Customer Reviews

Varga

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4 star:		(3)
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Alberto Varga created his infamous "Varga Girls" for Esquire magazine between 1940 and 1946. Deemed risque at first, these girls were soon travelling around the world with American GIs during WWII. The originals of these images are collected at the Museum of Art at the University of Kansas, but since there are no plans to show them, if you want to see them, you had better get this book. Looking back, it is easy to see what a strong influence Varga has had on modern illustration and fashion photography.
For art lovers, this is a worthy addition to the collection. For artist and photographers, try this collection for ideas and poses.

About 25 pages of text, black and white photos and some smaller pictrues on the history of Varga and his "girls," created for Esquire magazine in the 40s and then we are away into a plethora of full page, full color, well reproduced illustrations of Varga's girls in all sorts of poses and outfits.

For fans of his work it is a must at a great price. For artists it will be a boon as a study for (stunning women's) poses, shadow and artistry.

Sexist? Maybe. A product of its times. Yes, so maybe removed from any modern standard of what should be shown (Note - the women are not nude - the most revealing outfits are swim wear by far less risque than that seen on today's beaches).

A great book - I'd do my best to obtain a copy if I did not already have one!

a very good detailed book which shows a year by year why vargas pin-up calenders are the best.

This is a good, solid Varga book, with some background and history, plus great reproductions of some of his best art. If there is any flaw, its in that there could have been some more diverse examples of his art.

We all grew up seeing the Vargas girl. No matter what age you are, you saw these sexy and well-painted women on a magazine cover, or even on the wall of a garage or tool room. This book is a good display of Alberto Vargas's work.

Albeit brief, it is a good primer for those interested in his pin-up work. If anything, it's a nostalgic, tongue-in-cheek look at 'good girl' art.

The book was beautiful, we just had a bad experiance with the seller in this case since they lied about the condition of the book & much of the artwork was cut out. We ended up buy the book through another seller that was in perfect condition & cheaper too.
If you find an honest/good seller, don't let experiance deture you from getting this if you like Varga's work.

I grew up staring at my grandfathers 1940's calendars for hours just amazed at the beautiful artwork. Little girls wanted to be these beautiful ladies, boys like to stare at the women..
Varga was gifted, no doubt and this book beautifully displays the images well.