| I recommend visiting Marianne Phillips' eBay store MOP Pinups to view and purchase a bevy of original photographs Elvgren took of his models for each of his paintings. Marianne sells high-quality reprints from the original photographs. |
| Can you match the photos to the finished paintings? I will be offering reprints of these photos soon... |
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| *Elvgren's Models* Elvgren once described his ideal model as having a fifteen-year-old-face on a twenty-year-old-body. He also cited the following features: high forehead, long neck, eyes that were set wide apart, small ears, pert nose, great hair, full but not overblown breasts, nice legs and hands, a pinched-in waist and natural grace and poise. He explained that he made subtle alterations in the model's physique accentuating areas like the legs, nose, and lips, and added that he tried to create the feeling that, underneath all the surface beauty, behind the model's eyes, there was a delicious mischievous warmth. For him, the model "with highly mobile facial features capable of a wide range of expression is the real jewel. The face is the personality." Many of Elvgren's models, including Myrna Loy, Donna Reed, Arlene Dahl, Barbara Hale and Kim Novack, went on to successful careers of their own. Best known of the models is Myrna Hansen, Miss USA of 1953. She went on to represent the United States at the 1953 Miss Universe pageant and was runner-up to eventual winner Christian Martel of France. After her reign she went on to carve a successful movie career in the 1950s and 1960s spanning about 15 years. She appeared in such films as "Magnificent Obsession," "Man Without a Star" and "Raintree County." Hansen later appeared on such television shows as "Petticoat Junction" and "Green Acres." She posed for more than 50 of Elvgren's pictures. |
