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Olivia De Berardinis: American artist known for paintings of women

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Olivia De Berardinis is one of the most commercially successful artists in recent American history. Her pin-up style art has been featured on the pages of Playboy as well as on numerous original paintings and posters.

 

 

 

Often referred to as “Cheesecake art,” Olivia De Berardinis’ art features erotically styled women with exaggerated silhouettes. Her art is sexy, provocative, but also showcases a beautiful, classically trained technique. She fell into this niche by accident, as she was a classically trained artist who focused on minimalist paintings in her early career. Her minimalist work gained her a lot of attention among the art community, including being introduced in the Second Annual Contemporary Reflections in 1972, and being named one of the 18 new artists in the “Tenth Anniversary, the Larry Aldrich Museum of Commercial art work.”

 

 

 

Despite her minimalist art’s critical acclaim, Olivia De Berardinis’ art did not gain the commercial she craved. She started to supplement her fine art with commercial work in order to pay the bills. As a child, Olivia De Berardinis had loved drawing women, and she returned to her skill while working for periodicals, magazines, movie posters, and advertisements. Soon her work garnered the attention of men’s magazines. Originally, Olivia De Berardinis did not consider her work for Playboy a “real” art career. The partnership started out of a financial need and not an artistic pursuit. She thought it would be a temporary, part time job, until her art career took off. But ultimately, Olivia De Berardinis’ “cheesecake” art became so popular that it was a full-fledged career in of itself. Her temporary job eventually turned into her artistic pursuit. She continued creating art for Playboy, as well as creating original artwork of pin-up girls for individual sales. She also put together a number of successful books, including Let them Eat Cheesecake, Second Slice, Malibu Cheesecake, and Bettie Page.

 

 

 

With art that is as skillful as it is erotic, it is no wonder that Olivia De Berardinis has become one of the most commercially successful artists in the world. The artist acknowledges that people she meets often think it’s strange to find a successful woman making erotic art for the primary pleasure of men. But Olivia De Berardinis is as smart as she is talented, and she feels the type of art she produces is only natural. After all, men have been sexualizing women forever, and her artwork is following step in a tradition as old as religious iconography and as commonplace as the popular Hollywood movies of today. If anything, Olivia De Berardinis feels that being a woman gives her an edge in her field.

 

 

 

Contemporary artists often have to find the balance between commercial success and critical acclaim, often having to choose one over the other. Although Olivia De Berardinis created critically successful art, she aimed to have mainstream financial success and set out on a new path to do so. Ultimately, Olivia De Berardinis choice paid off, as she is one of the most unique and commercially successful artists today.

 

 

 

Story by Wikipedia

 

 

 

 

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Uploaded on March 12, 2013
Taken on March 11, 2013