Source: The Great American Pin-Up
by charles G. Martignette/Louis K. Meisel

Buell was born in Kansas in 1910 and grew up in Oklahoma. After taking some art classes at The Chicago Art Instituteand visiting New York in the 1930s, he focused his energy on becoming a Self-taught commercial artist. Buell started his professional career working for the Stevens/Hall/Biondi art studio; and in 1940 he established his own. Buell painted pin-ups for the Gerlach-Barklow calendar company for five years, the original illustrations were painted with Oil on Board , each measuring approximately 16’x20’. During WWII, he spent the war years painting popular pin-ups, which brought a good deal of success to the artist as they were reproduced on multiple forms such as posters, calendars and specialty products. Additionally, Buell also worked for mainstream magazines, which included Esquire among others. During the 40s and 50s, Buell also worked in the advertising field, with Coca-Cola being one of his clients. Simultaneously, Buell also illustrated multiple paperback covers for diverse publishing companies. Ending his commercial career in 1965, Al Buell became a fine artist who went on to paint landscapes and commissioned portraits; he remained active until 1993, when he became injured in a car accident. Al Buell spent his last days at a nursing home until his passing in 1996.