Born in Arequipa, Peru, Joaquin
Alberto Vargas y Chávez came to the United
States in 1916 after studying art in Europe prior to World War I. He was
the son of famous Peruvian photographer Carlos Vargas.[1] His early career included work as an artist for the Ziegfeld
Follies and for many Hollywood studios. Vargas' most famous piece of film
work was that for the 1933 film The Sin of Nora Moran, which shows a
near-naked Zita Johann in a pose of desperation. The poster is
frequently named one of the greatest movie posters ever made.[1]
He became famous in the 1940s as the creator of iconic World War II era pin-ups
for Esquire magazine known as "Varga
Girls." The nose art of many World War II aircraft was adapted from
these Esquire pin-ups.
A legal dispute with Esquire
over the use of the name "Varga" resulted in a judgment against
Vargas and he struggled financially until the 1960s when Playboy
magazine began to use his work as "Vargas Girls." His career
flourished and he had major exhibitions of his work all over the world. The
death of his wife Anna Mae in 1974 left him devastated and he stopped painting.
The publication of his autobiography in 1978 renewed interest in his work and
brought him partially out of his self-imposed retirement to do a few works,
such as album covers for Bernadette
Peters and The
Cars. He died of a stroke on December 30, 1982, at the age of 86.
Many of Vargas' works from his
period with Esquire are now held by the Spencer Museum of Art at the
University of Kansas, which was given those works in 1980 along with a large
body of other art from the magazine.[2]
At the December 2003 Christies
auction of Playboy
archives, the 1967 Vargas painting "Trick or Treat" sold for $71,600,
a record for his works.[3]
His work was typically a
combination of watercolor and airbrush. His
mastery of the airbrush is acknowledged by the fact that the highest
achievement in the community of airbrush artistry is the Vargas Award, awarded
annually by Airbrush Action Magazine. His images would often portray
elegantly dressed, semi-nude
to nude women of idealized proportions. Vargas' artistic trait would be slender
fingers and toes, with nails often
painted red.
Vargas is widely regarded as one
of the finest artists in his genre. He also served as a judge for the Miss
Universe beauty contest in 1956-58.[4]
Notable women painted by Vargas
include Olive
Thomas, Billie Burke, Nita Naldi,
Marilyn
Miller, Paulette Goddard and Ruth Etting.[5]