Alberto Vargas was born in Arequipa, Peru, in 1896, the son of a
successful photographer, and was educated in Switzerland. Arriving in
New York in 1916, he was determined to stay in America and pursue what
became an illustrious career.
His name has become synonymous with pin-up girls, but in the early
1940s, He was just a guy hired by Esquire magazine to imitate departed
star George Petty, who bolted over pay. Vargas initially aped Petty's
sleek women with their telephone posing and large-hat lounging. Soon,
however, his own distinctive, delicate watercolor style emerged. His
wide-eyed wonder-women rivaled Betty Grable as the ultimate pin-up girl
of World War Two.
Vargas (who signed his Esquire work "Varga") had already achieved some
notoriety for his Ziegfeld Follies and movie poster art. But Esquire
made him famous, though he was paid poorly and, like Petty, eventually
quit. Legal problems over ownership of his work even his own signature
plagued him.
But late in his life, Vargas was given a second shot at fame and
fortune by longtime fan Hugh Hefner. His regular Playboy slot in the
1960s and '70s elevated Vargas to a pinnacle eclipsing Petty.
One of the true giants of American illustration, Alberto Vargas has
created an art style so senuous, so exquiste, that for the past six
decades his magificent paintings of women have come to embody the
fantasies of three generations of women and men around the world. His
work also appeared in Harper's Bazaar, Theatre Magazine, and Tattler.
