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Pearl
Frush was born in Iowa, but she and her family moved to the
Gulf Coast of Mississippi when she was still a small girl. She
enrolled in art instruction courses in New Orleans then moved
on to study in Philadelphia and New York.
During her studies there her family had moved to Chicago, where
she joined them after enrolling at the Chicago Art Institute.
Frush opened her Chicago studio in the early 1940's, doing freelance
work and working for the Sundblom, Johnson and White Studio.
By 1943 she was working for the Gerlach-Barklow Calendar Company,
producing a popular series of work such as: Liberty Belles,
Girls of Glamour and Glamour round the Clock. In 1955 Brown
and Bigelow started producing calendars of her work, however
she soon became one of the most successful female pinup artists
of the fifties.
Pearl Frush's work was painted primarily in watercolours and
gouache, her crisp detailed style is often compared with Vargas'.
Though her work is often stronger on backgrounds and her colouring
is usually more "succulent", lacking the airiness that is so
typical of most of Vargas' work. Her subjects are also often
more gracefully portrayed and less overtly sexual than other
artists work of the time.
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