biografía de Alberto VARGAS (1896-1982)

Lugar de nacimiento: Peru

Lugar de defunción: Los Angeles, CA

Direcciones: NYC (1916-31); Hollywood, CA (1931-40); NYC (1940s-50s)

Profesión: Painter

Estudios: France and Switzerland, c.1911-16; came to NYC, 1916

Exposiciones: San Francisco Art Exchange, 1986 (retrospective)

Comentarios: A watercolorist of meticulous brush technique and a pioneer with the air brush, he is recognized as America"s master of the "pin-up girl" portrait. From 1919-31, he painted lobby card portraits of the Ziegfeld Follies" girls and then worked for major movie studios in Hollywood. He is best known for his semi-nude illustrations of beautiful women which were featured in Esquire during the 1940s, when he signed his works as "Varga." In 1941, the New Yorker said he "could make a girl look nude if she were rolled up in a rug." His lubricious pin-up girls competed with those created by George Petty, and helped to sell millions of magazines; however, a 1946-50 contract dispute with Esquire left him in poverty. By 1961, Vargas was hired by Playboy and the "Vargas Girls" (with the "s" restored to his name) became topless and increasingly nude rather than suggestive and innocent.

Fuentes: Hughes, Artists in California, 575; essay #16, Illustration House, NYC; add'l info. in Bryn Evans, "Alberto Vargas: Pinup Master" in MassBay Antiques (May, 1996, p.56)"