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<font=verdana><font color=ff00ff>For all Gil Elvgren (and similar artists) <3' ers.</font>

<center><b><font color=cc33ff>Gil Elvgren</font></b>

<font color=0099ff>Post-depression <b>^{<font color=cc0000>U</font>}<small><font color=cccccc>S</font></small>_{<font color=0000cc>A</font>}</b> was in desperate need of a defining iconography that would ^lift it out of the <font color=000000>black</font> and <font color=cccccc>white</font> doldrums, and it came in the form of <a href=http://www.gilelvgren.com>G I L . E L V G R E N</a>'s <font color=ff0000>t</font><font color=ff6600>e</font><font color=33cc33>c</font><font color=990099>h</font><font color=ff0099>n</font><font color=006633>i</font><font color=33ff00>c</font><font color=ffff00>o</font><font color=0000cc>l</font><font color=9933ff>o</font><font color=6699ff>r</font> fantasies of the <font color=cc0000>A</font><font color=cccccc>m</font><font color=0000cc>e</font><font color=cc0000>r</font><font color=cccccc>i</font><font color=0000cc>c</font><font color=cc0000>a</font><font color=cccccc>n</font> <font color=cc0099>d</font><font color=ff00ff>r</font><font color=ff33ff>e</font><font color=ff66ff>a</font><font color=ff00cc>m</font>. From the mid-30s to the 60s <a href=http://www.gilelvgren.com>his</a> painted advertisements and posters for, among others, Coca-Cola, Ovaltine and Pangburn's chocolates, as well as the long-running Brown & Bigelow calenders, were a bright <font color=cc0000>red</font>-<font color=cccccc>white</font>-and-<font color=0000cc>blue</font> account of the country's aspirations, joys and hopes. As the country _plunged into <font color=333333>World War II</font> <a href=http://www.gilelvgren.com>he</a> provided the troops with pin-up girls galore. <a href=http://www.gilelvgren.com>His</a> technique involved photographing models and then painting them into gorgeous <font color=00ffcc>^hy_pe^r-_re^al_it^y</font>, with longer legs, more flamboyant hair and gravity-defying busts, their waists <font size=8>p</font><font size=6>i</font><font size=4>n</font><font size=2>c</font><font size=4>h</font><font size=6>e</font><font size=8>d</font>, their curves accentuated and their bodies <font color=660000></font><font color=990000></font><font color=cc0000></font><font color=ff0000></font> and inviting, and in the process making them the perfect morale-boosting eyecandy for every homesick private. <a href=http://www.gilelvgren.com>E L V G R E N</a> defined the classic <b><font color=ff66cc>'pop'</font></b> vision of Americana: a <b>bold</b>, <i>brash</i> visualisation that has been endlessly appropriated and recycled in advertising, TV, film and art. <a href=http://www.gilelvgren.com>His</a> style is instantly recognisable, and its appeal endures thanks to its essentially open avowal of a <font color=00ff33>z</font><font color=99ff33>e</font><font color=99ff66>s</font><font color=ccff99>t</font> for pleasure. <a href=http://www.gilelvgren.com>E L V G R E N</a>'s images combine desire for a better life with nostalgia for the nation's innocent apple-pie past and have deservedly made <a href=http://www.gilelvgren.com>him</a> the darling of pin-up collectors worldwide.</font>