You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (July 2020) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Raphael Kirchner]]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template {{Translated|fr|Raphael Kirchner}} to the talk page.
Raphael Kirchner (5 May 1875 – 2 August 1917) was an Austrian artist, principally a portrait painter and illustrator best known for Art Nouveau and early pin-up work, especially in picture postcard format. His work served as an early inspiration to Peruvian painter Alberto Vargas, who had a career in the United States for the film and men's magazine industry.
In 1914, at the outbreak of World War I, Kirchner moved to the United States.[1] He lived in New York City until his death in 1917.[1][2][3]
Work
Women at their Toilette, date unknown
Raphael Kirchner produced over a thousand published paintings and drawings in his lifetime, mostly in the form of picture postcards. His orientalist "Geisha" series was among his most popular, with over 40,000 cards sold.[1] The series is a notable example of the cross-influence between Art Nouveau in the West and Japanese art of the Meiji and Taishō periods. Kirchner's often mildly erotic paintings of feminine beauty, in convenient postcard and magazine page form, were among the early pin-ups favored by European and American soldiers in World War I.[1]
Peruvian painter Alberto Vargas cited Kirchner as an influence, and was noted for his own paintings of beautiful women in a related style. He painted for movie posters and later illustrations in men's magazines.
Kirchner's lasting influence on the pin-up genre was still recognized in the World War II pin-up heyday period. Kirchner also produced a small number of sculptures, some of which were photographed for postcards as well. In New York, he also produced costume designs for musical theatre productions.[2]
