Earl Steffa Moran was an illustrator, and pastelist. Born in Belle Plain, Iowa on Dec. 8, 1893. Artistically inclined as a child, Moran was influenced by the work of Charles Dana Gibson and James M. Flagg. Opting for an art career, he studied at the AIC and in NYC at the ASL and Grand Central School. In the 1930s he moved to California and settled in Los Angeles. Tiring of commercial work, he began dabbling in pastels of beautiful women a la Petty and Vargas. The calendar company Brown & Bigelow reproduced these pastels which brought him great success. He died in Los Angeles on Jan. 7, 1984.