Her sexiness is natural and uncontrived,
and her exposure
is always accidental.
Dian Hanson, The Art of the Pin-up
Gil Elvgren, I’ve Been Spotted, oil on canvas
Mad Men ends this week… Sigh! Who will not miss Don Draper and Joan Holloway, the epitomes of sexy in the 1960s? Way before their decade, who summed up sexy?
Gallerist Louis K. Meisel of New York City shares his extensive collection of the beautiful coiffed women next door, in stockings and garter belts, or in dreamlike settings captured in oil paintings, watercolors and pastels. The pin-up girl is said to have been born of war, when President Woodrow Wilson’s Division of Pictorial Publicity decided on her as the visual stimuli to persuade men to join the World War I. Both flirtatious and innocent, mischievous and sweet, was this well- or scantily-dressed woman persuasive or what?!
While pin-up is deemed as the objectification of women, it is also a testament to the quiet power of femininity, sexuality, and a woman’s freedom to choose. It is a recognition that women are agents of change simply by making the most of what she’s got (and have we got a lot!) in courage, style, looks, strength, compassion, wisdom, intelligence, charm, wit and humor. And may the softness of our curves lead mankind towards making more love than war!
The Great American Pin-up Girl Returns opens at the Louis K. Meisel Gallery in New York City today, April 2 to May 2, 2015.
Click on “Leave a Comment” (above left) to share what you love about pin-up. xoxox
Haddon Sundblom, Untitled (Girl with Dog)
Vaughan Alden Bass, Sugar N Spice oil on canvas
Gil Elvgren, Low Down Feelings, oil on canvas
William Medcalf, Permite Girl on Car Creeper, oil on canvas
xoxox
Sharon Birke
201 697 1947
Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com
Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
Powerful Goddess Portraits 
Apr 06, 2015 @ 00:27:10
Love the topic–love the art! Women–they first capture us men with their beauty—being honest! The rest is up to us to learn about them. What a wild ride that can be. My thoughts here based on objectification of women is this. I am a firm supporter that women are more than just what meets the eye. I’ve always thought that because of how I was brought up. But even more so in recent years as I understand better the true importance of women in our lives beyond looks and what they do for us in bed. Women bring peace or turmoil as well as balance and important points of view that helps men think and be strong or even weakens us sometimes. All that power within a mind and body. Yes, it all starts with the body and then if we’re smart we learn to love what is within by listening to their thoughts. Boy—have I made that mistake few times. Listening to myself while she was talking rather than truly paying attention to her thoughts. But I’ve mostly cared what was said. Isn’t it human nature to hear our own thoughts first? It works both ways. Hopefully forgiving; maybe!?
My favorite painting is number five. A few reasons but mostly the shape of her legs. The soft gentleness of the shape is my favorite. Her thighs and the way her knee bends smoothy to her calf and flows to her ankles, then to her feet all gentle transitions. Yes, I’m a leg man and these are the shape of legs that I love more than any. She can work under my truck anytime! 😉
Mountain
Apr 15, 2015 @ 12:39:08
Here’s to many more wild rides, Mountain!