Alberto Vargas is perhaps the best known and most respected of all the pin-up girl artists. Born in Arequipa, Peru in 1896, he was the son of respected portrait photographer Max Vargas. His father secured an apprenticeship for Vargas at Julien Studios in Switzerland in 1915. However, Vargas soon decided that Europe during World War I was not the healthiest place to be and so traveled to New York in 1916. After two lucky breaks, producing lobby paintings for Ziegfield Follies in the 20’s and Hollywood portraits of stars in the 30’s, Vargas was approached to provide artwork for the newly started Esquire Magazine in 1940.

Vargas was to produce his artwork well into the 1970’s, however it is generally held that his best work was during the period 1940 to 1947. This was the time of the Varga girl, centerfolds and calendar artwork produced mainly for Esquire magazine.