Who is Gil Elvgren?

I keep seeing these pinup archery girls everywhere lately, and putting my rather (rather, completely useless) useless minor in Art History to work, decided that I wanted to know more about where they came from.

Short version: Gil Elvgren was a well-known commercial illustrator back in the Golden Era of illustration, alongside the likes of Norman Rockwell. His work for Coca-Cola, Cosmopolitan, GE and NAPA spanned a successful career for 40 years. His best known work was the series of pinup calendars painted for Brown & Bigelow.

The complete story can be found here:  The Art and Life of Gil Elvgren



The pinup girl has never gone away and seems to be enjoying a resurgence of popularity in photography and illustration lately. This new one is more 1920's vintage poster style, and her expression means business even while wearing a catsuit.