ALBERTO VARGAS

February 9, 1896 - December 30, 1982

"I will someday paint a Vargas Girl so beautiful, so perfect, so typical of the American Girl, that I can put that picture in any part of the world, without any signature... and they will say, this is a Vargas Girl!'

Alberto Vargas came by his eye for beauty legitimately... his father was a famous portrait photographer in Peru, where Alberto was born. At the age of fourteen he was sent to Zurich, Switzerland for his formal education, but he never had any formal artistic training, Once in Europe, touring all the famous art galleries and museums, viewing the renowned paintings and sculptures by the hour gave Alberto his eye for the perfect body.

When his education was completed in 1916, he went to New York and immediately fell In love with the American Girl. Alberto believed until the very day he died that American Women were the most beautiful !n the world.

In America his work attracted the attention of publishers everywhere; he began to paint girls for several New York based newspapers and magazines. Alberto's first big break was in 1919 when his full time was contracted for by Florenz Ziegfeld. Vargas became famous for "glorifying the American Girl on canvas" just as Ziegfeld "glorified the American Girl on stage."

As far back as the 1920's Alberto prophesied what the modern American woman would look like. She would be taller, slimmer and stronger... with the beauty of classical Greece. She would be about 5'7", weigh 124 pounds, have a bust of 37", waist of 24" and hips of 36'. Doesn't this description seem familiar? Perhaps, the picture of the ideal American Woman of the 80's? He also thought her attitude would be sexy and regretfully her feet would be bigger. How true again! Alberto also felt since women would outnumber men, these future females would be more aggressive in the pursuit of males. The truth rings again.

Going back to the beginning of Alberto's famous career; his favorite model was a southern belle, Anna Mae Clift. She was a Greenwich Village Follies Showgirl, considered by many to be one of the most beautiful women around in that time. Naturally, Alberto was a true romantic and he fell in love with Anna Mae the same way he fell in love with the American Girl once and for good, the very first day he saw her. No one ever accused him of being fickle.

Walking down a crowded New York street at lunch time he immediately noticed her flaming red hair and followed. He timidly asked her to pose for him for free, all the while afraid she would turn him down and laugh or at worst think he was some kind of kook. He could not pay her because he did not have much money yet. Anna Mae surprised him and said yes, thinking what a sweet, funny, charming and humble man he was. She wasn't accustomed to being approached by this kind of man. After ten long years of friendship,

1934 was the year Winfield Sheehan, then head of Fox Movie Studios brought the Vargas couple to Hollywood to paint pastel portraits of all their major stars, males included. Alberto did a number of them from the little starlet Shirley Temple along with portraits of the other major box office attractions such as the lovely Alice Faye. He also designed motion picture sets for all the principal studios, primarily for Warner Brothers in the beginning. His best work of set design was for Warner's "Juarez" in 1938. To actually give a chronology of all Alberto's jobs at the many different studios would be close to impossible.

Some examples of Alberto's art work in the early thirties range from an "Imogene Wilson Fantasy" circa 1930, an "Art Deco Marlene Dietrich" painted for Paramount Studios yearbook in 1931, a sultry Barbara Stanwyck poster for Warner Brothers and Vitaphone Pictures' "Ladies They Talk About" in 1933 and a 1935 "Greta Garbo Image" which is simply a facial porfrait of her head, gold crowned and without eyes. it may sound a bit strange; but in person it's quite a majestic portrait.

Later on when Alberto moved on to Paramount he painted the glamorous Hollywood queens; to name a few: Dorothy Lamour, Poulette Goddard and Hedy LaMar. However, in 1939, he returned back east with his wife and was persuaded to publish his girls In Esquire magazine. Alberto's biggest accolade came with the world-wide acclaim through these pages. His first 1940 Vargas Girl was an unprecedented success and led to many wonders including a portrait of Betty Grable for the movie "Moon Over Miami" which became the ultimate pin-up image in 1941. Around this same period twelve of Alberto's titillating Esquire Calendar showgirls came to life in a lavish Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer technicolor comedy 'Du Barry Was A Lady.' After Pearl Harbor, the American G.I.'s took the "Vargas Girls' literally all over the world. The 40's turned to the 50's, bringing more beauties. Alberto painted famous stars by the names of Jane Russell, Ava Gardner, Linda Darnell and the unforgettable Marilyn Monroe. At this same time Peru, his homeland, recognized him for achievements and awarded him the medal and brevet of knighthood in the Order of the Sun. And the United States accorded him a citation for the meritorious service to the country.

