Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Seventies Dirty Novels and the Mystery Artist

These paperback "fuck books" were pretty bad on the inside. They came out in the seventies and were extremely popular during an age when porn was still hard to get, and forget video!

 I read more than my share, but the only part I really cared for was the covers. There were half a dozen illustrators that did these book covers for various publishers. The artist that has done these covers and hundreds upon hundreds more was one was the  absolute best. But I've never been able to nail down who he is! I've gotten all the other names, but not this guy. 

I'm assuming it's a 'he'. If I knew who he was I'd love to talk to him if he's still with us. I think these were totally brilliant pieces of illustration. His work screams 'advertising' to me, but there were a lot of different ways for an illustrator to make a living back then. Unlike now. 

 I've tried to learn from him over the years, and will keep trying to learn more going forward. His design was always terrific and there was a sense of action and of things about to happen in his work that made them fascinating. And he cranked them out! When you think of how fast he must have worked, this was some terrific stuff! He also lent some level of taste to the whole thing that probably made these more popular than they would have been with just a crummy photo of a model on the cover. 

These books are still available at various places on the web. Read Magic is one of the biggest sources and they sell digital versions of  some of these old paper backs. If you don't know about them, check them out! 

I anyone happens to know who this terrific artist is, clue me in, would'ja?





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