Renato Fratini

Fratini produced a number of options for for Mickey Spillane’s Tiger Man novel; this is an option that didn’t make the final cut. Fratini used cool colours, perhaps to offset with the book’s graphics, whereas the final version was backed by red.   A different interpretation of the brief, perhaps influenced by the book’s title.

Gallery Print Edition

Professional high-resolution scan, colour adjusted to closely represent original artwork. Giclée print on 100% Cotton Rag ‘Hahnemühle’ 308gsm Fine Art Paper, using archival pigmented inks.

Paper Size 42cm x 29.7cm

Created from an original artwork; c.1967, gouache on board

1964, acrylic on board

For the 1964 Fontana edition of Alistair MacLean’s 1959 novel Night without End, Fratini captures the conflict of two men trapped on the ice after a crash-landing. It appears to depict a fight to the death, the eventual victim painted in aggressive red and bearing a gun.

The original painting art board is approximately 45 cm wide x 33 cm tall. 

This artwork is sold with a copy of an original Night Without End paperback featuring the Fratini artwork. 

If you have any questions regarding this edition please email info@levergallery.com

1964, acrylic on board

Fontana Books reprinted Alistair MacLean’s 1962 novel The Golden Rendezvous in 1964.  The macho hero raises a gun, he is dressed in white on a white background, so the red-clad woman he is protecting draws the eye. 

The original painting art board is approximately 45 cm wide x 34 cm tall. The artwork is float mounted on to conservation grade mountboard and presented in a white wooden box frame glazed with anti-reflective glass.

Renato Fratini, Freedom Observed, 1965, acrylic on board

Fontana Books published Gwyn Griffin’s novel, Freedom Observed, in 1965. Set in a fictional West African Republic about a United Nations observer who finds love amidst a gruelling conflict.  The gory narrative is represented in dark reds and browns, enlivened only by the pink blouse of the protagonist.

This artwork is sold with a copy of an original Freedom Observed paperback featuring the Fratini artwork. 

The original painting art board is approximately 40 cm wide x 55 cm tall. The artwork is float mounted on to conservation grade mountboard and presented in a white wooden box frame glazed with anti-reflective glass.

1967, acrylic on board,  40 cm wide x 34 cm tall

Alistair MacLean’s 1961 thriller was republished by Fontana Books in 1967. Fratini depicted the ‘steel jungle’ oil-platform setting of the novel on a choppy ocean. The story of revenge is expressed in the struggle of the couple in the foreground.

The artwork is sold with an original Fear is the Key paperback that features the Fratini illustration.  

The original painting art board is approximately 40 cm wide x 34 cm tall. The artwork is float mounted on to conservation grade mountboard and presented in a white wooden box frame glazed with anti-reflective glass.

Lever Gallery Prints

Professional high-resolution scan, colour adjusted to closely represent original artwork. Giclée print on 100% Cotton Rag ‘Hahnemühle’ 308gsm Fine Art Paper, using archival pigmented inks.

Paper size 59.5 cm X 42 cm  

If you have any questions regarding this edition please email info@levergallery.com

Original painting, acrylic on board, 1965

David Walker wrote the bestselling adventure Where the High Winds Blow in 1960. It  was published by Fontana in 1965 with this cover by Fratini.  The ambitious protagonist, Husky Scafe, has made his fortune out of the frozen Canadian wastelands; represented in icy hues. However, Scafe’s wife, central to the narrative romance, is juxtaposed in hot pinks and gold. The original painting art board is approximately 40 cm wide x 55 cm tall. 

In Fontana Books’ 1969 version of Alistair MacLean’s novel, Fratini’s cover illustration is characteristically minimalistic.  His layered approach still explodes from the page in hot colours and jagged, dramatic poses. The original painting art board is approximately 55 cm wide x 81 cm tall. 

Renato Fratini, South by Java Head - Print

Professional high-resolution scan, colour adjusted to closely represent original artwork. Giclée print on 100% Cotton Rag ‘Hahnemühle’ 308gsm Fine Art Paper, using archival pigmented inks.

Paper size 59.5 cm X 42 cm  

Created from an original painting, acrylic on board,1969 

Lever Gallery Print

Professional high-resolution scan, colour adjusted to closely represent original artwork. Giclée print on 100% Cotton Rag ‘Hahnemühle’ 308gsm Fine Art Paper, using archival pigmented inks.