Unfortunately, there followed the exciting era with Esquire Magazine, where his association with its unpredictable president and publisher, David Smart, became an enigmatic relationship. Although Alberto became famous and his employer wealthy, due to his complacent aptitude to trust others wisely, he failed financially in his highest achievement of artistic creation. The trials and tribulations which Alberto suffered during a "fraud suit" which he actually won before a jury have become legend in courtroom annals. On an appeal of the verdict and without benefit of a jury, he almost lost his home, shirt and what-have-you.

The transcripts from those two actions provided enough material from heartache, betrayal, disillusionment and desperation to fill a separate biography in itself.

To regain economic stability, Alberto turned to a new era in which he produced quantities of designs from teenage apparel, perfume vials, cigarette lighters, decanters, bras and finally conventionals, without once leaving his basic theme of the beautiful American Woman; the most perfectly beautiful of all. Torn apart by unscrupulous agents, he and Anna Mae always managed to maintain a balance of self-respect and unreproachable decency in their lives. They lived by the hard work ethic. No matter how difficult the times were, Alberto refrained from intoxicating beverages, narcotics or extraneous associations with women. He was just not that kind of man. Alberto was always a gentleman and his word and intentions were as good as gold.

Fortunately for the Vargas', in 1953 a former Esquire ad man by the name of Hugh Hefner, who had also left the magazine due to a money dispute... started Playboy

Vargas lent to Playboy more than one illustration per month; he gave the fledgling enterprise a sense of tradition. Then in his 60's, Alberto represented a link to the Bohemian twenties, and in his art had to reflect the loosening of sexual mores which was taking place even though he did not approve. He portrayed society as in a mirror and somehow always managed to do it in good taste regardless of the liberal times. It was here this artist of great repute became unquestionably the finest illustrator and painter of water color and pastel.

Anna Mae's death in 1974 was a terrible blow to Alberto. Despite his closest relatives' support for him, he felt lost and alone. His niece Astrid Vargas Conte took over Anna Mae's place as his business manager. Although he and his wife were never able to have any children of their own, they had maintained close ties with Astrid's family and brother Max's family.

During Alberto's severe depression he told his relatives he had lost his thirst for life. He wanted to die and join Anna Mae in heaven where he knew she'd be. As a child, Alberto had been raised Catholic in the traditional ways most Spanish families are, but being a creative genius led him away from the church to a more scientific and philosophical attitude of faith. After Anna Mae's death he went back to the church and to prayer.

It was late in the 70's he managed to finish co-writing his autobiography` and the publication by Harmony Books brought him right back into the limelight. It seemed to many as if he had never gone away. People were calling him from everywhere. Offers flocked in from the entertainment field which led Alberto to paint several record album covers. He painted one cover for the new wave rock and roll band THE CARS' CANDY'O album which became an instant hit. The record was great; but no one could deny the VARGAS GIRL on the cover didn't help sales! Elektra Records awarded Alberto two Platinum records to commemorate the sales of 2,000,000 copies of CANDY'O. He also painted two album covers for actress, singer and Broadway star Bernadette Peters, and went on a short European tour displaying his paintings with his niece and nephew before he died from a stroke on December 30, 1982. Just six weeks short of his 87th birthday.

Over the years people always teased Alberto about painting beautiful girls and he never changed his reply. "What is more beautiful than a beautiful girl?" No one has ever been able to top that statement. The few who questioned Alberto further soon realized when he painted a woman he never failed to bring out her inner beauty, that is the finishing touch which gives the surrealistic proportions everlasting human quality.

Throughout Alberto's volatile artistic career, in between assignments, he was devoted to his own private collection, his Legacy paintings. Alberto said this group of paintings was his very best, because he had no interference from any art director, for once he was his own boss. He had originally intended them to be for his wife, in order to take care of her in case of his death. However, since fate took Anna Mae away first, he willed them to his beloved relatives, Astrid Vargas Conte and Max Vargas II. They had remained close in heart as well as distance throughout the years. According to Astrid Vargas Conte who is in charge of the business end of the estate, Alberto's private collection truly reflected his innermost personal style and that is what makes Alberto's collection superior to the collections of Esquire and Playboy.