Smoking Guns - Illustrating the sixties

Lever Gallery Signed 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.

One of only 20 prints - each signed by the artist Gino D'Achille

Paper size 59.5 cm X 42 cm  

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

 Original artwork; c.1965, acrylic on board

Painted for Nova magazine in conjunction with Life on a Council Estate 1, D’Achille gets behind the stylish modernity of the building’s façade to illustrate the council residents’ imagined lives in such a construction. 

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 artwork; c.1960 gouache and acrylic wash on board

In this piece, painted for a serialised story in a magazine, Zelinski’s unique technique allows his lighting to be subtle, as if in a half light.  He creates an intimate scene, with the couple wrapped in light as they are in their embrace.

Lever Gallery Print

Professionally high-resolution scanned, individually colour adjusted to closely represent original artwork. Giclée printed onto 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; mixed media, 1966

Copolla was commissioned by legendary Penguin art director Germano Facetti and under his guidance was inspired to create a series of ground breaking covers. 

Coppola packed contrasting artwork and photography tight for the cover illustration of C.P. Snow’s debut novel, first published in 1932. In this way, he reflected the claustrophobia and paranoia of the narrative; characters trapped in an isolated cottage with a potential killer. The original painting art board is approximately 26 cm wide x 35 cm tall. 

Signed Limited Edition 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.

LG 2016  

Edition of 20 Prints, signed by Walter Wyles (1925-2017). 

Paper size 42 cm X 29.7 cm  

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

Original artwork; watercolour on Whatman paper c.1969, 

The precision and expertise that is emblematic of his work comes from early training as a draughtsman and book binder.  As is evident in this piece, Wyles’ work is characterised by an attention to detail. His favoured medium of watercolour provided his work with a refined quality; the brushstrokes are more evident and contain more shading than in the more graphic. The original painting is approximately 30 cm wide x 41 cm tall. 

Signed 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 20 Prints, signed by Walter Wyles (1925-2017).

Paper size 42 cm X 29.7 cm  

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

Original artwork; watercolour on whatman paper, c.1969

This illustration was commissioned for a serialised story in a woman’s magazine. Unlike his contemporaries, Wyles worked in watercolour, working from the magazine’s art direction and reference photography.  He achieved astonishing accuracy, the only clue to his medium being the way details beyond the focus points appear to melt away. The original painting art board is approximately 30 cm wide x 41 cm tall. 

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.

Based on a Lever Gallery professional high-resolution and colour adjusted scan of the original artwork. 

Original work; acrylic and pencil on artboard, 1965

Dell'Orco created the illustration for the cover of the Fontana book, A Free Agent, a love story set against the backdrop of the Cold War, written by Frederic Wakeman in 1964. Dell’Orco often works with one bold, abstract colour as the background, while detailed action dominates the foreground and appears to burst off the page.  This graphic layering gives his cover illustration a dynamic effect.

Lever Gallery 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 Only 20 Prints, signed by Walter Wyles (1925-2017).

Paper size 42 cm X 29.7 cm  

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

Original artwork; c.1969, watercolour on whatman paper

This is for a six-part serialization of Paul Gallico’s novel Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris for a popular women’s magazine.  Before the advent of full colour television in 1969 women’s magazines were enormously popular in the UK.   A magazine like Woman, would sell three and a half million copies a week.  Their influential art directors competed to hire the freshest illustration talent of the time to illustrate all manner of content including exceptional short stories and serialisations.

Lever Gallery 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.

Paper size 59.5 cm X 42 cm

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

Original artwork; c.1969, gouache and acrylic wash on board

Zelinski created this for a magazine serialization of Kelly Roos’ suspense novel What did Hattie See?  He worked in gouache, washing it in acrylic varnish so it was no longer matt. The advantage of gouache was its flexibility, in that it could be re-wet and re-worked, meaning Zelinski could take his time over the details of an illustration.

The original painting art board is approximately 40 cm wide x 50 cm tall. 

Lever Gallery Signed 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.

LG 1 2016    

Edition of 50 + 5 artist's proofs, each signed by the artist

Paper size 59.5 cm X 42 cm  

Original work: c.1965, acrylic on board

Commissioned to illustrate a story in Women's Mirror magazine - Johnson uses monochrome shades to capture the scene. 

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

Lever Gallery 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  

Original work; mixed media, 1966

Coppola was commissioned by legendary Penguin art director Germano Facetti and under his guidance was inspired to create a series of ground breaking covers. 

