Art Frahm
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Arthur Ernest Frahm (May 5, 1906 – February 12, 1981)<ref name="obit">Template:Cite news</ref> was an American painter and commercial artist, best known for his campy paintings of pin-up girls in the 1950s.<ref name="gap">Template:Cite book</ref> Frahm's playful Americana style has been compared with that of Norman Rockwell.<ref name="display">Template:Cite news</ref>
BiographyEdit
Frahm was born in East Chicago, Indiana, in 1906.<ref name="obit"/> As a child, he was an avid drawer, and later took weekend classes at the Art Institute of Chicago.<ref name="obit" /><ref name="state">Template:Cite news</ref> He subsequently joined the Chicago firm Ziprodt, designing window displays for merchants, before resigning to become a full time illustrator.<ref name="state" /> For the rest of his career, Frahm ran his own studio as a freelancer. Beginning in the 1920s, he illustrated advertisements for a wide variety of companies, including Coca-Cola, Schlitz, Quaker Oats, and Libby's.<ref name="state" /> Frahm continued to paint during his service in the U.S. Army during World War II.<ref name="display" />
Frahm's commercial peak was in the 1950s. Each installment of his "ladies in distress" pin-up series featured a woman whose underwear had fallen to her ankles in an everyday situation—such as carrying groceries, bowling, or changing a tire—much to the delight of male onlookers.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Frahm's publisher, Joseph C. Hoover and Sons, sold millions of calendars with the campy artwork, making it one of the most successful pinup series of the twentieth century.<ref name="gap" />
In the 1960s, Frahm created two popular calendar series: one following a band of fun-loving hobos traveling from Miami to San Francisco,<ref name="display" /> and another depicting policemen teaching safety measures to children.<ref name="gap" /> Later in his career, while continuing to do commercial work, Frahm's tastes shifted to portraits and landscapes.<ref name="state" />
Frahm moved his family to North Carolina in 1954 before setting in Fountain Inn, South Carolina,<ref name="display" /> where he died on February 12, 1981, aged 74. He was survived by his wife Ruth and daughter Diana.<ref name="obit" />