Al Moore

Al Moore (1912-1991) was born in Illinois and played football at Northwestern University. He then went on to play professional football with the Chicago Bears. Moore opened a commercial art studio in New York after taking classes at Chicago’s Art Institute and Academy of Art. During the great wars, Moore painted posters for the government and Gold cigarettes. He also painted for magazines like Collier’s, Cosmopolitan, and The Saturday Evening Post. In 1946, Moore did advertising work for U.S. Rubber, Coca-Cola, and Nash automobiles.

Esquire chose Moore to replace their pin-up artist. He is known for creating the Esquire Girl and had the rare opportunity to paint the entire 1949 and 1950 Esquire calendars himself. Moore quickly gained popularity for his pin-up work, and companies were fighting to get him to create a poster for them or contribute to their calendars.

Moore decided to retire but continued fine painting and doing portrait commissions. The United States Olympic Committee commissioned him to complete three paintings for the World Headquarters.

Moore created four covers for The Saturday Evening Post.