Heritage Auctions repared selections from The Charles Martignette Estate for its Signature Illustration Art Auction to be held October 27, 2009 in Dallas, Texas.
The auction of Martignette's best pin-up acquisitions is led by Gil Elvgren, with seven pin-up canvases coming on the block. Elvgren's 1957 painting Something's Bothering You (What's Wrong?) is estimated at $30,000-$40,000.
Esquire Magazine pin-up artist George Petty is represented with a Petty Girl that was drawn True Magazine in 1947, a decade after Petty left rival Esquire. In this pin-up, a pouting young blond woman stares distractedly off the canvas, cradling a large pink telephone against her right ear. The piece is estimated at $8,000-$10,000.
An early Vargas painting is estimated at $50,000-$70,000, done in 1928, nearly a decade before Vargas started his groundbreaking work at Esquire Magazine.