Swingin’ Sweetie, Brown & Bigelow 1968

Here's a pin-up painting by Gil Elvgren, called 'Swingin’ Sweetie’, made for Brown & Bigelow. I love how smooth this is; it looks like an ad, but you can see a real person in there too. I wonder how Elvgren blocked this out. The palette is pretty tight, mostly pastel, but the shadows and highlights on her body and clothing make it pop. It's like he was thinking about glamour, but also about the real world. I imagine him carefully choosing colors and blending them to create that soft, idealized look. What was he thinking, making this? The way her dress flares out is interesting, a flash of the accidental. And those legs - they’re not just legs, they’re a whole mood! It reminds me a little bit of John Currin, but in a totally different way. These artists are having this long conversation about how we see and what we desire. In the end, I just see Elvgren there with his brush, trying to catch something real in all that glamour.