Renato Fratini

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.

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

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, 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

Russell O’Neil wrote The Devil’s Profession in 1963. A novel about a good-looking, narcissistic actor who will do anything to get a Hollywood contract, becoming his gay agent’s ‘kept boy’, despite being heterosexual. The image is painted in greys and lit starkly, as if by theatre spot lights; the foreground figure is depicted in an almost androgynous way. Homosexuality was not decriminalised in the U.K. until 1967.

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 42cm tall x 29.7cm wide

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

Created from an original artwork; c.1965, gouache on board