Enoch Bolles

(1883 - 1976)

Art-Deco pin-up master. Worked exclusively as a cover artist, painting oils for Film Fun, Screen Romances, Stolen Sweets, Gay Book, Judge, Titter, Cupid's Capers, Live Stories, Tattle Tales, Gay Parisienne, and the endless "Stories": Pep, Breezy, Snappy, Bedtime, Spicy. Often did premier issues.

Excellent portraiturist, using the faces (and figures) of young starlets like Myrna Loy, Ida Lupino, etc. Admired by, among others, Alberto Vargas, who has been mistaken for Bolles in one famous and continuing case (see below). Rumor is he died insane. Not true. Suffered a stroke, 1938, and retired to Florida (he was a Florida native). Continued to be published for a number of years.

He liked to take his original pin-ups and add abstract touches. The reasons for these additions are unknown: boredom, experimenting, decreased mental capacity (a stroke can do that to you, but it doesn't make you nuts!), or all three. An interesting note: it's common for artists to collect the work of other artists, even if it's only tear sheets. Some of the scans below were taken from magazines perviously owned by Alberto Vargas, issues that sold astronomically high on eBay.