Original Paintings
About the originals
Of course, all of the posters and limited edition images you see on this site started out life as original paintings. But it does remain that Nagel worked in several different mediums in creating the original work of art.
According to Barry Haun, Nagel's assistant for many years, he started working each individual composition by using pencil on board. Most of the illustrations he submitted to Playboy magazine were small -- some as small as 9x10" -- and rather unassuming looking and otherwise rough quasi-sketches, done with gouache and pencil. In some instances the preliminary erasures weren't even removed, since Nagel knew that the 9x10" drawing was going to be reduced to the size of a postage stamp in the magazine, when published, and when that happened, everything would 'tighten up'.
Conversely, his arcylic paintings, although similarly begun in pencil -- and, we're told, relied heavily on the use of the French Curve (you art students will laugh at that, no doubt, especially those who are using software programs like Illustrator which will make those lines quicker and more precisely). The macquettes were then transferred to large canvasses and finished with brush and airbrush. Most of the compositions one sees in the Nagel book that are full page reproductions, were painted in that way. In this section of the site we are reproducing only a few of the less visible, unknown paintings that we have run across in nearly 30 years of dealing in Nagel's work.
A word about the nature of the subject matter:
For many years, I was under the mistaken impression that Nagel was a man who had been thrust into the position of painting the more sexually licentious aspects of the female by the demands of the market and the people to whom he had become committed, namely his publisher, Mirage Editions. Over the 25 years since his death, however, and having seen some of the paintings of Nagel's that have slowly emerged, I have come to see that there was a side to Nagel that I had never suspected. Despite the titillating aspects of this work, however, there was almost always that underlying wry wit that Nagel brought to nearly everything he did. And even when the concept of a painting was lewd and nearly debauched, it was almost always done with tongue planted firmly in cheek. TB
"Bow Tie"
acrylic and Guoache on Board, 11x17"
This painting we had for a few years on consignment and returned it to the dealer from whom it came, someone who had known Pat personally. This is a terrifice painting. There's just something about a babe in a tuxedo shirt.
"Keys"
Goache on board, 9x12"
A most cool image, this was a small 9x12" Playboy illustration.
"Man in Car (the Truck)"
Ca. 1981 \ Goache on board, 9x12"
Another small Playboy illustration. This image came to be referred to as 'The Truck," since one is barely visible in the rear window of the car or taxi the two people are riding in. We don't know what this was used for except that it was a good example of a very 'unfinished' looking original, submitted to Playboy. The transcript of the trial between Playboy/Mirage/Jennifer Dumas -- some of which we read in the mid-'90's -- stated that after 1979, Playboy Magazine accepted and paid for what ever design Nagel sent them once a month, sight unseen.
"Shannon Tweed"
1982 \ Acrylic on Board, 36x40"
For those of you young enough to remember her, Tweed was Playmate of the Year in 1982. Arguably the most beautiful of all the centerfolds in an era when real beauty was what mattered. Ironically, she was very fair with strawberry blond hair, but that was Nagel: it was about the art, not portraiture. We sold this original at the '82 show at Galerie Michal in Century City for about $10,000.
"The Shower"
Ca. 1978 \ Acrylic and goache on board, 9x10"
Another Playboy illustration.
"The Yellow Hose"
Ca. 1979 \ Acrylic and goache on board, 9x10"
Another Playboy illustration.
