untitled (movie promotion)

Alberto Vargas, artist

1896–1982

untitled (movie promotion), circa 1943

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: watercolor; airbrushing

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 81 x 55.6 cm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 31 7/8 x 21 7/8 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 91.5 x 66.1 cm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 36 x 26 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 40 x 30 in

Credit line: Gift of Esquire, Inc.

Accession number: 1980.0679

Not on display

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Label texts

Exhibition Label:
"Alberto Vargas: The Esquire Pinups," Sep-2001, Stephen Goddard, Maria Buszek
Throughout his career Vargas did work for Hollywood. This preliminary drawing for the advertising campaign of the 1943 MGM movieDuBarry Was a Lady (starring Lucille Ball, Gene Kelly, and Red Skelton) shows the kind of preparatory work that probably preceded most of the Varga Girls. In general, Vargas made three separate drawings before the final watercolor. An image like this in chalk with some color highlights was generally the third and final study before Vargas transferred the drawing to watercolor board.

The movie, based on an adaptation of Cole Porter’s Broadway play, has been summarized: after winning a Derby, nightclub coat-check boy Louis Blore mistakenly drinks a ‘Mickey’ that sends him into a fantastic dream. Louis imagines that he himself is King Louis XV of France and the cabaret singer he adores is Madame Du Barry. The film also featured an elaborate musical number, “I Love an Esquire Girl,” in which many of Vargas’ most popular Esquire pinups come to life in the form of Hollywood chorus girls (see the calendar for April 1942, for example).