Rolf ARMSTRONG ~ Pin-up Art ✿

Rolf Armstrong (April 21, 1889 – February 22, 1960) was an American commercial artist specializing in glamorous depictions of female subjects.  He was born in Bay City, Michigan. He is best known for his magazine covers and calendar art. In 1960 the New York Times dubbed him the “creator of the calendar girl.” His commercial career extended from 1912 to 1960, the great majority of his original work being done in pastel.

With the family moved to Detroit where Rolf spent most of his childhood. He started taking interest in art and paintings at a very young age. In 1919, Rolf decided to visit Paris to study art and literature. He made another trip to Paris later that same year to study at Académie Julian.

After finishing his studies, he returned to New York and started his own art studio. In a very short period of time, he became quite popular for his unique and outstanding pin-up art creations. During the 1920s and 1930s, a number of his works appeared on covers of popular magazines and sheets of music. Later, he became famous for making celebrity portraits. Some of his notable celebrity portraits include Greta Garbo, Boris Karloff, and Mary Pickford.

In 1921, Rolf Armstrong took up a course at Minneapolis to learn more about calendar art production. He studied this at Brown e Bigelow. In 1926, Armstrong’s work was widely popular throughout magazines and calendars.

Later in 1927, he became one of the most popular calendar artists. During the early 1930s, he was hired by RCA to create calendar paint pin-ups exclusively for their advertisements. In 1960, Rolf Armstrong took his last breath on the Oahu Island of Hawaii. Even today, he is one of the best pin-up artists in our country. 

Armstrong created around fifty to sixty works using Jewel Flowers as the model.