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Rolf Armstrong





BIOGRAPHY

Rolf Armstrong was born in Seattle . He moved to Chicago in 1908, where he later studied at the Art Institute . He then went on to New York , where he studied with Robert Henri .

After a trip to Paris in 1919 to study at the Académie Julian , he returned to New York and established a studio. In 1921 he went to Minneapolis to study calendar production at Brown & Bigelow .

During the 1920s and 1930s , his work appeared on many pieces of sheet music, as well as on the covers of many magazines. Many stars posed for his portraits, including Mary Pickford , Greta Garbo , and even Boris Karloff .

Armstrong's work for the Pictorial Review was largely responsible for that magazine achieving a circulation of more than two million by 1926. A year later, he was the best selling calendar artist at Brown and Bigelow. In 1930 , RCA hired him to paint Pin-up s to advertise their products, and in 1933 the Thomas D. Murphy Company signed him to produce a series of paintings for their line.

Rolf Armstrong died in 1960, on the island of Oahu , Hawaii .


SEE ALSO



REFERENCES

  • ''The Great American Pin-Up'', by Charles G. Martignette and Louis K. Meisel, ISBN 3-8228-1701-5