The Art Of Patrick Nagel

Gail Taylor

Cypress College Foundation (retired)

Do the images on the left remind you of slow dances, gold eyeshadow, and waiting for MTV to play Hungry like the Wolf? If you came of age in the 1980s, then you probably recognize the style that graced Rio, Duran Duran’s platinum album. But, do you know the name of the artist who created it? As his biographer Rob Frankel explains, Patrick Nagel (November 25, 1945 – February 4, 1984) was “the most successful American artist of the 1980s and 1990s, and probably the most anonymous ever…Over two million Americans framed his work in their homes – and almost none of them knew his name.” [1]

Gail Taylor, who has “collected art for many years,” certainly knows his name. “My first husband's brother is Patrick Nagel,” Gail explained. “We often had Pat and his family to dinner. He was truly a ‘starving artist’ until he was discovered…He thanked us by giving us some art pieces.” 

One of Gail’s favorite works “is a piece…that I understand was the first…of his used in Playboy magazine.” After two years in service during the Vietnam War, Nagel studied at L.A.’s storied Chouinard Art Institute and graduated from Cal State Fullerton with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. He then freelanced for businesses that included MGM, Universal Studios, Architectural Digest, and Rolling Stone, among others. Playboy published a Nagel in every issue from August 1975 until July 1984, and Hugh Hefner became a major collector. [2]

Pointing back to Nagel’s Art Deco and Pop Art influences and forward to the artist’s mature work, Gail’s collection also includes pencil drawings and ink sketches, an early ad. campaign print for Ballantine’s whiskey, and a 1981 San Francisco Art Expo poster featuring a classic "Nagel Woman." Like the Gibson Girl before her, the Nagel Woman, with her black hair, super-white skin, and cut-glass cheekbones, is instantly recognizable; but it was the artist’s signature style that captured the zeitgeist. 

Featuring strong contrast, crisp lines, and flat colors, Nagel’s style “was fifteen years and a computer revolution ahead of its time.”[3] Painting by hand with fine brushes, the artist achieved a level of precision and linear modulation that foresees digital vector graphics, and which continues to influence designers today.[4] In 2015, for example, animated series Moonbeam City employed Nagel’s aesthetic to generate an ‘80’s “after dark” vibe, while in 2017, the Rio cover art appeared on a carefully placed t-shirt in superhero movie Thor: Ragnarok.

Patrick Nagel died of a heart attack at 38, an age when most painters are just getting into their stride. He was, said his assistant Barry Haun, “amused by his success, but he didn't get a big head about it, he was just very happy being able to make a living from his work.”[5]

Notes

[1] Rob Frankel: The Artist Who Loved Women: The Incredible Life & Work of Patrick Nagel, the Most Successful & Anonymous Artist of the 1980s, Frankel & Anderson, 2016.

[2] The Art History Archive: Patrick Nagel, Playboy Art Icon, 1945-1985, www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/contemporary/The-Life-and-Art-of-Patrick-Nagel.html. Accessed 10/26/2020.

[3] Haddon Pearson: Patrick Nagel/Vector Art/Timetravel, July 15, 2015, http://haddonpearson.blogspot.com. Accessed 10/26/2020.

[4] View Patrick Nagel painting in a September 1982 interview with Todd Bingham, www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsAbVq6ObBU&feature=emb_logo. Accessed 10/26/2020.

[5] The Art History Archive: Patrick Nagel, Playboy Art Icon, 1945-1985, www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/contemporary/The-Life-and-Art-of-Patrick-Nagel.html. Accessed 10/26/2020.