Section A · Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Fridav. May 1. 1998
Varga Girl collection kept under wraps
The Varga Girls are brought out of storage at the Spencer Museum of Art for public viewing in this room. Esquire magazine dropped the "s" from Alberto Vargas' name because it was more pleasing to the ear. Photo by Roger Nomer/KANSAN
George Backy's most famous piece, "I'm the One with the Part in the Part in the Back," otherwise known as "Memphis Belle," is one of the many owned by the Spencer Museum of Art. The piece made appearances in the 1990 movie, Memphis Belle. Network contributed by the Spencer Museum of Art.
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Edward Barr, Tyler, Texas, graduate student, brings out the University's pinup collection when visitors from across the country come to see them. "I'm just glad someone wants to see them," he said. Barr has worked in the Spencer Museum of Art's print room since August. Photo by Roger Nomer/KANSAN
$6 million is in original Vargas works. The remainder comes from print and poster sales. Some of those prints are shipped out from the University to be copied.
Hartley has a contract with the Hearst Corporation making him the exclusive publisher of limited-edition prints and posters of Varas' *Esuire imagery*.
Between 60 and 70 original Vargas works are on permanent display at the San Francisco Art Exchange, Hartley said.
"We're kind of obligated to work with them," Goddard said. "They have the right to market these things as they wish."
"There's always been a close cooperation between us," he said.
Goddard said the art exchange's limited-edition prints and posters were nothing more than expensive reproductions.
Hartley said he understood that the University might be reluctant to display the artwork because of its reputation as an academic institution.
Joanne Meyerowitz, an associate professor of history at the University of Cincinnati, has written about and studied mid-20th century responses to girlie pictures in the United States.
She said that a pinup exhibit would have value as long as it was put in a historical context.
"The fact that there was a Supreme Court decision over them shows they were controversial," Meverowitz said.
case, which boosted the popularity of the Varga Girl.
She referred to the U.S. Postal Department's 1943 charge that Esquire was mailing obscene material. The magazine won the
Norris agreed that, in context, the pinups were valuable for scholarship and that an exhibit should be mounted.
torically important artwork," he said. "I've always thought it's a pity they don't show them."
Hartley said the pinups belonged in nothing less than the Smithsonian Institution.
Hartley's partner at the San Francisco Art Exchange, Theon Kabrich, said that Varga Girl pirnicks were known around the world.
"It's not only beautiful but hising in their main galleries either.
"He's the only one that paints them as art, not as titillation or voyeurism," Kabrich said.
Holstead said that Vargas idealized women and created images of them that could not exist in nature.
Spencer Museum's peer institutions say the pinups should be exhibited, but when it comes right down to it, they are not willing to sacrifice their reputations, Goddard said.
"I had a real respect for him, although I wouldn't necessarily want a Varga Girl hanging in my living room," she said.
And it seems that other museums do not want the pinups hanggreatest obstacles in raising funds for such an exhibition, Norris said.
Corporate sponsors are hesitant to be associated with the artwork, a fact that has been one of the
Goddard said that the museum should not mount an exhibition simply because of the pinups' popularity, nor should such a show be put together hastily. He said that it would take someone who was devoted to serious scholarship of the pinups to do the job well, with a full catalog of the collection to accompany the exhibit.
Goddard said that the University legally could produce a catalog and even an exhibition poster because the images would be for educational use.
Two KU graduate students did put together such a proposal several years ago, but lack of funding has stalled it.
"It's not going to happen instantly, but it's going to happen." Norris said. "We tend to be slow."
Someday then, people should see a pinup exhibition at the museum. But the collection the pinups came from may not fare as well.
Holstead estimated that it would take a quarter of a million dollars just to have an archivist organize Fraser's attic in flat files, let alone create an index of the collection on CD-ROM for greater access.
Across the country in San Francisco, business is booming for Hartley and Kabrich. Kabrich said they have sold between 400 and 500 prints each year for prices ranging from $1,000 to $5,000. More than half of those sales are of prints from the University's Esquire Collection, he said.
Hartley and Kabrich have marketed Vargas across the United States and Europe, and they are expanding into China and Japan. And, through their business on the Internet, they even sold a Vargas to a woman in Moscow.
Meanwhile, the University continues to gather royalties and bide its time with what some say is a world-class collection.
This Spring the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity teams up with the Chi Omega Sorority for the second annual presentation of "Long Shots and Lucky Putts."
Benefitting the Early Childhood Development Center of Lawrence, teams will compete in both a miniature golf and distance drive contest. Come help make it a success!
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