Patrick Nagel
1945–1984 · American illustrator and painter, creator of the 'Nagel woman'
Patrick Nagel (Dayton, 1945-Santa Monica, 1984) was an American artist best known for his illustrations of women, in a flat, graphic style derived from Art Deco. His work reached a mass audience through Playboy magazine and the cover of Duran Duran's album Rio.
Born in Dayton, Ohio, he lived and worked for most of his life in the Los Angeles area. After military service in Vietnam, he studied at the Chouinard Art Institute and earned a fine arts degree from California State University, Fullerton, in 1969. In 1971 he worked as a graphic designer for the ABC network and, from 1972, as a freelance artist for magazines and large corporations.
From 1976 he contributed images to Playboy regularly, and his idealized 'Nagel woman', with black hair, pale skin and red lips, became very popular. During the 1980s he also produced limited-edition prints and, around 1982, began painting in acrylic on canvas. He died at 38 of a heart attack, and after his death his name was commercially exploited, which devalued part of his work, until its market recovery from 2008 onward.