Golden Beauty Queen
Golden Beauty Queen by American Illustrator Earl Steffa Moran (1893 – 1984); a pinup girl illustrator and glamour artist.
This is a beautiful nude portrait of a young blonde posing on an emerald silk cloth covered ledge with light shinning below her that illuminates her legs, part of the right side of her face that is turned left and part of her left arm that is folded behind the left side of her face.
Her right hand is also raised and folded behind her head but remains in the shadow; and part of her left breast is also illuminated by the light that has a golden glow to it.
This is a retouched digital art old masters reproduction of a public domain image which is available as a rolled print online.
Info Below Derived From Wikipedia.org
Earl first studied art with elderly German painter John Stich, who was also a mentor to the renowned illustrator William Henry Dethlef Koerner (1878 – 1938).
He also studied at the Chicago Art Institute, under Walter Bigg; and later at the famed Art Students League in Manhattan in New York City under the instruction of muralists Frank Vincent DuMond (1865 – 1951), Robert Henri (1865 – 1929), Thomas Fogarty (1873 – 1938), who was also the teacher of Norman Rockwell and the legendary anatomist George Bridgman (1864 – 1943).
Earls pinup girl illustration career became established back in 1931, when he moved back to Chicago and opened a small studio, specializing in photography and illustrations. He sent some of his paintings of bikini dressed young ladies to the calendar publishing companies Brown and Bigelow and Thomas D. Murphy Company who purchased the illustrations.
In 1932 Earl signed an exclusive contract with Brown and Bigelow to produce pinups for its calendars, and by 1937 his pin-up girl illustrations hod sold millions of calendars for the company.
As Moran’s work became more and more popular he became a national celebrity and created paintings of famous celebrities, such as Betty Grable; and in 1946 when he moved to Hollywood he interviewed a young starlet named Norma Jeane Dougherty, who later modeled for hin over the next four years.
By 1955 after a move to Las Vegas, Earl transitioned his career from painting pim ups; and devoted his time to fine art painting, with nudes being his favorite theme; and signed with Aaron Brothers Galleries creating artwork for collectors until 1982, when his eyesight failed.
