Being an artist, I know how hard it is getting your name out there. There’s always the dream of making your art, your primary income. So I think it’s important we stand by each other. For your viewing pleasure, this is a retro greeting card created by Gabriela Arriaza, a card maker/ addicted stamper. She creates with a tint of retro and I love it. This new piece, Bombshell Beauty, is my favorite, I think it fantastically captures the naivete of the atomic age.

Tags: Bombshell Beauty, retro greeting card, Gabriela Arriaza, atomic age

One of the benefits of having friends online, is that they send you tons of stuff you’d probably like. This vintage photography collection, whimsically called My Grandfather's Girls, is beautifully wrapped in flash design and was actually sent to me by a few friends. So I figured it was high time I shared it with you, my beloved readers. Hope you enjoy this historic little online treasure.

Tags: My Grandfather's Girls, vintage photography collection, online treasure, Historic pinup girls

If your a precocious pinup collector, the Grapefruit Moon Gallery is where you get your cheesecake originals. From Gil Elvgren to Henry Clive to Earl Moran, these pieces are the real deal. The actual oil on canvas piece!

Tags: Grapefruit Moon Gallery, pinup collector, Henry Clive, Earl Moran, cheesecake originals, Gil Elvgren, oil on canvas

Do men pinup artists draw differently than women pinup artists? It’s the battle of the sexes!

It had to be asked- you know it and I know it. It’s so basic to the art-form, it just couldn’t be ignored. Pinup art is about the way an artist perceives sex and women, so there are bound to be differences. Let’s observe, together, the differences and similarities between men and women pinup artists.

A Little History

Traditionally, not many women artists are historically documented. Women rights are such a new concept, that sometimes I wonder how we got so far, in such a short time span. Historically, it was World War II that launched women into the work-place, in America, and they had their hand in every field of expertise and occupation.

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Tags: tits&ass, Marcus Grey, Jessica Dougherty, Dean Yeagle, Sexy Bitches, Feminist views, post-modern, dumb-blond, cartoon pinup, Alayna Magnan, Women Pinup Artists, Pearl Frush, Gil Elvgren, battle of the sexes, fetish and fantasy, pinup painting, olivia de Berardinis, Hajime Sorayama, vintage pinup, attention to detail, photo-realistic, 1950's, 1970's, 1990's, Playboy magazine, parnographic images, female commercial artists, pinup art, World War II

It’s movie poster mania at The Pinup Blog!

Movie posters are one of the most diversified genre there is. From photography, to realistic illustration, to the expressive and dramatic- Show biz has got it all! Of course, I’m a sucker for it’s pinups- the classic and the contemporary. Some are old-school, some I’m seeing for the first time, some will became classic in twenty year’s time. So let’s zoom into this modern art- the movie poster.

Art Nouveau Does Hollywod

Before movies were in color, or had sound, or camera movement, the posters were just as low tech. This doesn’t mean that they were inferior- on the contrary. Movie posters in the 20’s and before were designed by the most respected fine artists, such as Alfons Mucha, Eugène Grasset and Paul Colin. Always very expressionistic, focusing on colors, shapes and rhythms. All this sophistication, however, leaves enough room for a lot of sex-appeal, and as the years progressed, the cleavage regressed.


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Tags: Vintage Movie Poster, Rita Hayworth, Bad Girls, Marlene Dietrich, Natalie Portman, actresses, Quentin Tarantino, Grindhouse, Lolita, Austin Powers, Angelina Jolie, uma Thurman, neo pinups, Pinup Girls, Tragic Sirens, Bond Girls, horror genre, B movie, screaming cheesecake, scary monster, Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, 1950’s, photography, modern art, femme fatal, show Biz History, 1940’s, Paul Colin, glamor girls, Alfons Mucha, Eugène Grasset, Art Nouveau, Hollywod, realistic illustration

For all your vintage art poster needs, take a trip to Ric’s Art Shop. An elaborate collection of nothing past the 1950’s. From classic 50’s pinup girls, to Art Nouveau, to freaky circus posters.

