Smoking Guns - Illustrating the sixties

c. 1964-5, acrylic painting on canvas.

An early commission for short-lived London agency Dyad Marketing. Johnson interpreted the brief ‘Girl with a Gun’ using photographs in a sequence of poses arranged like a moving image. Influenced by American illustrators who were showing their work in art galleries, Johnson created this at a scale suitable for a gallery setting.

The original painting is approximately 100 cm tall X 200 cm wide. The artwork is on stretched canvas, framed in a white wooden box frame.

1964, acrylic on board

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.

The artwork is sold with an original Kingsblood Royal paperback that features the Fratini illustration.  

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.

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.

1964, gouache, pencil on board,  40 cm wide x 52 cm tall

The cover illustration for Consul Books’ 1964 publication of W.A. Ballinger’s book ‘Unfriendly Persuasion’ features a pale blue-green scene crossed through in black with the bars of a prison cell. The harshly lit figure inside is a cold and lonely image. Perfect for the story of a man reduced to murder to protect his cache of stolen money.

The artwork is sold with an original Unfriendly Persuasion paperback that features the Pino Dell’Orco illustration.  

The original painting is approximately 40 cm wide x 52 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 Signed Limited Edition Prints

Professionally scanned at high resolution and individually colour adjusted to closely represent original artwork. Giclée printed onto 100% Cotton Rag ‘Hahnemühle’ 308gsm Fine Art Paper, using archival pigmented inks.

2016 LG 01 Edition of just 20 + 5 artist proofs
Paper size: 59.5 cm X 42 cm  Approx. image size: 49.5 cm X 35 cm

An early commission for short-lived London agency Dyad Marketing. Johnson interpreted the brief ‘Girl with a Gun’ using photographs in a sequence of poses arranged like a moving image. Influenced by American illustrators who were showing their work in art galleries, Johnson created this at a scale suitable for a gallery setting.

If you have any questions regarding these editions please email info@levergallery.com

Limited Edition 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.

Edition of 50 + 5 artist's proofs

Paper size 42 cm X 29.7 cm  

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

Original Painting, acrylic on board c.1960s, 

Coppola captures a moment in paint. Though compositionally similar to his montage work and to the work of other illustrators of the time, there is a subtlety in this piece, and an everyday beauty that is still stylistically aspirational. The original painting art board is approximately 25 cm wide x 37 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, 1964

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.

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 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 42 cm X 29.7 cm  

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

Original artwork; 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.

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 42 cm X 29.7 cm  

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

Original artwork; c.1960s, acrylic and pencil on board

North From Rome, is a cold war thriller novel, written by Helen MacInnes for which De Gaspari was commissioned to illustrate the cover.  Though originally published in 1958, Giordio De Gaspari’s illustration is clearly from a 1960s edition with its pared back focus on foreign travel, dramatic action and fashionable styling. 

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.

Background

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.

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.

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

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

Lever Gallery Print - paper size 59.5 cm X 42 cm 

A high quality Giclée print on 100% Rag ‘Hahnemühle’ 308gsm Fine Art Paper, using archival pigmented inks.

The print was created using a professional ultra high-resolution, colour adjusted scan of the original artwork. 

This print is available unframed or in an A2 wooden frame. The frames are available in 3 colours, black, white and plain oak.

Original work; Renato Fratini, 1965, gouache on art board

Renato Fratini’s evocative cover illustration commissioned by Consul Books for Howard Baker’s novel; Treason by Truth first published in 1964. Fratini beautifully captures the model and the light sheer fabric of the dress by using heavily textured gouache paint.  

A leading crime fiction writer, Howard Baker was best known for his 'Sexton Blake' novels, a character closely modelled on Sherlock Holmes.

Baker was also author of Unfriendly Persuasion using the pseudonym W.A. Ballinger. The cover for Unfriendly Persuasion was illustrated by Pino Dell Orco. The original Dell'Orco illustration artwork and giclée prints are available. 

The original art work was 40cm x 54cm on art board.