User:Howard C. Berkowitz/Pin

Pin-up art is an image of a person sufficiently attractive that a viewer would pin it to a wall, to be enjoyed frequently. "Attractive" implies a sensual, romantic, or erotic quality.

The genre originally involved females, and was also called "cheesecake" as a metaphor for something sweet. With increasing acceptance of female sexuality, the subgenre of "beefcake" &mdash; attractive men &mdash; emerged. These definitions are heterosexually oriented, and, for other orientations, a pinup would be a person of the opposite gender.

"Pin-up" was first documented in English usage in 1941; however the practice is documented back at least to the 1890s.

One early application of "pin-up" art was in calendars intended to be hung on walls; given the reality that sexual attractiveness makes for effective advertising, commercial pin-up caledars are still common, although workplace rules about sexual harassment has reduced their prevalence.

Precursors
While they were not called pin-ups, advertising posters, featuring attractive women, became common in Paris in the 1890s. These were especially associated with Jules Cheret, and with the relatively new color printing process of three-stone lithography. Cheret's Art Nouveau style did not portray women in the stereotyped "Madonna and whore" roles, but as sexually aware and very alive. He would depict them, especially his favorite model, Loie Fuller, in taboo activities, such as nude dancing at the Folies Bergere, a popular French theatre which inspired “The Ziegfeld Follies”.

In the United States, the "Gibson Girl" first appeared in 1887. Raphael Kirchner produced "pretty girl postcards."

At the turn of the 20th century, the calendar was the most prominent form of pin-up material, especially the early "glamour girl" formats by Angelo Asti. In 1913 the controversial nude "September Morn" by Paul Chabas was censored by the New York Society for the Supression of Vice. Still, the image was subsequently printed on literally hundreds of thousands of calendars, in addition to candy boxes, postcards and more. The Art Deco period also made respectable any art featuring Romantic nudity, such as the work of Maxfield Parrish.

Second World War
Photographs, and printed versions of photographs, became more common, although paintings and drawings were still important. Soldiers of most countries kept pin-ups, corresponding to their culture's idea of attractiveness. Betty Grable's photograph was among the most popular for Americans.