjoy great popularity, the calendar prints now often being used to raise money at bond rallies. Men and women alike could enjoy their spare time putting together a jigsaw puzzle featuring an Elvgren pin-up. Elvgren's best-selling image at Louis F. Dow had been his Perfect Pair, but close on its heels was The High Sign. So successful was the latter that it was the second image that Dow asked Vaughan Alden Bass to overpaint during the war years.Newspapers and magazines of the period were filled with stories about the soldiers who were abroad fighting the war, for it would be hard to find an American who did not have a neighbor or loved one in the armed services. Often focusing on the morale of the troops, such stories would be illustrated with snapshots of the soldiers in their barracks or tents or perhaps even in a battlefield trench during a lull in the fighting. Quite often, one can spot Elvgren's Louis F. Dow pin-up prints and booklets hanging on a wall, glued to a knapsack, or clutched by a young, obviously lonely soldier. The only other pin-up artist whose work was so prominently featured in these stories was Alberto Vargas, who had Esquire magazine behind him. Elvgren's accomplishment is all the more amazing in that he had attained such popularity within five years of opening his first studio. No doubt his art had met with such a response from the American public because it offered escape from reality, and even solace, during the dark days of the war.With the birth of Gil Jr. in 1942, the Elvgren family was expanding. Business was expanding likewise. Later that year, Elvgren began a series of national advertising paintings for Four Roses, a blended whiskey company that wanted its product to be shown in a recreational setting. The first piece published depicts a group of men enjoying their favorite tipple while on a deep-sea fishing trip. The second in the series was a scene of couples sharing drinks in front of a fireplace at a ski lodge. The original paintings in the Four Roses series, done on illustration board rather than canvas, were the first he had executed on this material since 1936.Al Buell, a fellow illustrator and one of Elvgren's cronies in Chicago, was already working at the Gross/Stevens Studio when Elvgren arrived. I interviewed Buell several times in 1980 for a cover feature about the history of American pin-up and glamour art for Antique Trader. In the course of our conversations, he told me that Elvgren used to talk to him all the time about three artists whose magazine illustration work particularly interested him: they were Charles E. Chambers, Pruett Carter, and John LaGatta. Chambers (1883-1941) had studied with George Bridgman (the father of modern anatomical drawing), whom Elvgren considered to be one of the greatest artists of the 1930s.Carter (1891-1955) was one of the artists whose style Elvgren aimed to emulate. Buell said that Elvgren had hoped some day to study with Carter at the Grand Central School of Art (where Harvey Dunn also taught), but that the opportunity had never presented itself, since Elvgren's busy career never left him time. Carter was best known for his romantic illustrations for magazine stories. Buell also sent me a tear sheet he had once borrowed from Elvgren's file on LaGatta (1894-1977), another important artist who specialized in romantic boy-girl scenes. According to Buell, Elvgren regarded LaGatta as one of the best fine-art illustrators working in the commercial arena and especially admired his depiction of feminine beauty. Like his advertising work, LaGatta's magazine story illustrations were often designed to highlight the sensual aspects of beauty. Nineteen forty-three was another banner year for Gil Elvgren . His schedule was booked solid with commissions, his children were growing, and Janet became pregnant with their third child. Louis F. Dow was aggressively marketing and promoting the pin-ups Gil had done for the company several years earlier. Life seemed pretty good to the talented, respected artist and happy family man. Yet what followed put all this in the shade.It all began in 1944, when Elvgren was approached by Brown and Bigelow to come aboard as a staff artist. This invitation meant that his work would be in more or less direct competition with work by the company's other pin-up and glamour artists, who were the crme de la crme of the field. Rolf Armstrong, Earl Moran, and Zo Mozert had already established themselves as big moneymakers for the publishing house, while Elvgren's only previous involvement with the company had been with the two Dionne Quintuplet calendars some years earlier.While Elvgren was pondering whether to accept Brown and Bigelow's offer, Janet gave birth to their third child and second son, Drake. This new addition to the household had to be considered as Gil weighed the company's offer of a salary that averaged out at about $1,000 per painting, with an expected income of $24,000 the first year. A large sum of money in 1944, it meant that he would become one of the highest paid illustrators in America and certainly be in a unique position at Brown and Bigelow.Before he committed himself to working exclu