Alberto Vargas, a renowned Peruvian painter of pin-up girls, was born February 9, 1896 in Arequipa. His father was photographer Max T. Vargas and Alberto started out trying to follow in his footsteps. With his fathers encouragement he turned more to airbrushing and painting, studying in Europe, Zurich and Geneva prior to World War I. A French magazine cover by Raphael Kirchner, on a La Vie Parisienne issue is said to be his main influence.