Tags: Ric’s Art Shop, freaky circus posters, vintage art poster, 1950's, Art Nouveau, classic 50’s pinup girls

Take a tour in the high end of pinup art.

It’s true that mostly, pinup girls are considered a low art, at times completely thought of as porn. Today we talk a little about pinups in Pop Art- a highly respected art movement.

Before we take a look at some Pop Art pinup girls, here’s a short explanation of the movement:

Pop art is a visual art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s... [it’s] one of the major art movements of the twentieth century. Characterized by themes and techniques drawn from popular mass culture, such as advertising and comic books, pop art is widely interpreted as either a reaction to the then-dominant ideas of abstract expressionism or an expansion upon them. Pop art, like pop music, aimed to employ images of popular as opposed to elitist culture in art, emphasizing the banal or kitschy elements of any given culture.

~ Wikipedia ~

In essence, anyone making ads or comic book art is creating popular culture. The difference is that Pop Artists are usually trying to react to pop-culture with their creations and not just be part of the creation mass. (Kind of like the difference between Britney Spears and Madonna)

Mel Ramos

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Tags: pop art, Pinup Girls, popular media, print, comic book, Mel Ramos, Andy Warhol, Pop Artist, painter in the age of mechanical reproduction, Roy Lichtenstein, Low art, Allen Jones, pop-culture, art movement, 1950's, Allan d'Arcangelo, Marilyn Monroe

How do I love pinups and let me count the ways...

Yes, I sat myself down and asked myself why it is I blog about pinups. It’s so trivial, it’s so silly and so horny! So why then? Here are 10 fine reasons!

#10 The Detail

I’m a sucker for good craftsmanship. Most people are. As an art student you learn to appreciate abstract art and god knows I love it, but there is always a special place in my heart for that artist that can really draw convincing fingernails and get deep into the garter-clasp details.


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Tags: pinup lovers, Nostalgia, garter-clasp details, king of pinups, Marilyn Monroe, Betty Page, straightforward sexuality, sexually explicit, pinup artists, Olivia De Bernardinis, retro style, Classic Sweetness, garter belts, Women, Voluptuous, Gil Elvgren, modern Venuses, Garters and Stockings, beauty and mystic, natural beauty, Low art, pornographic, Diversity, neo-pinups

Some pinup artists are skilled, sophisticated and patient enough to add a little technical challenge to their work - the mirror.

While looking for pinup twins a month ago, I found myself eyeing another pinup art practice - the mirrored pinup. I haven't managed to find an essay about the appearance of mirrors and reflections in a painting (let me know if you got the inside story via comment or email ), but I gather it’s an interesting research subject. In pinup art a lot of the profound meaning is shallowed out to eye-candy. I’m hoping to find some insight into the mirrored pinup.

Showing Off All Assets

As I said, in most pinup art, the profound possibilities of meaning are usually shallowed down to simple efficiency. In most cases, the pinup will be either facing the viewer, or with her back to the viewer and the mirror is there to show all the pinup’s assets - front to back.

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Tags: Through the Looking Glass, pinup artists, mirrors, mirrored pinup, WWII., Nazi propaganda, Enoch Bolles, Kevin Clark, being watched, self Portrait, glamor girls, Gil Elvgren, pinup assets

Is the contemporary pinup pornography?

Last week, I posted a whimsical little anthology about pinups in sports. I had a few interesting remarks, on and off-site, inquiring as to “Where are the real women?” I didn’t completely understand the nature of the question, but a thought came to my head: Unlike Playboy, some readers read this blog for the pictures. Am I a Porn Blog? Some, I suppose, think so.

All this train of thought brings us to today’s issue: Is the contemporary pinup pornography?
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Tags: Contemporary Pinup, classic pinups, Erotica, pornography, Shakira, sexuality, eroticism and fantasy, BDSM culture, misogynistic, Lorenzo Di Mauro, Hagime Soroyama, George Petty , olivia de Berardinis, Frank Frazzeta, Christina Aguilera, Billy De Vorss, Alberto Vargas, Enoch Bolles, Britney Spears