Alberto Vargas: Master Artist of the Pin-Up Girls

Alberto Vargas was born in Arequipa, Peru, on February 9, 1896. His father was Carlos Vargas, the famous photographer. Alberto achieved notoriety for his paintings that included pin up girls as his subjects.

In his work, he usually combined airbrush and watercolors and was considered a master in utilizing the airbrush. At the time, airbrush units were awkward and large and took a considerable amount of skill to master them. His skill is honored yearly when Airbrush Action Magazine awards the Vargas Award.

After studying art in Europe, Vargas came to the United States in 1916. To earn a living, he began painting, drawing, and retouching photographs. Florenz Ziegfeld saw Vargas in a display window doing a painting exhibition. For 12 years, Vargas was the primary artist for Ziegfeld Follies and painted the portraits of the stars that appeared on the Broadway spectacle. He was not much of a businessman and when the work with the Follies was over in 1931, he was broke and looking for work.

George Petty was doing the "Petty Girl" pictures for Esquire magazine. The magazine's editor and Petty were at odds because of Petty's price he wanted for each picture. They took on Vargas to replace him and took full advantage of his lack of business sense. Petty was receiving $1500.00 per picture and they contracted with Vargas for $75.00 per week and half of the money from the picture's sales. His 1940's Varga Girls were popular among soldiers and inspired a lot of the paintings that were displayed on the nose of their aircraft. After a legal dispute, Vargas left Esquire Magazine and did some paintings for magazines and playing cards.

In 1960, when he was 64, Hugh Hefner hired him to paint the nude centerfolds for Playboy Magazine. He did this for 16 years. He retired from painting in 1976, and died in 1982.

The Spencer Museum of Art, located at the University of Kansas, holds many of Vargas' works from Esquire Magazine. Christie Hefner held an auction of Playboy archive items in 2003, and one of his paintings was bought for $71,600.

Comment on "Alberto Vargas: Master Artist of the Pin-Up Girls"