Tags
1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1990s, art, book covers, Robert Maguire
Robert A. Maguire (August 3, 1921 – February 26, 2005) was a 20th-century American fine illustrator, known primarily for his noir paperback cover art. Maguire produced over 600 post-1950 cover illustrations. Some of his best and most memorable work was publishers like Ace, Signet, Bantam, and Pyramid, crafting some impressive femme fatale and crime imagery. He continued working through the 1970s into the ’90s, as cover styles changed and other genres took hold. You can see the shift in the later images, more historical fiction (romance and western) since that’s the main remaining area to feature cover illustrations.
Battered, Tattered, Yellowed, & Creased 
I wish I’d known about this artist’s work when I was editing Paper Tiger. It’d have been a bit outside our remit but, y’know . . .
You can see the shift in the later images, more historical fiction (romance and western) since that’s the main remaining area to feature cover illustrations.
In fact, until about ten years ago — perhaps less — fantasy/sf covers usually featured original artwork. Some still do, albeit far fewer than before and with the smaller presses (like PS Publishing and Pyr) leading the way. Artists like John Picacio and Vinny Chong are doing wonderful things with cover illustration these days; there’s fabulous color f/sf art still inside and on the covers of mags like Interzone and Black Static.
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I’ve purchased several books from Pyr based on cover art alone, which is a testament to how good their art department can be. Same with Subterranean Press, though many of those were Lumley collections I probably would have bought anyways. Magazines are definitely still a hot market for art. And there’s still a lot of artists hard at work making evocative book art—Joey Hi-Fi comes to mind, and no argument about John Picacio and Vinny Chong being some of the best artists of the era.
But yeah, it feels like there’s been a shift in the last decade or so, even on top of the changes cover art underwent in the ’70s and ’80s. I remember the early Game of Thrones books had actual cover art, and about in the middle of the series (early-2000s?) they switched to the dull “icon and text over gradient fade” style. I look at the mystery/thrillers I own, and it’s rare to see a cover that’s not a stock photo with Photoshop filters, or just a minimalist sliver wedged between title and author. I wouldn’t say great book cover art is well and truly dead, but the great artists sure do stick out of the crowd these days.
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Some great stuff there, especially THE WITNESS – that cover from HOT CHARIOT seems very reminiscent of the work that Robert McGinness was doing at the time, don’t you thinkj? And I agree, the era of great cover art seems to be largely over …
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Most of them have a lot more color than McGinnis ever used, but yeah that Hot Chariot cover reminds me a lot of McGinnis’ Permabook covers from that time. Like the ones for the 87th Precinct… 😉 And art for The Witness is one of my favorites on here too.
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Good looking stuff!
I ran a quick check and found only one entry on Ingram Distributor’s database for him. But it was for a new(ish) title, so he’s not been completely forgotten. Moonstone Publishers released this C. J. Henderson mystery back in the Spring: http://www.amazon.com/Jack-Hagee-Private-Eye-Lunch/dp/1936814692 She looks quite like a couple of the pictures you’ve got and I assume they’re re-using it from somewhere or other…
Mike
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Great looking paintings, not your usual fare Joachim but very much appreciated here.
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Hey Unsubscriber — fyi, this blog’s mine, Joachim’s over here.. 🙂
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Apologies Admiral, I like what I see though so I think I shall delve a little deeper into your blog. All the best.
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