Pins Books

Part two of wonderful pin-up art capturing the wiles and charms of the fairer sex. See my favorable review of Vol.I
Very pleasing and a joy to behold. Rest in peace Archie!

Call him the Grandfather or the Godfather of pin-up art...or maybe just call him the best pin-up artist. You could not go wrong with any of these accolades. As his name suggests, Dickens was born in London although I do not know if he is related to his famous namesake author. While Dickens worked as a freelance commercial artist, pin-up art was his first love and it was the onset of World War II that gave Dickens his break as his drawings of sweet, beautiful women would become a hot property to lonely servicemen who were far from home and far from their wives and girlfriends. While Dickens' illustration style is clearly one of classical training it still holds up today and to today's younger artists who are very talented, but most of whom cannot capture that pure innocence of Dickens. Those of us who are fans of his suffered a great loss when he passed away in 2004 at a robust 98 years of age. Thankfully we will always have his prolific volume of work to remember him by.

This is the second volume of Dickens pin-up art from SQP and features 50 previously unpublished works. Dickens illustrated the all-American woman, even if they were not necessarily American. In fact his illustrations of Spanish, Mexican, Dutch, American Indian, and other women were some of his most memorable works, and many are on display in this latest collection. The Dickens woman was a classic beauty. A real woman with real curves that didn't require augmentation, and oh those big, bright, playful eyes! Dickens' use of soft colors accentuates the naughty, sexy, and spicy women he illustrates. This collection features a variety of Dickens women at their lighthearted best, and ready for activities like golf and tennis. There's a lovely witch, a good ol' cowgirl holding a mug of beer, a slave girl, and a gorgeous Veronica Lake-looking blond holding a little kitten. This is truly a marvelous collection of work.

The word legend is tossed around very lightly sometimes, but in the case of Archie Dickens it is not only fitting, but virtually the only word that works. Hats off to SQP for another great collection!

Reviewed by Tim Janson

Archie Dickens, Gil Elvgren, and Rolf Armstrong...they make up the "Holy Trinity" of glamour and pin-up artists. There isn't artist working in the pin-up field today that doesn't owe something to these men. Pin-up Dreams focuses on Armstrong, the earliest of the trio, born in 1889. Armstrong's prolific career included over 200 magazine covers for publications such as Photoplay, Screenland, and College Humor, and over 200 calendar images. Armstrong would begin his art education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1907 and this book features some of Armstrong earliest charcoal work from the period. Armstrong moved to New York to pursue a career as a commercial artist when he got his first credits illustrating covers for long defunct magazines such as Puck.

Due to an injury suffered as a child, Armstrong was unfit for military duty in WWI but made his contribution in other ways such as by painting recruitment posters. In the 20's, Armstrong was doing a great deal of commercial work, illustrating his beautiful women hawking products such as Orange Kist and Nehi soft drinks, Tudor Plates, Blue Bird grape juice, and many others. Throughout the teens and 20's, the bulk of Amstrong's women were done in facial portraits. As we move into the 30's and 40's, Armstrong has now developed the glamorous pin-up style he's most well known for. The Armstrong woman is beautiful, demure, and always stylish. The thing that stands out about his work to me has always been that his women are painted in the latest fashions. His work from this period is my favorite. Page 109 of the book displays one of my most favorite Armstrong paintings entitled "Song of India" showing a semi-nude, raven haired beauty dressed in wispy, silky robes, fluttering in the wind against the back drop of ancient India. It's a striking, evocative piece.

But less you think that Armstrong was strictly a pin-up artist, this book shows otherwise. There is a marvelous pastel of The Frankenstein monster, done during the filming of Bride of Frankenstein that is just a treat to behold. There is even a photograph of Boris Karloff, in full Jack Pierce makeup, posting for Armstrong. Other celebrity portraits in the book include Constance Bennett, best known for the Topper movies; Mary Astor of The Maltese Falcon, and James Gleason, a great character actor who appeared in over 125 films in his career. Armstrong himself road the celebrity circuit and counted actors James Cagney and Henry Fonda among his friends. While the authors make the clear distinction between glamour and pin-up artists, Armstrong did certainly do his share of risqué pin-ups, including many nudes. One great piece in the book is "Hold Everything" showing an embarrassed brunette clutching her dress close to her that has just fallen off. There are a number of great WWII era pin-ups just like this one in the book.

