Alright, I'll admit it, Rolf Armstrong is not really a 1940's or 1950's Pinup artist. Most of his paintings are pre world war II, but I've included them because, well because I like them and because his work has often been cited as the inspiration for artists such as Elvgren, Vargas and others.

Rolf Armstrong was born in Bay City, Michigan in 1889, the son of Richard and Harriet Armstrong. It was not until the family moved to Detroit in 1899 that Rolf began to show an interest in art. His early sketches are of sailors, boxers, cowboys and other macho types. Armstrong left Detroit for Chicago and the renowned Art Institute of Chicago, where, to survive he taught boxing, baseball and art while he studied. After Chicago Rolf arrived in New York, where he started producing images for magazine covers the first being for 'Judge' in 1912.

He started producing calendar girls in 1919, the first being called 'Dream Girl', this name soon became synonymous with his work, along with the label 'The Armstrong Girl'. Throughout the 20's and early 30's Armstrongs images seemed to reflect the youthful charm of the 'Flapper Girl', and many of his paintings have a haughty, art deco sophistication to them. Although he carried on painting throughout the 40's and into the 50's, Armstrong faced stiff competition from new artists such as Vargas, Elvgren, Moran and Mozart. He retired in the late 50's and moved to Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii in Sepember1959, where he died a few months later in February 1960.

Text and some images are courtesy of Collectors Press, Inc.

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