Post-depression America was in desperate need of a defining iconography that would lift it out of the black and white doldrums, and it came in the form of Gil Elvgren's Technicolor fantasies of the American dream. His technique - which earned him a reputation as "The Norman Rockwell of cheesecake" - involved photographing models and then painting them into gorgeous hyper-reality, with longer legs, more flamboyant hair and gravity-defying busts, and in the process making them the perfect moral-boosting eye-candy for every homesick private.
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"Glamour is back... TASCHEN offers us a look back at these calendar and advertisement goddesses of which Gil Elvgren is king." erotisme-fr.com, France"
About the Author
Louis K. Meisel is owner and manager of one of the oldest contemporary art galleries in Soho, New York. He has published monographs on Charles Bell and Richard Estes, as well as the books Photorealism and Photorealism Since 1980. Charles G. Martignette is an art dealer, art historian, journalist, and writer. Pictures from his collection have been exhibited in the Smithsonian Institution as well as many other American and European museums.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a good size book, nicely bound and printed on good quality paper - glossy but not too glossy. The book is all about the art. There is surprisingly just about 30 pages of text, and even that is strewn with example of Elvgren's work (plus a few by those whose work he admired). At the back of the book, the text appears again in French and German.
While it is easy to describe Elvgren's work in light-weight terms such as "cheesecake", much of his work consisted of advertisements for major companies, calendars, magazine covers, illustrations and various other commissions. He was a master of his craft, a seriously capable portrait artist. His ability to capture the shape and character of male and female form with verve and fluidity is remarkable.
I have a personal interest in portraiture, and bought this book purely as a reference. It is certainly a useful way to get a closer look at his technique and use of colour.
While it is easy to describe Elvgren's work in light-weight terms such as "cheesecake", much of his work consisted of advertisements for major companies, calendars, magazine covers, illustrations and various other commissions. He was a master of his craft, a seriously capable portrait artist. His ability to capture the shape and character of male and female form with verve and fluidity is remarkable.
I have a personal interest in portraiture, and bought this book purely as a reference. It is certainly a useful way to get a closer look at his technique and use of colour.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By K. Fugill
Format:Hardcover
Amazing book! if you love Gil Elvgren then you have to have this book! plus its really good for the money!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By DB1
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a good quality book with 'thousands' of Gil Elvgren's illustrations. Lots of great background to the life and work of this brilliant artist. If you like his work then this is a must for me.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
The book contains excellent reproductions of his original work,and it makes an excellent reference work and a handy guide to posing.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By M. Orton
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Three years since we bought the first one, and each one has been saved for posterities sake. Can't bring ourselves to throw them out!! Great fun, quite risque but very worth it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Phil
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is a treasure, for many reasons. I have followed the lives and works of many many artists and sculptors over the years, and was disappointed in the 60s, 70s and 80s by the lack of quantity and quality of books on these talented people. But now you can get hold of really excellent detailed studies of important painters and sculptors, and this is one of those. There are excellent paintings of shapely women in science-fiction, and now we have a great book on Elvgren and his famous pin-up ladies. It's fascinating to follow the involvement of the models, like Bettie Page, Myrna Hansen and Janet Rae. It's rather like looking up the models from the Pre-Raphaelites, such as Lizzie Siddall, Fanny Cornforth and Alexa Wilding. Elvgren does a stirling job of bringing out their beauty in his paintings, and in a charming style that is all his own. As an extra study, it was good to see some of the photos showing the model poses that form Elvgren's paintings. I found more of these on the internet and this added to the fascination. He's a master of his art.
(I never would have guessed which of the men in the photo on page 15 was him!)
(I never would have guessed which of the men in the photo on page 15 was him!)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Mr. D. Nicol
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I've always liked the pinup girl artwork of the 40's and 50's. As mentioned in another review, the images of this time were tantalising, tittilating, but also tasteful. Not at all vulgar. Until recently I did not really know the artists names, but I did get to know two artists names, Antonio Vargas, whose picture 'Jeanne' reminded me of a young Nicole Kidman, and Gil Elvgren. I bought this book on a chance, not really sure how good the quality of the images would be and to be honest, at the price I wasn't expecting anything spectacular.
What arrived though was a beautifully bound book, with many images printed on glossy high quality paper. The book itself is well bound with a nice eye catching cover painting. It seems quite sturdy, the weight of the book suggesting this is not cheaply made.
As has been mentioned by other reviews, one or two images haven't been as sharply reproduced as others, but there's no really bad sections, just some are a little blurry, this might be due to the source material. I'm perfectly happy with this books. While these are paintings, I found out recently on of all things Pawn Stars, that if these had been photographs during the time, many states might have treated the material as pornography, but since it was painted it was art.
