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Fritz
Willis, the final successor to Earl Mac Pherson in the Brown
& Bigelow "Sketchbook" series, might be said to be the last
major pin-up artist and he is the only one truly reflecting
the '60s sexual revolution.
He is primarily known for his brazenly sensual women in semi-nude
disarray. Willis has only a superficial similarity to Elvgren,
the innocent girls next door of Elvgren having little to do
with the wanton women of Fritz Willis. Oklahoma-born Willis
had a distinguished career in magazine illustration.
His clients included Collier's, Redbook, and The Saturday Evening
Post, and his association with Esquire made him one of that
magazine's earliest entries in its ultimately vain attempt to
create a new Petty or Varga.
In an art form often criticised for it's slickness, Fritz Willis'
works often holds a refreshingly sketchy quality without loosing
sight of the task at hand. His artwork idealises the females
of his time superbly.
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