Patrick Nagel (1945 - February 4, 1984) was an American artist, known for his focus on women and the female form, in the Art Deco style.
Nagel was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1945. However, he was raised and spent most of his life in the Los Angeles area.
In his lifetime he created hundreds of paintings and prints and sculptures emphasizing the simple grace of and beauty of the female body. Many of his works became pinups, and posters, though surprisingly few featured nudity.
Nagel's work is reminiscent of Japanese woodblock prints and has Art Deco styling, yet since it is contemporary appeal for it is universal. Nagel would start with a photograph and work down, always simplifying and removing elements which he felt were unnecessary. The resulting image would look flat, but emphasized those elements which he felt were most important.
The women shown in Nagel's art generally have thick black hair, high cheekbones, a long neck, wide, full-lipped mouths, average-sized to small ears, and a prominent nose. They are not extremely thin and have a well-defined but not extreme musculature, and appear athletic. They always have a high forehead and appear intelligent and sexual. Generally they resemble each other, showing that Nagel may have worked with a single model for many of his works. They are generally Caucasian and remind one of women from the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions.
Through work connected with Playboy and the pop group Duran Duran, for which he did a best selling album cover, Nagel and his work garnered international acclaim.
Nagel died at the age of 38 from a heart attack.
References in popular culture
In the Vertigo comics series, The Sandman, the character Desire of The Endless is generally illustrated to resemble a Nagel print, specifically the portrait used for the band Duran Duran's Rio album cover. Neil Gaiman, the creator of the series and character, had previously written a biography for the band in 1984. The packaging and promotional material for the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City similarly exhibits a stylistic debt to Nagel's work.
External links
- Official site, with biography and selected works
- Obituary at the New York Times