This is a fascinating look at one of the true giants of illustration. The book features over 300 full color paintings by Armstrong, printed on heavy stock paper. An outstanding book from Watson-Guptill.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

This book is not just a biography of Rolf Armstrong, it is also a commercial art history and fashion history of the first half of the 20th century. The book takes the reader through the decades in text and pictures. It is extremely well written-I got so caught up in his life story that I even got a little teary-eyed when he died. Especially interesting to me were the pictures of the advertisements of the time. Rolf Armstrong was beginning his career when color printing was starting to be used for magazine covers. The pictures of Armstrong's work are fabulous! Due in good part, I'm sure, to the fact that Armstrong's work itself was fabulous. The pictures of his 3,000 pastel palette were almost as interesting to me as his artwork, although most of the pictures he posed for, he posed with a brush and paint palette because he thought it looked better. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in art and/or the early 20th century.

I've been a mystery addict since I was 13, when I encountered "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", but for some reason I had never read any of G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown stories. I recently found "The Scandal of Father Brown" in my local library. I've been eagerly devouring these stories, although paradoxically I don't want the book to end!

Father Brown is a small, unassuming figure, who peers at the world through "moonlike spectables". His appearance belies his intellect: as one character states, he could have been a detective instead of a priest. His observational skills and keen insight into human behavior allow him to solve even the most intractable problems.

Father Brown may draw comparison to other Golden Sleuths, such as Hercule Poirot, but there is one major difference: G.K. Chesterton's rich sense of humor pervades every tale. The stories aren't "funny" in the Wodehouse sense, but they display a definite appreciation of life and sense of the absurb.

Read this book! You'll be very happy you did.

Chesterton again allows us to accompany Father Brown, preternaturally-unbiased master of human nature, as he stumbles across another series of murders and mysteries. These stories in this series are not as compact as those in other books, notably "The Innocence of Father Brown," but they have the same magnetic power to draw the reader in.

As ever, Chesterton is interested not only in delivering first rate detective stories, but of describing human nature. His characters are flawed and biased, all blind in their own way, which is what makes it so difficult to see the truth that lies before them. Father Brown, ever kind and imperturbable, nearly always sees right through to the heart of the matter. Posing as a humble parish priest, which he is, he somehow sees beyond the class boundaries which it is Chesterton's special gift to point out and puncture.

Not all the stories are murder mysteries. "The Scandal of Father Brown" is about a man in pursuit of an errant wife; and "The Insoluble Problem" is about crime, but not the one Brown is called to investigate. In all of his stories, would-be detectives, constables, lovers, actors, academics and men of means cross paths in ways that are befuddling to all but the dumpy little priest in the round spectacles.

Listening to this collection was a wonderful way to pass several long commutes.

In the version I heard, BTW, reader Tom Whitworth did a great job with one exception. He evidently did not realize that Flambeau is a Frenchman!

112 Miles to the Pin is a book all about extreme golf. Interesting locals, characters, and golf games, this book has it all. The title story is about a man who hit a golf ball across Mongolia. This is a fascinating look into some of the greatest unorthodox golf you will ever come across.

My 9-year old daughter actually asked for these, because she enjoyed them so much in math class at school. I was excited to find them so easily through Amazon and was glad to encourage her love of learning and creativity.

