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Pin-ups emerged from their neglected
state thanks to an exhibition organized
by Louis Meisel in 1982 and the publi-
cation of “The Great American Pin-up”
in 1996.
2008: The Collection Disperses
Martignette died unexpectedly of a heart
attack in 2008, at which time his exten-
sive 4,300-piece collection was passed
on to the Heritage Auctions in Dallas,
Texas. It took 12 auctions over four
years to disband the massive compen-
dium, the largest collection of surviving
original pin-up art. Pin-up artworks were
removed from the warehouse and free to
exist as they were always intended to —
where they could be pinned up.
World War II captured the pinnacle of
pin-ups, as carefully designed by the
U.S. government to boost morale by
presenting an all-American view of the
sweetheart waiting for him — the girls
worth fighting for. These pin-up photos
were found pasted inside barracks, hung
in submarines, and tucked into soldiers’
pockets.
1950s: People Realize Sex Sells
Soon the erotic tactics employed for war
advertising were extended to all adver-
tising, as first actualized by Madison
Avenue in the 1950s and 1960s.
1953: Playboy Is Born
Hugh Hefner launched his notorious
nudie mag, using pin-up magazines as
his muse, yet aware that the future of the
female image lied in photography. By
1955, most magazines looked more like
Playboy than the pin-up covers so popu-
lar ten years before. Once the magazine
had surpassed the pin-up in popular-
ity, there wasn’t as pressing a need to
preserve the women’s innocence. The
images weren’t above the bed, but in the
garage.
1978: The Collecting Begins
Right when pop culture at large was
losing interest in pin-ups, Charles
Martignette was finally growing old
enough to purchase them. Martignette,
who’d begun lusting after pin-ups at
only eight years old, acquired his first at
27, and spent the 1980s buying up all he
could. The obsessive fellow amassed a
4,300-piece collection of pin-up art-
works. They were stored in warehouses
and never exhibited.
1980s and 1990s: Pin-Ups Get Artsy