GEORGE PETTY

George Petty was an American pin-up artist from the 1920s to the 1970s. His pin-up art appeared primarily in Esquire and True magazine, but was also in calendars marketed by Esquire, True and Ridgid Tool Company. Petty's Esquire gatefolds originated and popularized the magazine device of centerfold spreads. Reproductions of his work were widely rendered by military artists as nose art decorating warplanes during the Second World War, including the Memphis Belle. Robert Cummings portrayed Petty in the 1950 film "The Petty Girl". Note that George Petty started working for Esquire in 1933 until 1956 (although in the 1940s and 1950s, Alberto Vargas also did pin-ups for Esquire). Petty passed away in 1975 at the age of 81.