Pinup Girls - PART I - Alberto Vergas

Alberto Vargas is perhaps the best known and most respected of all the pin-up girl artists. Born in Arequipa, Peru in 1896, he was the son of respected portrait photographer Max Vargas. His father secured an apprenticeship for Vargas at Julien Studios in Switzerland in 1915. However, Vargas soon decided that Europe during World War I was not the healthiest place to be and so traveled to New York in 1916. After two lucky breaks, producing lobby paintings for Ziegfield Follies in the 20's and Hollywood portraits of stars in the 30's, Vargas was approached to provide artwork for the newly started Esquire Magazine in 1940. Vargas was to produce his artwork well into the 1970's, however it is generally held that his best work was during the period 1940 to 1947. This was the time of the 'Varga' girl, centerfolds and calendar artwork produced mainly for Esquire magazine. The following images are for the most part 'Varga' girls from the 40's October, 1940 January, 1941 February, 1941 February, 1941 March, 1941 September, 1941 October, 1941 November, 1941 November, 1941 December, 1941 March, 1942 March, 1942 April, 1942 May, 1942 May, 1942 June, 1942 September, 1942 October, 1942 October, 1942 February, 1943 March, 1943 March, 1943 April, 1943 May, 1943 August, 1943 September, 1943 October, 1943 December, 1943 December, 1943 June, 1944 July, 1944 July, 1944 November, 1944 December, 1944 April, 1945 June, 1945 July, 1945 August, 1945 November, 1945 April, 1946 May, 1946 May, 1946 August, 1946 September, 1946 October, 1946 March, 1947 1953 (Marilyn Monroe) Date Unknown