Shiner Texas by Gil Elvgren

The imagery of the American West, with its wide open spaces and spirit of adventure, largely inspired the advertising and artistic aesthetic of the time. It is within this folklore that the superb creation “Shiner Texas” is anchored, skillfully merging the spirit of the Pin-up movement with western culture. The talented Gil Elvgren moves slightly away from the usual comic situations to deliver a close-up portrait of remarkable freshness, inviting the viewer to a warm toast in a rural party atmosphere.

Most of the canvas is occupied by the radiant face of a young brunette cowgirl smiling broadly at us, her cheeks flushed by the sun and her lips painted an intense carmine. She wears a wide-brimmed white cowboy hat featuring a braided cord, and sports a turquoise scarf tied around her neck. With a manicured hand with polished nails, she enthusiastically raises a tall glass of pale beer topped with a generous, cool white foam. In the background, on the right, a distant scene sketched in dusty tones shows a rider in a red shirt trying to master a rearing wild horse during a lively rodeo under an azure sky.

Gil Elvgren illustrates his incredible precision in rendering the transparency of the glass and the refreshing condensation of the drink. The pictorial treatment of the oil paint, combined with a mastered atmospheric perspective, demonstrates a technical ease that is resolutely out of the ordinary.