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!
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on in the world of girlie 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.
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)
Pinups of the 50’s didn’t just spring out
of midair. These images reflect their times.
(as all art does.) So I set out to find
authentic images that will shed light on
pinup art.
Those Cool Cats
The 50’s, like any time in history, weren’t
as carefree as you may imagine. Most people
worked hard, African Americans were
struggling and really, the only ones exuding
that familiar Happy Days/Grease carefree
glamor were the teenagers of white suburbia.
They were fashionable and fun-loving and like
many post-modern generations after them, they
were to be icons who reflect their times
(missing some historical facts in the process
).
Once again, my
StumbleUpon friends come through.
Charlene Chua is an acclaimed vector
illustrator, but more importantly, a
modern day pinup artist. She does a lot
of commercial work, witch you can take a
look at, at her online
gallery, but my personal favorites are
her vector cheesecake, which have their
own gallery. Chua's vector cheesecake
is thematically modern, so you'll find
illustrations that run between the sex
object, the sports woman and the super
ninja, but always in the fun loving,
colorful Chua style. And if you love the
extras on a dvd, check out Chua's
blog, for sketches, doodles and fine
pencil works.
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get your weekly update on what's going
on in the world of girlie art.
Dark Roasted
Blend is one of the top 500
Technorati sites. Though it's not
specifically about pinups, they have an
extensive collection of vintage articles
and images. This is what Avi and Rachel
Abrams, its originators, have to say
about it:
The "Dark Roasted Blend" is ...dedicated
to the on-going quest for wisdom and
beauty, for all things cool and wonderful
in our world, and beyond - in the spiritual
realm.
The end of the 19th century brought us
the curvy, flowing styling of Art Nouveau.
What better suiting movement to kick-start
the pinups of the mid 20th century?
Ok,
many will debate me on this. But I believe
painting a woman, solely for her beauty,
without the whole mythology behind it, didn’t
really get it’s full momentum, until Art
Nouveau came along. Maybe because it was
commercial art? Or maybe because it was about
time?
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec - The Most
Famous Nouveau Artist
Henri de
Toulouse-Lautrec is probably most famous for
his wild depictions of the night life of the
Moulin Rouge.
Not an easy search for an outsider like
myself. But It’s been mentioned to me that
biker art has much to do with pinups. I
actually tend to disagree.
Biker art is
very fetishistic. It’s really all about the
machine- that appears in unbelievable
detail- more than the bikers. It’s
also a lot about the life style and
surroundings of the bikers. Be it
an open road winding into nature or
old
midwest American farms. On the other
hand, it’s probably the only niche I
know where the men are more focal than
the women and they’re not any type of
mainstream sexy. All that said, I’d like
to focus on the pinup side of biker art.
The Harley Davidson Art
Gallery
What better place to
start than the biggest brand name in
biker culture, Harley Davidson.
Burlesque has taken many forms through
the years, but one fact always stayed true:
The female form.
Last
week I talked about cartoon pinups
and added some videos for your viewing
pleasure. After a second watching, I
noticed something linking all these
unforgettable cinematic moments- A song
and a dance. These cartoon women didn't
only look good, they made for memorable
entertainment. They all reminded me of a
fabulous art form, enjoying an enticing
revival- burlesque.
A lot of noise has been raised in the
feminist and Muslim communities over the art
of Makan Emadi and the appearance of a new
“misogynistic male fantasy”: Veil
Fetish.
Nose art has, pretty much, existed since
planes became a war-craft. In an effort to
boost moral, pilots would paint the
squadron’s insignia on the nose of the plane.
A little later, shark teeth, under the
propeller became all the rage. Then came the
pinup.
Israel is not huge on Pinups and, to me,
as an Israeli, it's a bit of a
surprise.
A fact that is well
known to Israelis, is that Israel has a
long history of mimicking fashion and
commercial trends. Hardly a leader in
it's own cultural right, Israel used to
mimic Europe in the 40's, 50's and 60's.
But as the political and financial
scales tipped in America's favor,
American business models and fashion
trends have become more and more popular
in Israel. As fashion and pop culture
are inextricably linked, one can
understand what African American pop
culture is doing in Israel and why
women's role-models become Carrie
Bradshaw.
So Why Aren't Pinups Having their big
comeback in Israel?
Personally, I consider anything made with
premeditated intension as art. So what? Is a
carpenter that makes kitchen cupboards an
artist or just a professional craftsmen?
Could he be both?
The new American liberationists
contrivances have a deeper identification
with commercial art than the plagiarism or
adaptation of itsimages. They share the
impersonality of advertising- agency
art-department productions. They are
entirely cerebral and mechanical; the hand
of the artist has no part in the evolution
of the work but is the mere executer of the
idea-man's command,though in this case the
artist himself is usually the idea-man
(sometimes the idea for work comes from
friends or sponsors). Nor is the self of
the artist involved in the proses of
creation.
As a pinup enthusiast, I have a
little…tiny… OK petite collection of pinup
memorabilia. I'm not a very active collector
(I bow my head in shame), but I love picking
up on a cool little piece, every now and
then. My latest collectibles were found on
the other side of the earth…
China.
).
Once again, my
StumbleUpon friends come through.
Charlene Chua is an acclaimed vector
illustrator, but more importantly, a
modern day pinup artist. She does a lot
of commercial work, witch you can take a
look at, at 
")
, 1965, p. 75