-by Arnie Fenner
Since John Jude recently gave a nod to Mark English here at MC, I thought I’d shine the spotlight on one of Mark’s contemporaries, Robert E. McGinnis. I’ve talked about him before and I’ll be delighted to talk about him again: I grew up a fan of Bob’s mystery covers and movie posters (particularly those for the James Bond films) and consider myself lucky to have worked with him on his first art book, Tapestry, and a calendar in 2006.
Renowned for something like 1200 book covers and over 40 movie posters (plus stacks of editorial and advertising art), his body of work is astonishing, both for the quantity and quality. Whether painting hardboiled gumshoes, femme fatales, scenes from the old West, movie stars, or sensuous nudes, Robert McGinnis is simply one of the best—and his recent covers for the Hard Case Crime series shows that, even in his 80s, he hasn’t missed a beat.
Donald M. Grant Publishing has a new book of Bob’s paintings of women in the works, both from his mystery covers and from his gallery shows: I’m looking forward to that.
Bob’s website is still under construction, but keep an eye on it to see when it becomes active.
Cool that you post his art, in my opinion his women are really great.
Completely grreat, his anatomy is amazing and his movie posters are amazing, pretty much diferent from the ones we are used to see around. They have all his skills on it, amazing.
WOW a new McGinnins book. Really looking forward to that. I love Tapestry just wish is was bigger!
One of the best McGinnis things to show up recently is the documentary of his work. And while it is interesting, the most exciting part of it is Bob talking about how he work and giving a mini demo. From shooting the reference to transferring the drawing to the painting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDTovoLGinE
Glas to see this post!
I cant wait until his site is fully finished, it should be an incredible compendium of his work. Thanks Arnie!
masterpieces
What medium does Mr McGinnis typically use?
His earlier paintings are in oil, gouache, or acrylic; these days I think he works primarily in egg tempera.