Varga, the Esquire Years - A Catalogue Raisonne

By: Alfred van der Marck Editions

Type: Hardcover

Product Line: Art Books (Alfred van der Marck Editions)

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Product Info

Title
Varga, the Esquire Years - A Catalogue Raisonne
Author
Alberto Vargas
Publish Year
1987
Pages
176
Dimensions
9.5x12.5x1"
NKG Part #
2148428463
Type

Description

On October 15, 1940, Esquire magazine introduced Alberto Vargas's Varga Girl to the world. By the end of World War II, troops in every part of the world were attesting to the Varga Girl's unique importance as a motivator. A combination of barely concealed sexuality and wholesome domestic virtue, she had come to represent every thing American soldiers were fighting to defend.

By 1947 the Varga Girl was finished. Her close connection with the war, her brief life and sudden demise, and Vargas's devotion to her all contributed to the legend of the Varga Girl, raising her well above her contemporaries and proving her America's most endearing and enduring pin-up. Eternally young, untouched by time, she is always, as Kurt Vonnegut says, "new, new, new."

Every Esquire Varga Girl is represented in this volume: the gatefolds, the calendars, and the military edition back covers. In addition, the Varga playing cards are here, as well as the Esky by-products, the Esky cards, the Esquire date books, and the advertising calendar line. All of the non-Esquire advertising art done over the Varga signature from 1941 to 1947 is also reproduced herein, along with a biographical essay accompanied by many never-before-reproduced paintings and photos.

The vast majority of the illustrations in this catalogue raisonné are reproduced by contemporary methods for the first time, revealing every subtlety in these delicate works. Here is a comprehensive view of an astoundingly popular American artist at a critical period in his life. Alberto Vargas painted women with empathy, respect, and a single-minded determination to honor them that precluded innuendo and lewdness. He gave us an idealized fantasy of American womanhood that remains vivid more than forty years later

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