Louis J. Marchetti (1920–1992), known as Lou Marchetti, was an Italian free-lance

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 complicate ...

and fine artist. He was best known for his paperback book covers.

Biography

He was born in

Fondi Fondi (; Southern Laziale: ''Fùnn'') is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Latina, Lazio, central Italy, halfway between Rome and Naples. As of 2017, the city had a population of 39,800. The city has experienced steady population growth si ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and immigrated to the United States at an early age. He attended Bryant High School on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and later studied for five years at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

with two

scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

s. As an editorial illustrator, he created numerous book covers and illustrations, primarily for Dell Books, Pocket Books, Lancer Books, Paperback Library, and Popular Library. His creative work extended into

poster A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both typography, textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or w ...

s for the

motion picture A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since ...

industry, promotional illustrations for television (''

I Spy I spy is a guessing game where one player (the ''spy'' or ''it'') chooses an object within sight and announces to the other players that "I spy with my little eye something beginning with...", naming the first letter of the object. Other players a ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

), magazine illustration

True (magazine) ''True'', also known as ''True, The Man's Magazine'', was published by Fawcett Publications from 1937 until 1974. Known as ''True, A Man's Magazine'' in the 1930s, it was labeled ''True, #1 Man's Magazine'' in the 1960s. Petersen Publishing took ...

Galaxy A galaxy is a Physical system, system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar medium, interstellar gas, cosmic dust, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek ' (), literally 'milky', ...

, and

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...

, as well as a series of religious collector's plates offered by the

Danbury Mint Danbury Mint is a private mint that markets a variety of collectibles. Danbury Mint historically marketed medals and ingots produced by others exclusively for them. The company also sold numerous other collectible offering including plates, bell ...

. His fine art appeared in several galleries across the United States, including the

Grand Central Art Galleries The Grand Central Art Galleries were the exhibition and administrative space of the nonprofit Painters and Sculptors Gallery Association, an artists' cooperative established in 1922 by Walter Leighton Clark together with John Singer Sargent, Edm ...

(New York). Marchetti's fine art often reflected the

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

provincial Italian countryside near his place of birth. He was a member of the

Society of Illustrators The Society of Illustrators (SoI) 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. Since absorbing the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (M ...

Personal life

He had a daughter named Louise Marchetti Zeitlin.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marchetti, Lou 20th-century American illustrators American people of Italian descent 20th-century Italian artists 20th-century Italian illustrators American portrait artists Italian portrait artists American poster artists Italian poster artists 1920 births 1992 deaths American advertising artists and illustrators Italian advertising artists and illustrators American magazine illustrators Italian magazine illustrators