Like many of his contemporaries, the illustrator George Quintana received his formal training from the Art Students League of New York City.  Unlike many of his fellow artists, Quintana was also a professional dancer who had a brief stage career (and a marriage to a ballerina that lasted for less than a year) before he began to truly pursue his artistic career.

Quintana is best-remembered for a series of pin-up covers that he did in the 30s and 40s for pulp magazines with titles like Film Fun, Gay French Life, Ginger, Movie Humor, Movie Merry Go-Round, Snappy Detective Mysteries, Snappy Stories, Stolen Sweets, and Tempting Tales.  These magazines were considered to be very racy for their day and were sold either under-the-counter or in burlesque houses.  Today, Quintana’s covers seem far more innocent and almost quaint.

Quintana would later move to California and then Arizona, where he found work doing photography work for body building magazines and where he worked as a painter.  Though Quintana was only 55 when he suffered a fatal heart attack, his work continues to highly sought after by collectors.

Here are a few of George Quinana’s pin-ups: