ALBERTO VARGAS

Alberto Vargas was a Peruvian artist from the 1920s to the 1980s. In the 1940s, he created a sexy "centerfold" for each issue of Esquire Magazine (they would fold out, and Hugh Hefner borrowed the idea in the 1950s for his Playboy Magazine, except he used photos instead of artwork), and his pin-up art was frequently used as "nose art" for many military aircraft during World War II. Vargas is often considered one of the most famous of the pin-up artists, and his paintings have sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. He is often reputed to have worked as a poster artist on films such as Ziegfeld Follies, and The Sin of Nora Moran (which is frequently named as one of the greatest posters ever made). He passed away in 1982 at the age of 86.