 "Bettie
Page--Queen of Hearts"
by Jim Silke
Dark Horse Books, 1995
We all know the important
roles Bettie Page plays in pop
culture (pin-up queen, fetish icon, counter culture heroine, etc...), but
Bettie
Page--Queen of Hearts explores another important part of her legacy--that
of artists' muse. Illustrator Jim Silke recently worked on
the Dark Horse comic series "Bettie Page: Queen of the Nile" (where out
lovely Bettie finds herself transported to ancient Egypt
and is mistaken for Cleopatra), but that comic series is just the latest
chapter in Silke on-going love affair with the world's most
famous glamour girl. This book looks less at Bettie's biography and more
at her impact in the world of popular art. Silke traces the
history of "low" or "trash" art as seen with the likes of Vargas,
Petty, and Elvgren, and how the modern day
fascination with Bettie grew out of and was an influence
to these artists. The book is mostly a lush collection of artist's prints
and amazing photographs, but these is also good historical analysis of
the culture of pin-up magazines, tawdry paperbacks, and modern America's
images of glamour. (All the things we like at the Java's Bachelor
Pad!)
See also:
"Betty (sic)
Page: Queen of Pin-Ups"
"Va Va
Voom"
"The Best
of American Girlie Magazines"
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