Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Dames, Dolls & Gun Molls -- Jim Silke

A beautiful book, subtitled The Art of Robert A. Maguire. Maguire was one of the great GGA cover artists, and this over-sized book gives you a plethora of wonderful covers to contemplate. Besides the informative text, there are some shots of the models Maguire used, and these are placed next to the covers derived from them. Some rough sketches are included, too. If you already have the McGinnis art books (and maybe even if you don't), you'll want to add this one to your collection. It's a book you can peruse again and again.

The cover that really nails me is the one for The Revolt of Mamie Stover, a book that in 1957 or so defined hot stuff for some of us youth in a small Central Texas town. I've never forgotten that one.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah yes, Mamie Stover, her life chronicled by William Bradford Huie, IIRC. Five dollars for fie minutes with Flaming Mamie. . .

Anonymous said...

One caveat about an otherwise terrific book. Silke mistakenly included a few ringer covers that are not by Maguire. There's a McGinnis, a Robert Schulz, and a couple of others that Lynn Maguire and I are skeptical about.

Art Scott

Ed Gorman said...

I know I'll get kicked out of the club for saying this but I prefer Maguire to McGinnis. He's not as good a designer or stylist but I think he's a more interesting and vital painter.

Rick Klaw said...

While I agree this is a beautiful book, Silke's poor research and shallow coverage dooms this book to mediocrity. I was not kind in my San Antonio Current review.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the link, Rick. I mostly buy these books for the pictures, so to me the text is secondary.

Rick Klaw said...

But why can't it be both?

Unknown said...

It should be. Especially for those who read.