Paper size 59.5 cm X 42 cm  

If you have any questions regarding this edition please email info@levergallery.com

Original painting; acrylic on board, c. 1965

Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe novel, Too Many Women was published by Fontana c.1965. Fratini was a celebrated party goer and there is an impish humour to this cover with its candy pink background and feather boa draped around a woman clad in skin-tight black; a look that was moments away from being reinvented by Brian Jones and is now beloved by hen parties everywhere. The original painting art board is approximately 40 cm wide x 55 cm tall.

Lever Gallery Print

Professional high-resolution scan, colour adjusted to closely represent original artwork. Giclée print on 100% Cotton Rag ‘Hahnemühle’ 308gsm Fine Art Paper, using archival pigmented inks.

Paper size 59.5 cm X 42 cm  

If you have any questions regarding this edition please email info@levergallery.com

Original work; acrylic on board, c.1965

Written by William Sansom in 1961, the influential 1963 film made of the book was a style-setter.  It featured Vidal Sassoon’s innovative re-styling of Nancy Kwan’s famous long hair; which launched the geometric version of Mary Quant’s bob, along with fashion design by Quant herself.  Fratini’s illustration acknowledges the fashion moment but also portrays the narrative of a woman looking for love, naturalistically and with a bitter-sweet tone.

This cover for Josephine Bell’s 1965 novel A Flat Tyre in Fulham shows layering unusual in Fratini’s work and its combined use of paint and pencil work is also a departure from his usual techniques. Englishness is captured in a staid, almost rectilinear composition and subdued colour, unlike the dramatic poses and bold colour usual in his other work. The original painting art board is approximately 40 cm wide x 54 cm tall. 

Lever Gallery Print

Professional high-resolution scan, colour adjusted to closely represent original artwork. Giclée print on 100% Cotton Rag ‘Hahnemühle’ 308gsm Fine Art Paper, using archival pigmented inks.

Paper size 59.5 cm X 42 cm  

If you have any questions regarding this edition please email info@levergallery.com

Created from an original artwork, acrylic on board, c.1965

Dennis Wheatley’s apocalyptic novel sets a personal story against a worldwide, cataclysmic event. Distilling a meteor-strike to blood red scenes of panic behind the protagonists, Fratini’s illustration is a masterclass in minimalist energy. Even the brush-strokes work for the composition, leading the eye from the sky down.

Lever Gallery Print

Professional high-resolution scan, colour adjusted to closely represent original artwork. Giclée print on 100% Cotton Rag ‘Hahnemühle’ 308gsm Fine Art Paper, using archival pigmented inks.

Paper size 59.5 cm X 42 cm  

If you have any questions regarding this edition please email info@levergallery.com

Created from an original artwork c1967, gouache on board

Lever Gallery Print

Professional high-resolution scan, colour adjusted to closely represent original artwork. Giclée print on 100% Cotton Rag ‘Hahnemühle’ 308gsm Fine Art Paper, using archival pigmented inks.

Paper size 59.5 cm X 42 cm  

If you have any questions regarding this edition please email info@levergallery.com

Original painting, acrylic on board, c.1962

Glendon Swarthout’s self-confessed ‘big book’ about a little town in Michigan was published in 1962. Though a more melodramatic image was eventually used for the cover, this version by Fratini uses introspective figures and symbols of authority set against a burning yellow background to imply violent secrets lurking below the town’s composed surface. The original painting art board is approximately 40 cm wide x 55 cm tall. 

Lever Gallery Print

Professional high-resolution scan, colour adjusted to closely represent original artwork. Giclée print on 100% Cotton Rag ‘Hahnemühle’ 308gsm Fine Art Paper, using archival pigmented inks.

Paper size 59.5 cm X 42 cm  

If you have any questions regarding this edition please email info@levergallery.com

Original painting; gouache on board, c.1965, 

Cover illustration for the novel by critically acclaimed author Erskine Caldwell.  Briefly married to the eminent photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White, Caldwell did not shy away from exposing the poverty, racism and other social ills endemic in the South of the US during the 20^th century. The original painting art board is approximately 40 cm wide x 55 cm tall. 

Lever Gallery Print

Professional high-resolution scan, colour adjusted to closely represent original artwork. Giclée print on 100% Cotton Rag ‘Hahnemühle’ 308gsm Fine Art Paper, using archival pigmented inks.

Paper size 59.5 cm X 42 cm  

If you have any questions regarding this edition please email info@levergallery.com

Original painting, acrylic on board, 1965

Fontana Books published Peter Cheyney’s novel Try Anything Twice in 1965. Fratini caught the mood of the pulp thriller with a stylishly dressed woman on a chaise with a cigarette and a gun. Although this is classic pulp styling, the minimal composition looks toward modernism with more than a nod to Hitchcock. The unusual pose and nuanced expression also give the piece a depth not typical of the genre. The original painting art board is approximately 40 cm wide x 55 cm tall. 

