Raphael Kirchner (5 May 1875 – 2 August 1917) was an Austrian artist, principally a portrait painter and illustrator best known for Art Nouveau and early pin-up work, especially in picture postcard format.

His work served as an early inspiration to Peruvian painter Alberto Vargas, who had a career in the United States for the film and men's magazine industry.

[1][2][3] Raphael Kirchner produced over a thousand published paintings and drawings in his lifetime, mostly in the form of picture postcards.

Kirchner's often mildly erotic paintings of feminine beauty, in convenient postcard and magazine page form, were among the early pin-ups favored by European and American soldiers in World War I.

[1] Peruvian painter Alberto Vargas cited Kirchner as an influence, and was noted for his own paintings of beautiful women in a related style.