The pin up from 1852 to now

“Pin-up' is an American word comed durng World War II to describe tiillating photographs of pulchritudinous women Presumably, Gl. Joe pinned such pictures up — in foxholes, battieships, tanks, Quonset huts, and footlockers —as a reminder of his deprivations and as a spur To valorous military conduct. Actually, of course, the unor revealing!y clad female image as an object of masculine admiration is world-wide and centuries old. But it has flourished beyond all magining since the invention of photography. Who, then, is better qualified to write the definitive book on Pin-ups than Ralph Stein, already proficient at writing definitive books including notable works on fine automobiles) already an expert on cameras and photographic history and in his army days a sergeant on the staff of Yank the Army Weekly the original hotbed of Pin ups Ns Preced ng page Tre unknown daguemreotypist who took thus nude in 1852 was near the head of a long Ine of photographers who have celebrated the female for. This hand-colored picture is half of a stereoscopic pair. cholarly types insist that the fine pictures of hunters and animals Paleolithic cave men painted on the walls of their uncomfortabiy stony pads were put there to give the boys better luck in their chief industry—the hunting of aurochs, woolly mammoths, and such to keep their bellies full. Further, the boffins claim chat the so-called Venus figures—those Neolithic stone and clay figurines of impossibly rotund and hippy ladies almost as broad of beam as they are from head to toe—are fertilicy objects. They were meant to influence the mystic powers cave people worshipped, to help get cave ladies in che family way as often as possible. Certainly, archaeologists must be right in ateributing primitive religious aspects to these ancient paintings and sexy carvings. But people have always decorated the places in which they lived or worked or drank with representations of che chings they loved. Might not these archaic paint-ups and carve-ups also be distant ancestors of the pin-up? Yes, indeed, assuming we all agree on a definition of pin-up. Literally, the term came into being during World War II to describe che photographs of beautiful girls—mostly movie stars and starlets—which were distributed by che thousands and pinned up on barracks walls to elevate the morale of American fighting men. In time, pin-up referred to the girl pictured as well as to the photograph, and Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth, and Chili Williams became prototypical pin-up girls. And what were the qualities of a pin-up girl? She was attractive certainly, and usually voluptuous, though in a pert, saucy, wholesome way. She was rarely sultry or provocative and almost never nude. A curvy bod and « perky, come-on smile, but no heavy breathing. That came later. And earlier. For the point is, once it was given a name, the pin-up picture turned out to have been wich usWestern civilization==for quite a while. It flourishes today and can be expected wo thrive for ages to come. What else can be added to explain the pin-up? ls just any tepresentation of a nude or near-nude female a pin-up! The answer is in the eye of che beholder. One man views a wonderfully painted Rubens masterpiece depicting Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hamlyn (January 1, 1974) Language ‏ : ‎ English Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 253 pages ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0600370828 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0600370826