Lever Gallery Print

Professional high-resolution scan, colour adjusted to closely represent original artwork. Giclée print on 100% Cotton Rag ‘Hahnemühle’ 308gsm Fine Art Paper, using archival pigmented inks.

Paper size 59.5 cm X 42 cm  

If you have any questions regarding this edition please email info@levergallery.com

Original Painting, acrylic on board, 1960s 

The Fourth Postman was originally written by Craig Rice in 1948, though this image was never used as a cover for later editions of the book. Laid thick with reds, the clever use of a cool highlight on the gun brings it out of hiding. Note also the apparent smears on the gunmetal, picked up almost effortlessly in breaks in the highlighting colour.

The original painting art board is approximately 40 cm wide x 55 cm tall. The artwork is float mounted on to conservation grade mountboard and presented in a white wooden box frame glazed with anti-reflective glass.

This cover for Fontana Books’ 1969 version of Agnes Sligh Turnbull’s novel The Day Must Dawn features a Fratini image directly inspired by the movie Giant.  It would appear that James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor, in instantly recognisable poses, are transplanted from 1950s Texas oil fields to the grain fields of 1777 Pennsylvania. Only the background has changed, from a car to a period town. The original painting art board is approximately 40 cm wide x 55 cm tall. 

Lever Gallery Print

Professional high-resolution scan, colour adjusted to closely represent original artwork. Giclée print on 100% Cotton Rag ‘Hahnemühle’ 308gsm Fine Art Paper, using archival pigmented inks.

Paper size 59.5 cm X 42 cm  

If you have any questions regarding this edition please email info@levergallery.com

Original painting; acrylic on board, 1969

Kingsblood Royal, written by Sinclair Lewis in 1947, was published by Consul Books in 1964. Fratini’s cover illustration as used presents classic pulp-fiction conceits in muted colours with a couple embracing on a bed. Note the original has more black background, cropped out for the cover.

Lever Gallery Print

Professional high-resolution scan, colour adjusted to closely represent original artwork. Giclée print on 100% Cotton Rag ‘Hahnemühle’ 308gsm Fine Art Paper, using archival pigmented inks.

Paper size 59.5 cm X 42 cm  

If you have any questions regarding this edition please email info@levergallery.com

Created from an original painting; acrylic on board, 1964

Lever Gallery Print

Professional high-resolution scan, colour adjusted to closely represent original artwork. Giclée print on 100% Cotton Rag ‘Hahnemühle’ 308gsm Fine Art Paper, using archival pigmented inks.

Paper size 59.5 cm X 42 cm  

If you have any questions regarding this edition please email info@levergallery.com

Original painting; acrylic on board, 1965

Julius Horwitz’s novel, The Inhabitants, was written in 1960 and published by Four Square Books in 1965.  Fratini used a deep red to depict the struggle of a single mother fighting her way out of New York’s slums.  He sets the protagonist in a powerful pose against a group of figures left behind. The original painting art board is approximately 40 cm wide x 55 cm tall.

Fontana Books published Gwyn Griffin’s novel, Freedom Observed, in 1965. Set in a fictional West African Republic about a United Nations observer who finds love amidst a gruelling conflict.  The gory narrative is represented in dark reds and browns, enlivened only by the pink blouse of the protagonist. The original painting art board is approximately 40 cm wide x 55 cm tall. 

Lever Gallery Print

Professional high-resolution scan, colour adjusted to closely represent original artwork. Giclée print on 100% Cotton Rag ‘Hahnemühle’ 308gsm Fine Art Paper, using archival pigmented inks.

Paper size 59.5 cm X 42 cm  

Created from an original painting; acrylic on board, 1965

Alistair MacLean’s 1961 thriller was republished by Fontana Books in 1967. Fratini depicted the ‘steel jungle’ oil-platform setting of the novel on a choppy ocean. The story of revenge is expressed in the struggle of the couple in the foreground.

Lever Gallery Print

Professional high-resolution scan, colour adjusted to closely represent original artwork. Giclée print on 100% Cotton Rag ‘Hahnemühle’ 308gsm Fine Art Paper, using archival pigmented inks.

Paper size 59.5 cm X 42 cm  

If you have any questions regarding this edition please email info@levergallery.com

Created from an original artwork; 1967, acrylic on board