The Portfolio (and each of the plates) measures approx. 7 1/2" by 9 1/2" and is bound in a self-folding mailer that could be addressed and sent through the mail (perhaps to a soldier serving overseas). The Portfolio contains 12 fantastic Pin-Op Girl illustrations each of which is titled and signed in the plate by the artist - Gil Elvgren. This Portfolio is the 5th of a series of Portfolios that Elvgren produced for Louis F, Dow between 1937 and 1943.

    Along with Alberto Vargas and George Petty, Gil Elvgren is one of the best known and most respected of the pin-up artists. Gil Elvgren (March 15, 1914 – February 29, 1980), born Gillette Elvgren, was an American painter of pin-up girls, advertising and illustration. Elvgren was one of the most important pin-up and glamour artists of the twentieth century. Today he is best known for his pin-up paintings for Brown & Bigelow. Elvgren studied at the American Academy of Art. He graduated from the Academy during the depression at the age of twenty-two. Elvgren joined the stable of artists at Stevens and Gross, Chicago's most prestigious advertising agency. He became a protégé of the talented artist, Haddon Sundblom

    Elvgren was a classical American illustrator. He was a master of portraying the all-American ideal feminine, but he wasn't limited to the calendar pin-up industry. He was strongly influenced by the early "pretty girl" illustrators, such as Charles Dana Gibson, Andrew Loomis, and Howard Chandler Christy. Other influences included the Brandywine School founded by Howard Pyle. In 1937, Gil began painting calendar pin-ups for Louis F. Dow, one of America's leading publishing companies, during which time he created about 60 works. Around 1944, Gil was approached by Brown and Bigelow, a firm that still dominates the field in producing calendars and advertising specialties. He was associated with Brown and Bigelow from 1945 to 1972

    This rare and original, 1940's Gil Elvgren Pin-Up Portfolio is complete with all 12 pages of Pin-Up Girls and the self-mailer cover present. All of the Plates are very clean, crisp and in excellent condition although a number of these plates are cleanly detached from the spine.

    A rare and wonderful World War II era, Gil Elvgren Portfolio of Pin-Up Girl Art and a fantastic addition to any collection!!

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