Patrick Nagel was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1945 and was raised in Orange County, California. After returning from his tour in

Vietnam, he studied fine art at Chouinard Art Institute and California State University, Fullerton where he received his BA in 1969 in painting and graphic design. He then taught at Art Center College of Design while simultaneously establishing himself as a free-lance designer and illustrator with memorable ads for Ballantine Scotch, IBM and covers for Harper’s magazine.

In the mid-70’s he began illustrating stories for Playboy magazine, bringing instant exposure and a large appreciative audience to his work. His years working with Playboy established him as the heir apparent to 50’s pin-up artist Alberto Vargas and gave Nagel the subject matter that he would continue to use to illustrate the newly liberated woman.

Over the last one hundred years, poster art has been one of the most humble, influential and pervasive of all the arts. But in the U.S in the 70’s, where poster art had not been used to its best effect, an opportunity arose to change the status quo. Nagel, in partnership with Mirage Editions and fine art printer Jeff Wasserman, sought to recapture the beauty and power that posters once held in popular culture by returning to a model created at the turn of the century with artists such as Toulouse Lautrec and A. M. Cassandre. They sought to produce the highest quality hand screened art prints that would also serve as collectible advertising art for businesses. Over Nagel’s career, 60 limited edition silk-screened prints were completed and were sold out upon release and Nagel’s iconic women found their way to worldwide recognition.