Gil Elvgren: All His Glamorous American Pin-Ups (Taschen 25th Anniversary Special Editions) by Martignette Dr., Charles G, Meisel, Louis K (2008) Hardcover

Elvgren is easily one of the most popular of the pin-up artists of the golden age of the genre and this sumptuous, large hardback edition from Taschen certainly does him justice.Beautifully illustrated in full-colour throughout, there are some 588 examples of his work for magazines, calendars, advertising and illustration; like many commercial artists of his generation he was well-trained and most of his work was executed in oils which give them qualities (depth, fluidity, vibrancy) one finds absent in much of today's pin-up art.Texts provide a reasonably useful monograph and are available in English, German and French, but most people will buy it for the pictures.A satisfyingly beautiful edition to leaf through and a fine visual reference on a hugely influential artist in popular culture.

Here it is, all you will ever need. Elvgren's studies of pin up girls are classics and every page is filled with incredible beauties.Even as inspiration for your own designs, this book is a must have for every illustrator.Top range quality paper and images, I donated my copy to the university library although (despite the fact its not NSFW at all) I think they will still hide it away out of sight!Totally recommended x

I love this book.I wanted this book for my birthday (which was on the 12th), but i never got it. So i decided to buy this as a birthday treat.The book came to my parent's doorstep on Monday evening, with the delivery man unable to pronounce my first name; but none the less, the book had arrived.Unlike the pin up girls of today; the pin up girls from other eras in this book look a lot more innocent and playful (do bare in mind, some of the pin up piece do contain nudity; some are tasteful) and that what i love about this.The book is pretty big, and it'll be very useful for me as an artist as i love creating tasteful pieces.

I've always liked the pinup girl artwork of the 40's and 50's. As mentioned in another review, the images of this time were tantalising, tittilating, but also tasteful. Not at all vulgar. Until recently I did not really know the artists names, but I did get to know two artists names, Antonio Vargas, whose picture 'Jeanne' reminded me of a young Nicole Kidman, and Gil Elvgren. I bought this book on a chance, not really sure how good the quality of the images would be and to be honest, at the price I wasn't expecting anything spectacular.What arrived though was a beautifully bound book, with many images printed on glossy high quality paper. The book itself is well bound with a nice eye catching cover painting. It seems quite sturdy, the weight of the book suggesting this is not cheaply made.As has been mentioned by other reviews, one or two images haven't been as sharply reproduced as others, but there's no really bad sections, just some are a little blurry, this might be due to the source material. I'm perfectly happy with this books. While these are paintings, I found out recently on of all things Pawn Stars, that if these had been photographs during the time, many states might have treated the material as pornography, but since it was painted it was art.

This was a wonderful bargain, knocked down from its usual price and a lot cheaper than you can get it in the shops. I have enjoyed looking through the pictures at the different models. As a portfolio of Elvgren's work it's good. The only thing I would have liked is a bit more explanation behind the pictures. There are a few pages of text at the beginning and after that it's all images. Didn't really learn as much about him as an artist as I would have wanted to.

Book finished in record time for my friend. Report that it was great.

Beautiful large format book from Taschen. The only reason I give it 4 stars is that Elvgren is not my all time favourite pinup artist, that accolade goes to David Wright. Lots of lovely reproductions of Elvgren's cheesecake work here though. Great value and great presentation. Makes a great gift for anyone who appreciates the retro charm of this art form.

I also had an admiration for the old fashioned designs that were far more enticing than those of today. This a great example of such great work