PATRICK NAGEL’S NEVER-PUBLISHED PORTRAIT OF THE MODEL AND ACTRESS IS THE ARTIST AT HIS 1980S BEST
By Christina Rees
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 and 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 a gaze that slayed millions, and Nagel’s painting of her captures an entire era that generations of collectors understand and appreciate.
The June 1981 issue of ‘Playboy,’ which named Welles as Playmate of the Year
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 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 May 1980 cover 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.”
Welles with ‘Playboy’ founder Hugh Hefner at the 1981 award ceremony announcing her as Playmate of the Year
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 makes 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 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.”
CHRISTINA REES is a staff writer at Intelligent Collector.