Angelo Asti | Pin-up Girls

Angelo Asti was an Italian painter, born in Milano in 1847 and died, relatively young in 1903, in Gorbio, Mentone - Italy.

Asti is known for his beautiful woman painted onto silks with Italian undertones.

Asti has also been deemed by some as an originator of the “Pin-up Girls”.

Asti immigrated to the United States in his thirties, where he first discovered his aptitude for illustration while working at a lithographic production facility in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In 1890, Asti returned to Europe and settled in Paris, where he immersed himself in the French artistic landscape with daily visits to the Louvre and other notable Parisian galleries.

Through years of careful self-study and practice, Asti refined his painterly technique and his first finished painting was accepted by the Salon de Paris with high praise.

Asti continued to paint until his death in 1903, and his works are noted today for their harmonious, captivating depictions of female beauty.

Towards the end of his life, while working in Paris, as I understand it, he produced a series of portraits of young ladies some of which were used in advertisements but the majority found a home as subject material for English postcards.

The English company Raphael Tuck and Sons Ltd had created a business distributing graphic art prints of popular art as well as greeting cards throughout England as well as America.

At about the time that Asti died, in 1903, the first of a series of his ladies was produced by Tuck and there is evidence of these postcards being used until at least 1911.

Some sources suggest that the popularity of the Asti ladies was an early example of the pin-up in Twentieth Century culture.

It says something about their lasting appeal that the same images now appear as decorations on women’s’ compact cases.

Angelo Asti è stato un pittore Italiano, nato a Milano nel 1847, e morto il 23 marzo 1903, in Gorbio presso Mentone.

Studiò a Brera, alla cui Scuola di Litografia fu premiato nel 1864.

Espose a Parigi dal 1890 al 1901.

Suoi quadri: "Songeuse"; "Premier reve"; "Dans les reves".