ALBERTO VARGAS, THE MASTER OF THE AIRBRUSH PINUP

Varga Girl, April 1942 Buy From Art.com

He became really famous in the 1940s as the creator of iconic World War II era pin-ups for Esquire magazine known as "Varga Girls." The nose art of many World War II aircraft was adapted from these Esquire pin-ups. The reason for the pinup art being called 'Varga girls' rather than simply using Vargas own name on them was so that Esquire could have more legal control over the 'product'. This is most likely because Vargas was taking over the position of fellow pin-up illustrator George Petty, who had parted company with the magazine over pay and content disputes. In fact Vargas' career did seem to follow in the path of Petty for years. I like Petty, but have to say that Alberto Vargas is by far the better artist.
The Varga girl is typified by a long slender idealized body, usually isolated in open space. And either elegantly dressed or nude. One of his particular touches was the slender fingers were almost always tipped with red painted nails. He had a real eye for feminine beauty , and infact later served as a judge on miss world in the late 1950s.

However sadly a legal dispute with Esquire over the use of the name "Varga" resulted in a judgment against Vargas and he struggled financially until the 1960s when Playboy magazine took him on and, giving him his own name back, began to use his work as "Vargas Girls". Thanks to this his career flourished and there were major exhibitions of his work all over the world. He was very loyal to Playboy and, whether because he was grateful I don't know, he turned down almost all other work offered to him during his time with the big bunny and produced over 150 paintings for them.

His career took another down turn in 1974 with the death of his wife Anna Mae. They had eloped together in 1930 and he was devastated and stopped painting for years.

In 1978 The publication of his autobiography renewed interest in his work and brought him partially out of his self-imposed retirement to do a few works, such as album covers for Bernadette Peters and The Cars.

He died of a stroke on December 30, 1982, at the age of 86.

Today many of Vargas' works from his time with Esquire are now held by the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas The museum was given these pieces in 1980 along with a large selection of other artworks from the magazine.

Varga Girl, September 1941 Buy From Art.com

Alberto Vargas work remains very popular and collectible.At the December 2003 Christies auction of Playboy archives, the 1967 Vargas painting "Trick or Treat" sold for $71,600, a record for his works.

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Personally I suck with an airbrush, but hope to master it some day. None the less Vargas' style and his Varga girls are my benchmark of absolute perfection in beauty.And he is clearly a major influence on the great pinup artists of today such as Vernon and Olivia.

A Vargas girl has no comedy tricks to get attention or titillate the viewer. She is goddess like and although the bodies are idealized they still sparkle with life and energy. Vargas never depicted his pinups as silly, clumsy, weak or incapable like many others did (like Art Frahm for example, and to an extent Gill Elvgren) They were breathtaking, perfect and powerfully sexual. He preferred a different kind of female fantasy type, one quite opposite to the 'girl next door'.
The empty space that often surrounded them, was not just for elegant composition. It seems to add to the untouchable quality of these pinups, as well as securing them as the most and only important thing. It is a pure celebration of the female form for the sake of its own beauty and nothing else.
You have to be mad not to love the flawless beauty of the paintings of Alberto Vargas.

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