A pin-up girl is a woman whose physical attractiveness, entices one to place a picture of her on a wall. A term first attested to in English in 1941; however the practice is documented back at least to the 1890s.
The "pin up" images could be cut out of magazines or newspapers, or be from postcard or chromo-lithographs, and so on. Such photos often appear on calendars, which are meant to be pinned up anyway. |
Birds, Bees and Cavemen
From the Paleolithic cave paintings of Madrid, to the numerous artifacts left us by the ancient Greeks, there’s no doubting that erotic imagery has played a part in the psyche of mankind for a very long time. Carnal pleasures and the simple beauty of the naked human form continue to inspire masterpieces across the globe, and in every art form possible. In our stories, in our music: Sexual Healing anybody? It’s a well known fact that the Greek Gods had a habit of coming down for a little carnal interaction with the mortals – stories which stir our souls and pique our imaginations even now; thousands of years after first being told. Of course a lot has changed in that time. By modern standards The Ancient Greeks were unashamed of the nude figure; they painted sexual scenes on their ceramics and the original Olympics were contested by naked athletes! Of course only males competed, still… I believe it safe to say, the other competitors wobbly bits out on show would be too much distraction for most of today’s athletes; be they male or female. In the Roman world, erotic art was also part of everyday life: Frank sexual depictions were found in public marketplaces, as murals and sculptures. |
Thankfully… we grew weary of the Dark Ages and when a merchant class could support artists instead of just The Church, a new definition of feminine beauty was brought about in The Renaissance: a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe.
Giants like: Da Vinci (1452-1519), Michaelangelo (1475-1564) and Titian (1485-1576) walked the earth. And with villas, and municipal buildings–and surprisingly even churches and cathedrals–to decorate in the city states of Italy, the myths and historical figures of ancient Rome provided ample material. The birth of Venus and other fables provided convenient excuses to display comely nudes. |
Although it should be mentioned that, along with this new freedom of portraying nudity and sensuality in Renaissance paintings came a corresponding urge to censor “obscene” images. Daniele da Volterra was hired to paint over the genitals and buttocks of figures in The Last Judgment, and many sculptures had robes or loincloths added after the fact to make the image more “chaste” for the religious figures of the day. Masaccio’s The Expulsion From the Garden of Eden was one classic example of this censorship, as seen in the accompanying image.
This ham-handed censorship notwithstanding, the Renaissance was a golden age for painters and sculptors to celebrate the human form in both secular and sacred artwork. During the 1800s, the art-world saw movements to escape the excesses of the Baroque and Rococo periods and return to classical simplicity. Neoclassicism was formalized in Europe as an outgrowth of Academic Art and again the popular characters from the past were represented by mostly nude models. |
At the turn of the century, the calendar was the most prominent form of pin-up material, especially the early “glamour girl” formats by Angelo Asti.
In 1913 the controversial nude ‘September Morn’ by Paul Chabas was censored by the New York Society for the Supression of Vice. A fact which did not stop it from being printed on literally hundreds of thousands of calendars, as well as; candy boxes, postcards and more. The Art Deco period also made respectable any art featuring romantic nudity, such as that of Mabel Rollins Harris, Maxfield Parrish and Hy Hintermeister. |
For Better or For Worse
Beyond the Golden Age In 1953 Playboy created a sensation with their centerfold of Marilyn Monroe. Until that point, it was mostly Esquire who provided opportunities for a generation of pin-up artists; although they had presented photographic pinups previously, these had never contained overt nudity. Then in 1970 Penthouse introduced the world to pubic hair. The introduction of explicit men’s magazines made the saucy depictions of ‘the mayonnaise school’ seem quaint and old-fashioned as further advances in Photographic technology brought us quicker easier means of satisfying the pressures of monthly deadlines. \ These days a person could be forgiven for thinking nudity and the “Pin up” are no longer relevant subjects in what constitutes good art. At a glance today’s sex symbols are seemingly comprised of mostly pre-packaged teen sensations and anorexic ‘supermodels’ . |
Hand-Drawn Sexy Ladies
Among the thousands of talented artists working hard to bring good art to the masses, many are still making time to pay homage to the natural beauty of the female form with some truly stunning art. At Hand-Drawn we’re working hard to prove showmanship does not have to surpass beauty. Not only are we constantly adding to the Sexy Ladies section of our own Zazzle store.. A collection you’ll want to revisit often as we also intend to keep adding to it. And the best part: these beauties are affordable; with the large range of products available at Zazzle you can now own beautiful pin up’s on anything from Key-chains, to Bumper stickers, or go all out: to show off the true splendour of these works with Zazzle Posters; made with premium UV-resistant archival ink, and available on seven different media, from basic poster paper to canvas. They won’t set you back as much as a dead cows head but they sure do look fine. |