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| The First Art Newspaper on the Net |    | Established in 1996 | Thursday, July 25, 2024 |
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Patrick Nagel (American, 1945-1984), Blonde in Sunglasses (NC #5), 1983. Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 in. | ||
DALLAS, TX.- There are a handful of names synonymous with Pin-Up Art, two of the most significant being Alberto Vargas and Patrick Nagel. And on August 8, in its Illustration Art Signature® Auction, Heritage will offer up significant works by these masters of 20th-century illustration along with fresh-to-market works by Gil Elvgren, Robert McGinnis, Hugh Joseph Ward and others long sought after by collectors and connoisseurs. “This showstopping event is defined by works that the collecting world has long coveted,” says Sarahjane Blum, Heritage’s Director of Illustration Art. “Patrick Nagel’s Blonde in Sunglasses, for example, is one of Nagel’s most iconic works and has never been to auction.” Also known as NC#5, Blonde in Sunglasses is one of Nagel's most graphically striking images andshowcases the crisp and bold lines, dramatic attitude, pop sensibility and minimalist restraint that made him the most iconic artist of women of the 1980s. This absolute knockout is one of the finest to ever appear at auction, and represents an important discovery, having resided in the same collection for decades. “Nagel's canvases are extremely rare and represent the artist's most realized expressions of his own vision,” says Blum. “Publicly unseen since its 1983 exhibition at New York City's Dyansen Gallery, the resurfacing of this masterpiece is a significant event.” The name that epitomizes the most enduring concept of the Pin-Up is Alberto Vargas. The path of Vargas’ career informs nearly the entire 20th century, from the Roaring ’20s to the Great Depression to World War II to the sexual revolution of the 1960s and beyond. Vargas’ resonance is inarguable — his vision of beauty and glamour is far more than a reflection of the times in which he lived; the Vargas Girl was and is the history of 20th-century America. The slyness, sophistication and fun of the Peruvian-American artist-illustrator’s Pin-Ups have informed so many artists who followed in his footsteps, including greats like Elvgren, McGinnis, and the above-mentioned Nagel. For the August 8 event Heritage partners with the Vargas Trust Collection and others to showcase significant works by the artist that span his entire career. Chronologically, Heritage’s Vargas offerings begin with an astonishingly early — 1916 — if not demure Vargas watercolor illustration Woman in Fur, reminiscent of the French fashion pochoirs from Gazette Du Bon Ton and other publications. His gift for capturing a woman’s figure, movement and charisma is already on full display. Vargas, so celebrated for his WWII-era work, was making his name during the Great War as well, and in his 1918 Un Message du Front, a cheeky cupid brings a message from a World War I soldier to a Vargas beauty in a scene packed margin to margin with fine detail. Paper Appointments, from 1926, moves into the era of the more recognizable Vargas style of a central nude figure in otherwise undefined space, and this lithe woman, holding a printed invitation or calling card, epitomizes the burgeoning freedom of a Roaring ’20s social butterfly. Heritage offers works from Vargas’ “Legacy Nude” period in which he independently distilled his own artistic vision and created a series of nudes to showcase his talent for various publishers. The luscious and glowing watercolor Masquerade from 1950 is a stunner — actress Jeanne Dean was his model — and this work is one of the paintings that the artist displayed in his home and studio throughout his life. It had its exhibition debut in 1985 at the San Francisco Art Exchange. Queen of the Sea, also from 1950, is an outstanding example of the artist’s mid-century style and marked a turning point in his career. It is known to be one of the artist's favorites from this period, as he kept this work in his personal collection. “This dynamic watercolor hints at every stage of the artist's career,” says Meagen McMillan, Heritage’s Senior Specialist of Illustration Art. “The graceful dancer-like positioning of the model and burlesque-inspired costume point directly to the artist's start with the Ziegfeld Follies; the pastel palette echoes Esquire's Vargas Girl; and the dramatic make-up, bright red nails, and tongue-in-cheek composition hints at his future Playboy Pin-Ups.” These works from the Vargas Trust Collection and other significant collections give nod to the other artistic greats who shape the auction. A name beloved by knowing fans of Pin-Up is Gil Elvgren, and August 8 offers ten of the artist’s works, many of them fresh to the auction market and ranging from his most fully realized oil-on-canvas works to some of his most lush and intimate studies. The fulsome richness of his 1954 Brown & Bigelow calendar girl in Toast of the Town — in this case Miss USA Myrna Hansen — complements his Brown & Bigelow calendar girl in 1953’s A Neat Display. In both,the sly beauties give us a beguiling glimpse of black stockings and garters. These are terrific counterpoints to the quietude of Elvgren studies such as his charcoal on paper Nude with Book, circa 1950, and his stunning (if not restrained) charcoal Nude Lounging in Chair. These offerings prove the artist’s stylistic and dispositional range. A fabulous work by illustrator Robert McGinnis is a highlight of this auction: His painting for the 1959 book cover You Can't Live Foreverbridges the spaces between Pin-Up, Pulp, and masterpiece. The sophisticated brunette, folded like a winsome cat over the back of a chair, locks her gaze with a viewer in a challenge; the central-focus composition vibrates with both brushstroke and opulent color. And speaking of Pulp, Heritage’s Illustration Art events are famous for their work with the masters of the genre, and this work by the great Hugh Joseph Ward is particularly emblematic. The 1936 oil on canvas work for Death's Diary, a Spicy Mystery Stories magazine cover, represents an important discovery for Pulp Art collectors. The work comes to Heritage after more than eight decades in a single family’s collection. When the consignor was a young boy, the painting, featuring an iconic mix of the danger and desire that defined Spicy Pulps — with its lingerie-clad blonde mesmerized by a crystal ball held by a floating skeleton while an interloper with a dagger enters the scene from behind — scared the bejesus out of him. He offers it now with love and affection. “Death’s Diary shows Ward at the height of his powers,” says Blum. “It has it all: a beautiful damsel in distress, a creeping sense of horror, a menacing threat and unfolding intrigue that presents a narrative in one single moment. We love Ward at Heritage and are thrilled to offer this defining piece from the artist.” | ||
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