Robert McGinnis - Nymph to the Slaughter - 1963

Robert Edward McGinnis (born February 3, 1926) is an American artist and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complic ...

. McGinnis is known for his illustrations of more than 1,200

paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, ...

book covers,Biography
McGinnis, Robert
- Cavalier Galleries and over 40

movie posters A film poster is a poster used to promote and advertise a film primarily to persuade paying customers into a theater to see it. Studios often print several posters that vary in size and content for various domestic and international markets. The ...

, including '' Breakfast at Tiffany's'' (his first film poster assignment),Jilbert, Paul. - Celebrating Films of the 1960s & 1970s
New DVD Documentary on Legendary Movie Poster Artist Robert McGinnis"
- Cinema Retro. - May 13, 2008 '' Barbarella'', and several

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors hav ...

and

Matt Helm Matt Helm is a fictional character created by American author Donald Hamilton (1916-2006). Helm is a U.S. government counter-agent, a man whose primary job is to kill or nullify enemy agents—not a spy or secret agent in the ordinary sense of t ...

films.

Biography

Born Robert Edward McGinnis in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

, he was raised in

Wyoming, Ohio Wyoming is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, Hamilton County, Ohio; It is located approximately 12 miles north of downtown Cincinnati and is part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. The population was 8,756 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 ce ...

. McGinnis became an apprentice at Walt Disney Studios, then studied fine art at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...

. After wartime service in the Merchant Marine he entered advertising and a chance meeting with Mitchell Hooks in 1958 led him to be introduced to

Dell Publishing Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and so ...

began a career drawing a variety of paperback covers for books written by such authors as Donald Westlake (writing as Richard Stark), Edward S. Aarons,

Erle Stanley Gardner Erle Stanley Gardner (July 17, 1889 – March 11, 1970) was an American lawyer and author. He is best known for the Perry Mason series of detective stories, but he wrote numerous other novels and shorter pieces and also a series of nonfiction b ...

Richard S. Prather Richard Scott Prather (September 9, 1921 – February 14, 2007) was an American mystery novelist, best known for creating the "Shell Scott" series. He also wrote under the pseudonyms David Knight and Douglas Ring. Biography Prather was born i ...

, and the

Michael Shayne Michael "Mike" Shayne is a fictional private detective character created during the late 1930s by writer Brett Halliday, a pseudonym of Davis Dresser. The character appeared in a series of seven films starring Lloyd Nolan for Twentieth Century ...

and

Carter Brown Carter Brown was the literary pseudonym of Alan Geoffrey Yates (1 August 19235 May 1985), an English-born Australian writer of detective fiction. Between 1954 and 1984 Yates published 215 ‘Carter Brown’ novels and some ...

series.Virtual Pin-ups Art Gallery: artist Robert McGinnis/9
- ImageNETion McGinnis later did artwork for ''

Ladies' Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States. In ...

'', '' Woman's Home Companion'', ''

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Hous ...

'', ''TIME'', '' Argosy'', '' Guideposts'', and ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely ...

''. He was main title designer for '' The Hallelujah Trail'' (1965). McGinnis's attention to detail was such that when he was assigned to do the artwork for ''

Arabesque The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foli ...

'' he requested

Sophia Loren Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress. She was named by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest female stars of Classical Hollywood ci ...

's tiger stripe dress be sent for him for a model to wear so he could get the right appearance. In 1985 McGinnis was awarded the title of "Romantic Artist of the Year" by ''Romantic Times'' magazine for his many romance novel paperback covers. Since 2004, McGinnis has created cover illustrations for the

Hard Case Crime Hard Case Crime is an American imprint of hardboiled crime novels founded in 2004 by Charles Ardai (also the founder of the Internet service Juno Online Services) and Max Phillips. The series recreates, in editorial form and content, the flavo ...

paperback series. Starting in 2016, McGinnis has painted a number of retro-style covers for reissues of books by

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, gra ...

. He is a member of the

Society of Illustrators The Society of Illustrators is a professional society based in New York City. It was founded in 1901 to promote the art of illustration and, since 1959, has held an annual exhibition. History Founding The Society of Illustrators was founded on ...

Hall of Fame.Hall of Fame
- Society of Illustrators McGinnis is the subject of a documentary film, ''Robert McGinnis: Painting the Last Rose of Summer'', by Paul Jilbert.

References

Sources

* * *

External links

Robert E. McGinnis Gallery

– American Art Archives
Collection of McGinnis paperback covers
at

Flickr Flickr ( ; ) is an American image hosting and video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was a popular way for amateur and profession ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGinnis, Robert 1926 births Living people American illustrators Film poster artists 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists Artists from Cincinnati Ohio State University alumni People from Wyoming, Ohio Romance cover artists United States Merchant Mariners of World War II 20th-century American male artists