GIL ELVGREN (AMERICAN, 1914–1980)

Gillete ‘Gil’ Elvgren is best known today as America’s preeminent pin-up artist of the twentieth century. Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Elvgren studied art at Minneapolis Institute of Arts before moving to Chicago to complete his training at the American Academy of Art. Elvgren established himself as an American illustrator with his famous pin-up calendar series published over a thirty year career at Brown & Bigelow. His clients included Coca-Cola, General Electric and Sealy Mattress Company. Notable models and celebrities who posed for his work includes Dona Reed, Barbara Hale and Kim Novak, and many of his pin-up images were reproduced as nose art on military aircraft during World War II.