DALLAS, TX.- It’s a time-honored tradition: When a famous artist captures the likeness of a celebrity, the art world celebrates. Recent history was made when Andy Warhol screenprinted Jackie O., when Kehinde Wiley painted Barack Obama, when Annie Leibovitz photographed John & Yoko. And in 1981, the artist and illustrator Patrick Nagel, whose name and images are synonymous with the 1980s, teamed up with Terri Welles to create an indelible portrait: The 1981 Playmate of the Year is a drop-dead gorgeous woman with gaze that slayed millions, and Nagel’s painting of her captures an entire era that generations of collectors understand and appreciate. That Nagel’s original portrait of Welles has never been editioned, reproduced or offered to the public only adds to its power and rarity. Nagel’s work was ubiquitous at the time — in magazines and ad campaigns, on album covers — but this particular painting has remained in the private possession of Welles until now. On April 23, Heritage presents Nagel’s fantastic vision of the American model and actress in its Illustration Art Signature ® Auction, and given his subject, it is Nagel at his very best.

Of the portrait, Welles stresses that “it was never published, and unlike so much of Nagel’s work, there are no prints of it, no posters.” The painting was a gift to Welles when she was named Playmate of the Year in 1981; this followed her appearance on the cover of Playboy’s May 1980 issue and her return to the pages in December of that year as centerfold Playmate of the Month. “I was on the cover May of 1980 as a stewardess — I had worked for United — and again on the February ’81 cover with Candy Loving and Sondra Theodore. We were roommates in Westwood. And I was the first Playmate to sit for Nagel in his studio,” she says of the artist, whose illustrations ran in every issue of the magazine for nearly a decade until his death in 1984. “It is truly one-of-a-kind. And he kept me blond,” she adds of the acrylic-on-board painting. Nagel transformed nearly every woman he painted into a brunette, but not the stunning Welles. In this portrait Welles more than personifies “the Nagel woman” — she is relaxed and cool perfection as she sits center-frame and returns the viewer’s gaze with a steady eye.

“We are thrilled to offer this outstanding artwork by Patrick Nagel,” says Meagen McMillan, Heritage’s Senior Specialist of Illustration Art. “It is the epitome of the artist’s style with its soft pastels, sexy lines, and intense beauty. Adding in the importance of Playboy to the artist’s career and Terri Welles as the first Playmate of the Year to be given a portrait by the artist, this work is a clear winner.”

In 2020, Heritage broke the auction record for Nagel when it sold another Playmate portrait — his 1983 painting of Playmate of the Month Jeana Keough (née Jeana Tomasino) — for $350,000, which had in turn shattered the previous record for Nagel, also set by Heritage in 2017. The auction house’s deep familiarity with Nagel’s work make it the obvious choice for placing Welles’ portrait with a new owner.

“This painting has remained unseen by the public for more than 40 years,” says McMillan, “carefully preserved by Terri it in its original frame in her private home. The portrait stands as a testament to Nagel's talent and the personal connection he forged with his subjects as well as with Playboy magazine, making it a truly exceptional piece in his illustrious body of work.” The painting, which leads the auction, is accompanied by a copy of the June 1981 issue of Playboy magazine announcing Welles as Playmate of the Year, and Welles’ personal photos from the award ceremony.

Nagel's artistic legacy continues to captivate and inspire, with his illustrations leaving an indelible impression on both the art- and pop-culture landscapes. In fact, the April 23 Illustration event is rich with sought-after original artworks by the great illustrators of our time — illustrators who have made their way into the canon of 20th-century art — including Saturday Evening Post covers by John Ford Clymer, Amos Sewell and Edmund Greek Davenport; a Golden Age book title page by the great Maxfield Parrish; and luminous magazine studies by the one-and-only Norman Rockwell. These are among the 92 pieces being offered as part of an important collection of illustration art; its consignor will donate partial proceeds to the Salvation Army in dedication to Ed Jaster, the longtime Heritage Vice President who helped build the Illustration Art department and lost his battle with cancer in February.

Additionally offered is a wonderful selection of oil-on-canvas originals by the great pin-up artist Gil Elvgren. “One of my favorite pieces in the auction is Your Choice — Me? by Elvgren, from 1962,” says Sarahjane Blum, Heritage’s Director of Illustration Art. “It’s bright and sexy, of course, but it’s also a very funny take on the debate about abstract versus representational art, which is its own reminder that even though illustrators weren’t traditionally taken seriously by the art world, they were often in closer conversation with the trends in fine art than people gave them credit for.”

Another favorite of Blum’s in the event is the original cover art for the 1953 paperback Reefer Girl. “The book is one of the most collectible pulp paperbacks around and one of the most famous offerings from the juvenile delinquent/drug culture subgenre,” says Blum. “But it’s not just the provocative title or sensationalist story that made this book so desirable. Artist Rudy Nappi thoroughly seduces the potential reader through the cover girl, making us unable to resist the invitation into her world. The neon arrow, suggestively pointing down and also directing the eye to the bad girl at the center of the canvas, who seems lit from within — it all tells a story as powerful as anything in the book itself.”