The Pin-up: A Primer for the Unaquainted

A Typical Gil Elvgren Pin-up 

Being in the pin-up photography business, you sometimes forget that there are those who have only a vague notions of what pin-ups are.  Fear not gentle reader, this little piece is meant for you. 

The pin-up is a purely American creation, originating from the pen of Charles Dana Gibson.  Gibson was responsible for creating the first universally accepted image of female beauty, through his illustrations of curvaceous, gorgeous Victorian women that would appear in various publications.  His female ideal was dubbed the Gibson girl.  Because images of the Gibson girl would be published in magazines and other disposable media it became common practice for fans of the Gibson girl to rip the illustrations out of these publications and pin them up in various places.  Thus the term pin-up was born.

By the 1930s, the image of the idealized woman had greatly changed from the bodiced gown wearing Gibson girl.  Women's clothing had become much less restricting, and women had shown the first signs of sexual liberation during the rollicking 1920s.  The proliferation of Hollywood films with their dazzling array of beautiful young starlets, especially in the risque pre-Hays codes era, also did much to expose mass audiences to this evolving feminine ideal.  The two biggest factors that led to the explosion of the pin-up in the 1930s were the growing popularity of nudist magazines and pulp novels.  Nudist magazines, aside from the overt pictures of naked people, often would publish humorous stories that would be accompanied by similarly humorous, yet sexy pictures of women in various stages of undress.  Pulp novels would similarly contain illustrations that would accompany the descriptions of salacious crimes against women that would include bondage and nudity.  Famous pin-up artists like Alberto Vargas, George Petty, Gil Evgren all began their prolific careers during this decade.

No discussion of the history of the pin-up can discount the impact that the second world war had on the explosion of pin-up art and photography in mainstream popular culture.  Men who had been sent half way around the world needed reminders of home.  Pin-ups, with their slightly naughty portrayal of all-American girls next door offered enlisted men comfort on long lonely months on the front.  As a part of their contribution to the war effort.  Starlets, under contract to the studios, would often pose for suggestive photographs (by 1940s standards) that would then be distributed overseas to GIs who would then hang the photographs in their lockers and bunks.  The most famous Hollywood pin-up was Betty Grable who built her popularity as GIs favourite pin-up into a viable film career.  Other famous actresses, like Rita Hayworth, Lana Turner, and Dorothy Lamour were all popular with the uniformed men.  Pin-ups began popping up on airplane fuselages and on other military vehicles.

Once the war was over, the popularity of pin-ups continued, becoming increasingly risque with the growing popularity of girlie magazines and the gradual rise of adult-only publications.  While the charmingly innocent images of girls having their panty covered nether-regions revealed through various devices were still popular, pictures of women in bondage gear and engaging in various acts of S&M also found favour among certain audiences.  Iconic pin-up model Bettie Page, participated in the creation of such images.

By the sixties, many of the great pin-up artists of the thirties, forties, and fifties began winding down their careers.  Publications like Playboy and later boundary pushing magazines like Hustler which featured photographs which literally left nothing to the imagination in their depictions of the feminine form made early pin-up photographs seem quaint by comparison.  Many artists continued the tradition of the pin-up, evolving the image to a more blatantly sexual one (ie. more nudity).

In more recent times, the classic image popularized by Elvgren, Vargas, and others has made its way back into public consciousness.  Illustrators and photographers (myself included) have resurrected this style of celebrating female sexuality.  The next chapter is still being written.

A Bevy of Gibson Girls

Suggestive Pulp Novel Cover

GIs Favorite Betty Grable

Bettie Page and Her Whip

RIP - Rosie the Riveter Model

Just today, I read that the woman who modelled for the iconic Rosie the Riveter propaganda poster, Geraldine Doyle, passed on from complications due to arthritis on December 26, 2010.  The story of her likeness being used as inspiration for Rosie is a fascinating one.

Ms. Doyle, worked less than two weeks in a metal fabrication plant in Lansing Michigan and was never assigned riveting as part of her duties while at the factory.During this brief time some U.S. government commissioned photographers snapped a photograph of her leaning over a piece machinery in a polka-dot bandana.  A classically trained cellist, Ms. Doyle, quit her job at the factory after concerns about the damage factory work was having on  her hands.  She later sought employment in soda fountains and bookshops and eventually married and had a family.   In life, Ms. Doyle did not possess the muscular physique that her illustrated counterpart did.

The photograph that was taken on that fateful day took on a life of it own, originally as an illustration (painted by  J. Howard Miller) to inspire women to support the war effort by working in factories with the motto "We can do it," and eventually inspiring a hit song Rosie the Riveter, by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb, becoming a symbol of the feminist movement, and adorning various pieces of apparel  and merchandise in the post-modern era.

Although many have profited from the image of Rosie the Riveter, Geraldine Doyle never received compensation for her lasting impact on the War Effort and popular culture.   Rest in Peace Geraldine Doyle.  We salute you.