What arrived though was a beautifully bound book, with many images printed on glossy high quality paper. The book itself is well bound with a nice eye catching cover painting. It seems quite sturdy, the weight of the book suggesting this is not cheaply made.
As has been mentioned by other reviews, one or two images haven't been as sharply reproduced as others, but there's no really bad sections, just some are a little blurry, this might be due to the source material. I'm perfectly happy with this books. While these are paintings, I found out recently on of all things Pawn Stars, that if these had been photographs during the time, many states might have treated the material as pornography, but since it was painted it was art.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By VintageFolly
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a really beautiful, substantial book. Perfect to adorn a coffee table, give as a gift or use as a reference.
I am really pleased with the layout. Too often art books are awash with too much writing and too few images. The book keeps all the information, which is well researched and written, at the beginning of the book. This allows for pages and pages of uninterrupted, glorious, vintage pin-ups.
As I have come to expect from Taschen books, the images are cleverly arranged into loosely defined sections. These range from the time of painting, to the pose of the model and nature of the scene.
The publishers have done well to amass such a large collection of Elvgren's work and I am pleased that they chose to include images for which they could only obtain a less than perfect example. Despite the grainy appearance of some of the lesser known works, which the writer admits are some times a 'Xerox of a Xerox of a bad photo', any true lover of this Elvgren's work would much rather see a poor copy of a rare image than not see it at all.
The only ounce of negativity I can muster about this book is that there are numbers in the corner of each image. I hate that. I really feel that an Art book should depict the pieces in a clear, unblemished way. Numbering and overlapping images is one of my pet-hates. I would also have liked a little, more specific information bout some of the pieces.
All things considered, thanks to the luscious content, the skilled layout and the fantastic quality of this book and because I simply adore Gil Elvgren pin-ups, I would happily recommend this book to you.
I am really pleased with the layout. Too often art books are awash with too much writing and too few images. The book keeps all the information, which is well researched and written, at the beginning of the book. This allows for pages and pages of uninterrupted, glorious, vintage pin-ups.
As I have come to expect from Taschen books, the images are cleverly arranged into loosely defined sections. These range from the time of painting, to the pose of the model and nature of the scene.
The publishers have done well to amass such a large collection of Elvgren's work and I am pleased that they chose to include images for which they could only obtain a less than perfect example. Despite the grainy appearance of some of the lesser known works, which the writer admits are some times a 'Xerox of a Xerox of a bad photo', any true lover of this Elvgren's work would much rather see a poor copy of a rare image than not see it at all.
The only ounce of negativity I can muster about this book is that there are numbers in the corner of each image. I hate that. I really feel that an Art book should depict the pieces in a clear, unblemished way. Numbering and overlapping images is one of my pet-hates. I would also have liked a little, more specific information bout some of the pieces.
All things considered, thanks to the luscious content, the skilled layout and the fantastic quality of this book and because I simply adore Gil Elvgren pin-ups, I would happily recommend this book to you.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Recommended.
Bought has a gift for my husband who is a tattooist. Value for money was amazing, and a much bigger book than I expected, Husband has found the art & pin ups very useful for... Read more
Published 22 days ago by Debbie Hibbert
5.0 out of 5 stars
A lovely book of gorgeous paintings and drawings.
I discovered Gil Elvgren after hearing his name on a tattoo show as he was one of the artists inspirations for pin ups. Read more
Published 24 days ago by rosemary
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant book
I bought it as a gift for my partner who used it to choose a tattoo design.
The result was fantastic, and the book is a permanent resident of our coffee table!
The result was fantastic, and the book is a permanent resident of our coffee table!
Published 26 days ago by Chris
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very inspirational
As a photographer looking for new and inspiring creative outlets this fitted the bill perfectly. His was a distinctive art and a master of painting.
really recommend it.
really recommend it.
Published 1 month ago by Mr. Trevor Street
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pin Up Heaven
Gil Elvgren is a pin-up grand master. You will likely recognise a lot of these as his artistry permeates a lot of american contemporary advertising and publicity. Read more
Published 2 months ago by martin thompson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love it!
Love this book :) Gil Elvgren is the best pin-up painter ever, he's genius :) This book has one of the best pin-up models of his art.
Published 2 months ago by Kate
5.0 out of 5 stars
AMERICAN PIN-UPS BOOK
To say I bought this book as used it is as new and pristine. Just what I wanted as I love the art of this period.
Published 2 months ago by christine petrou
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gil Elvgren: All his Glamorous American Pin-ups (25th Anniversary)
This came in good time and well packed. Lots inside to learn from the master. It is beautifully illustrated. I love it.
Published 4 months ago by Carol58
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good collection of his art
Although this is a good collection of Elvgren's work, i was disappointed with the quality of some of the photos. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mistermark21
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