Earl Moran (December 8, 1893 – January 17,
1984), born in Belle Plaine, Iowa, was a 20th-century pin-up and
glamour artist.Moran's first instruction in art came under the direction
of John Stich, an elderly German artist who also taught the great
illustrator W.H.D. Koerner. Moran also studied with Walter Biggs at the
Chicago Art Institute.Moran later studied at the famed Art Students
League in Manhattan, where he took instruction from the muralists
Vincent Drumond, Robert Henri, Thomas Fogarty (Norman Rockwell's
teacher), and the legendary anatomist George Bridgman. After moving back
to Chicago in 1931 and opening a small studio where he specialized in
photography and illustration, he sent some paintings of bikini-clad
girls to two calendar companies; when both Brown and Bigelow and Thomas
D. Murphy Company bought the work, his career was officially launched.In
1946, Moran moved to Hollywood though he had already painted many movie
stars including Betty Grable, for publicity posters. Soon after his
arrival, he interviewed a young starlet named Norma Jean Dougherty who
wanted to model for him. For the next four years, Marilyn Monroe posed
for Moran and the two became friends. She always credited him with
making her legs look better than they were as she felt they were too
thin. Moran's work during this time period is now his most valuable; a
Moran Marilyn pastel sold for $83,650, nearly doubling the previous
record for one of his works, when the Craig MacMillan collection was
sold at Heritage Auctions in February 2011.Wikipedia
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