A
pin-up girl or pin-up model is a
model whose mass-produced pictures see wide appeal as
pop culture. Pin-ups are intended for informal display. Pin-up girls are often
glamour models, fashion models, and actresses.
"Pin-up" may also refer to drawings, paintings and other illustrations done in emulation of these photos (see the
List of pinup artists). The term was first attested to in
English in 1941; however the practice is documented back at least to the 1890s. The “pin up” images could be cut out of
magazines or
newspapers, or be from
postcard or
chromo-lithographs, and so on. Such photos often appear on calendars, which are meant to be pinned up anyway. Later,
posters of “pin-up girls” were mass-produced.
Many “pin ups” were
photographs of
celebrities who were considered
sex symbols. One of the most popular early pin-up girls was
Betty Grable. Her poster was ubiquitous in the lockers of
G.I.s during
World War II. Others pin-ups were artwork, often depicting idealized versions of what some thought a particularly beautiful or attractive woman should look like. An early example of the latter type was the
Gibson girl, drawn by
Charles Dana Gibson. The genre also gave rise to several well-known artists specializing in the field, including
Alberto Vargas and
George Petty, and numerous lesser artists such as
Art Frahm.
The term “
cheesecake” is synonymous with “pin-up photo”. The earliest documented print usage of this sense of “cheesecake” is in 1934
[1], predating “pin-up”, although anecdotes say the phrase was in spoken slang some 20 years earlier, originally in the phrase (said of a pretty woman) “better than
cheesecake”.
These days men can be considered “pin ups” as well and there are male equivalents of attractive and sexy actors such as
Harrison Ford or numerous male models. The counterpart term to “cheesecake” is “
beefcake”.
I love Bill Ward's art. 
I didn't know the story behind it.. so I just looked it up.. 'cheesecake' was used to describe a pretty woman “better than 
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