untitled (gatefold)

Alberto Vargas, artist

1896–1982

untitled (gatefold), circa 1942

Portfolio/Series title: published in Esquire magazine, November 1942

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: illustration board; watercolor

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 55.9 x 76.2 cm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 22 x 30 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 24 x 32 in

Credit line: Gift of Esquire, Inc.

Accession number: 1980.0555

Not on display

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Label texts

Exhibition Label:
"Alberto Vargas: The Esquire Pinups," Sep-2001, Stephen Goddard, Maria Buszek
The patriotic and bawdy verse that accompanies this watercolor is typical of Phil Stack’s contributions to the published gatefolds. Perhaps reflecting what would become a real anxiety among professional men after the war, the verse suggests the unsentimental stateside woman who, in peacetime, may not relinquish the autonomy she gains in holding down the homefront:

Beauts and Saddles
Here’s a pretty Prairie Blossum
And she isn’t playing possum
But you’ll find her in there “punchin’” in a jam,
For her cowboy, tall and lanky,
Is a patriotic Yankee
And he’s roundin’ up some rogues for Uncle Sam;
So this little cactus cutie
Will be proud to do her duty
And she’ll wear his pants until he wins the war…
Then with hearts in sweet communion
They will stage a western union
And I bet she wears the pants forever more!