,,,,,pkjk

Carlos Diez is one of the rising stars of erotic pin-up art who blends a brassy modern day look with a classic pin-up style for an original and captivating look. He has quickly become one of the hottest and most sought after artists by models and has illustrated covers for dozens of CD, Books, and magazines. This full-color collection from SQ Productions features 104 pages of his stunning pin-up art in an over-sized format and printed on heavy, glossy stock paper. If you never seen Diez' artwork previously you are in for a real feast for the eyes. Diez' photo-realistic figures and dazzling use of color is pure genius.

Throughout the book you'll see illustrations with titles like "Woman with Tennis Racket" but you'll know that this is none other than Russian tennis player and sex-pot Anna Kournikova. And the subject of "Brunette in Water" in her tiny, blue bikini, frolicking about is gorgeous actress Catherine Zeta Jones. A number of different, unnamed celebrities are the subject of Diez' lush illustrations including Nicole Kidman, Anna Nicole Smith, Angelina Jolie, Peta Wilson, Penelope Cruz, and many more. You'll see some of the gorgeous actresses in a whole new light! Cameron Diaz is a favorite subject of Diez and appears in several pieces in the book including one where the lovely miss Diaz stands-in for the famous Universal Pictures statue in a painting called "Cameron Universal". Diez also does a very alluring and erotic Bettie Page dressed in an outfit made of leather straps.

Like other artist collections from SQP, this book has an index to each painting giving the title and form used to create the piece. Showing off the traditional, playfulness of classic 1940's pin-up art is a painting entitled "Yoo Hoo! Look at Me!" featuring a gorgeous, buxom blonde dressed in garter and fishnets playing peek-a-boo. Diez presents several different Marilyn Monroe paintings including one with the bombshell dressed in Daisy Dukes jean cutoffs and cowboy boots and another with her dressed in fishnets and high heels sitting on a suitcase. "Miss Santa" represents another of Carlos' tributes to classic pin-ups with a gorgeous, topless brunette wearing a red garter, stockings, and a Santa cap resting on a large Christmas present. One can only hope that she will come down your chimney some day.

In addition to his pin-up part which makes up the vast majority of the book, several other selections are also included such as comic book portraits of the X-Men, Spiderman, Aliens and other works of dark fantasy. Several of the pin-up pieces also show the development of the illustration from preliminary sketches to the final product and Diez shares his thoughts on the artistic process. Also include are comments from some of the models who've posed for Diez like B-movie scream-queen Julie Strain.

This is a gorgeous book, beautifully put together and a must have for fans of pin-up art!

Reviewed by Tim Janson

Wow! This is one of the coolest sets of erotic art I've seen. Very well done. If you are reading this and thinking of purchasing go for it.

These mini-mysteries (at a page or two each) provide hours of fun at bedtime, in the bathroom, or around the family coffee table after dinner. If you're in the market for family fun, this is the book for you.

As a long time Bakelite jewelry collector who has just about every book ever written about Bakelite, I didn't think there was much more that could be said about Bakelite Pins- but Karima Parry has done it again. This is not another "Hey, look what I've got" book written by a collector just to show off their collection. Only a few of the pins shown in this book are from Parry's own collection. And, like some of the Bakelite jewelry books out there, it isn't a compendium of the finest Bakelite pins in existence- you know, the ones that most collectors are never going to find, or be able to afford. This book shows a range of Bakelite pins, from very simple and affordable, right up to several of those rare showpiece pins that all Bakelite collectors lust after. Bakelite pins are examined from the perspective of their design and craftsmanship, tracing the evolution of both from the late 1920s right up to the present pieces being made by a few modern Bakelite artists like Ron and Ester Shultz and Bruce and Vicki Pantti. Instead of just presenting pin after pin, Parry discusses the different design trends in the early to mid 20th century that influenced Bakelite pin makers, and she offers a unique insight into the pins. But true to form, the author is careful to make this book a useful reference for collectors. Every pin is shown in full color, with pertinent details and a price range, and the pins are well organized by subject. Most of all, this is not just a picture book, or a collector guide. This concise study of Bakelite Pins is a short, beautifully illustrated lesson in art history, as viewed through the micro lens of Bakelite pins.