Robert McGinnis is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 artist and illustrator

Illustrator

An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...

. McGinnis is known for his illustrations of over 1200 paperback

Paperback

Paperback, softback or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its binding. The covers of such books are usually made of paper or paperboard, and are usually held together with glue rather than stitches or staples...

 book covers, and over 40 movie posters, including Breakfast at Tiffanys (his first film poster assignment), Barbarella

Barbarella (film)

Barbarella is a 1968 Franco-Italian science fiction film based on Jean-Claude Forrest's French Barbarella comics. The film was directed by Roger Vadim and stars Jane Fonda, who was Vadim's wife at the time.-Plot:...

, and several James Bond

James Bond

James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

and Matt Helm

Matt Helm

Matt Helm is a fictional character created by author Donald Hamilton. He 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 the term as used in spy thrillers.-The character and the series:The...

films.

Biography

Born Robert Edward McGinnis in Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...

, he was raised in Wyoming, Ohio

Wyoming, Ohio

Wyoming is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. The population was 8,261 at the 2000 census.Wyoming has a renowned education program - the Wyoming City School District was ranked first in the State of Ohio on the 2004-2005 State Report Card, with an index score of 108.2...

.

McGinnis became an apprentice at Walt Disney

Walt Disney

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...

 studios, then studied fine art at Ohio State University

Ohio State University

The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...

. After wartime service in the Merchant Marine he entered advertising and a chance meeting with Mitchell Hooks

Mitchell Hooks

Mitchell Hooks is an American artist and illustrator renowned for his artwork for paperback books and magazines ....

 in 1958 led him to be introduced to Dell Publishing

Dell Publishing

Dell Publishing, an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte, Jr.During the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, Dell was one of the largest publishers of magazines, including pulp magazines. Their line of humor magazines included 1000 Jokes, launched in...

 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

Erle Stanley Gardner was an American lawyer and author of detective stories, best known for the Perry Mason series, he also published under the pseudonyms A.A. Fair, Kyle Corning, Charles M. Green, Carleton Kendrake, Charles J...

, Richard S. Prather

Richard S. Prather

Richard Scott Prather was an American mystery novelist, best known for creating the "Shell Scott" series. He also wrote under the pseudonyms David Knight and Douglas Ring.- Early life and career :...

, and the Michael Shayne

Michael Shayne

Michael Shayne is a fictional private detective character created during the late 1930s by writer Brett Halliday. It was the title of a series of 12 films starring Lloyd Nolan, a radio series under a variety of names, between 1944 and 1953, and later in 1960-1961, a 32 episode NBC television series...

 and Carter Brown

Carter Brown

Carter Brown, real name Alan Geoffrey Yates , was an Australian-British author of crime fiction. He was born in London but moved to Australia in 1948. He started writing full time in 1953 and wrote at least 317 novels between 1958 and 1985, mostly crime and dective stories, selling tens of millions...

 series.

McGinnis later did artwork for Ladies' Home Journal

Ladies' Home Journal

Ladies' Home Journal is an American magazine which first appeared on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States...

, Women's Home Companion, Good Housekeeping

Good Housekeeping

Good Housekeeping is a women's magazine owned by the Hearst Corporation, featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, health as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Housekeeping Seal," popularly known as the...

, TIME

Time (magazine)

Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

, Argosy

Argosy (magazine)

Argosy was an American pulp magazine, published by Frank Munsey. It is generally considered to be the first American pulp magazine. The magazine began as a general information periodical entitled The Golden Argosy, targeted at the boys adventure market.-Launch of Argosy:In late September 1882,...

, Guideposts

Guideposts

Guideposts is a Christian-faith based non-profit organization founded in 1945 by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, Raymond Thornburg, and Peale's wife, Ruth Stafford Peale. The Guideposts organization is headquartered in Carmel, New York, with additional offices in New York City, Chesterton, Indiana, and...

, and The Saturday Evening Post

The Saturday Evening Post

The Saturday Evening Post is a bimonthly American magazine. It was published weekly under this title from 1897 until 1969, and quarterly and then bimonthly from 1971.-History:...

.

He was main title designer for The Hallelujah Trail

The Hallelujah Trail

The Hallelujah Trail is a 1965 Western spoof directed by John Sturges and starring Burt Lancaster, Lee Remick, Brian Keith, Donald Pleasence, and Martin Landau, amongst others.-Plot synopsis:...

(1965).

McGinnis's attention to detail was such that when he was assigned to do the artwork for Arabesque

Arabesque (film)

Arabesque is a 1966 thriller starring Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren. The movie is based on Gordon Cotler's novel The Cypher and directed by Stanley Donen.-Plot:Professor David Pollock is an expert in ancient hieroglyphics at Oxford University...

he requested Sophia Loren

Sophia Loren

Sophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...

'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

Hard Case Crime is an American imprint of hardboiled crime novels founded in 2004 by Charles Ardai, also known as the founder of the Internet service Juno Online Services, and Max Phillips....

 paperback series.

He is a member of the Society of Illustrators

Society of Illustrators

The Society of Illustrators is a professional society based in New York City. Founded in 1901, the mission of the Society is to promote the art and appreciation of illustration, as well as its history...

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

Further reading

• Fenner, Artie, and Cathy Fenner, (2000). - Tapestry: The Paintings of Robert McGinnis. - Underwood Books. - London: Hi Marketing . - ISBN 9781887424561
• Scott, Art, (2001). - Paperback Covers of Robert McGinnis. - Boston: Pond Press. - ISBN 9780966677645

External links

• Robert E. McGinnis Gallery (temporarily retired)
• McGinnis – American Art Archives
• Virtual Pin-ups Art Gallery: artist Robert McGinnis/4 – ImageNETion
• Collection of McGinnis paperback covers at Flickr
  Flickr
  Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...