The translation of Simone de Beauvoir’s 1943 novel L’Invitee was published in the U.K. by Penguin in 1966.  Coppola’s vibrant use of collage juxtaposed with careful, detailed line work gives the book contemporary styling for a new audience. The original painting art board is approximately 22 cm wide x 27 cm tall. 

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 work, mixed media, 1966

Coppola was commissioned by legendary Penguin art director Germano Facetti and under his guidance was inspired to create a series of ground breaking covers. 

A Perry Mason novel written by Erle Stanley Gardner in 1949, reprinted in 1966 by Penguin, gets the same modernist approach as Coppola’s covers for literary novels. The democratising effect of abstracting pulp imagery elevates a pulp-fiction novel, just as it makes the high-brow more accessible.

The original painting art board is approximately 27 cm wide x 40 cm tall. 

Lever Gallery Limited Edition Print

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

Paper size: 42 cm X 29.7 cm  Approx. 

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

Original work; mixed media, 1966 

Copolla was commissioned by legendary Penguin art director Germano Facetti and under his guidance was inspired to create a series of ground breaking covers. This was Penguin’s 1966 reprint of C.P. Snow’s 1956 book and is a perfect example of Coppola’s use of montage, creating crisp graphic lines out of textured art work and high contrast black and white photography set on arresting primary colours. 

The original painting art board is approximately 26 cm wide x 35 cm tall. 

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 work; mixed media, 1966

Copolla was commissioned by legendary Penguin art director Germano Facetti and under his guidance was inspired to create a series of ground breaking covers. 

A cold war thriller written in 1952 by Paul Gallico is modernised by Penguin in 1966. Jarring colour, broken perspective and clustered layers of precise draughtsmanship highlight the story of a mistaken spy broken by brainwashing and interrogation. The original painting art board is approximately 25 cm wide x 39 cm tall. 

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 work; acrylic and pencil on board, 1967

This book cover was commissioned by Fontana for the novel Airbridge by Hammond Innes; a novel set during the Berlin Airlift between 1948 and 1949. In the course of the 1960s Fleetway Productions alone commissioned around 300 book covers, all war-themed, from Dell’Orco. His passion for aircraft is apparent in the detail and accuracy of their rendition.

1965, acrylic on board

This piece was commissioned by Hodder & Stoughton for a series of novels by Leslie Charteris, following the adventures of Simon Templar aka The Saint. Johnson regularly worked with the model used for this illustration, and would design the styling with her. The pose, and the scene, is heavily influenced by the casino photography of Richard Avedon.

Lever Gallery 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.

LG 2016  

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

Lever Gallery 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 work; mixed media, 1966

Coppola was commissioned by legendary Penguin art director Germano Facetti and under his guidance was inspired to create a series of ground breaking covers. 

The novel, written by Simone De Beauvoir in 1945, chronicles the lives of several Parisians in the lead up to the Second World War. Coppola’s 1966 cover for Penguin captures the book’s existential themes with precise, black line work on stark, primary colour.

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

Origin al work; acrylic on board, 1967

Dell’Orco’s pronounced marking and use of colour is fundamental to his work. In this piece, he highlights the foreground figure through a bright red coat set against the cooler mountains behind, defined by dark, vertical pencil markings. Many illustrators worked with paint alone; Dell’Orco delighted in mixed media, using charcoal and pencil along with paint.

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 work; acrylic and pencil on board, c.1965

This cover illustration for a reprint of George's Arnaud's bestselling existential thriller Le Salaire de la Peur, relies on a compilation of publicity stills from the acclaimed film version of the novel, Wages of Fear, which was a critical and box office smash.  When it was released in Europe in 1953 Henri-Georges Clouzot's film won the Palm D'Or, Golden Bear and BAFTA for Best Film.  The film launched Yves Montand's career in America.  He can be seen here on the right alongside fellow French actor Charles Vanel.

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 work; mixed media, 1966

A Perry Mason novel written by Erle Stanley Gardner in 1943 and made into a film in 1935. Coppola applies his modernist approach to the pulp novel and, inspired by legendary art director Germano Facetti, elevates it to sit easily alongside Penguin’s classic literary fiction. The montage of jarring, mismatched imagery, creates an uneasy composition which has much in common with fine-art abstraction.

Lever Gallery 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.

One of only 20 prints - each signed by the artist Gino D'Achille

Paper size 59.5 cm X 42 cm  

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

Original artwork; c.1965, acrylic on board

D’Achille represents the legendary Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni in this piece, setting him in London. The green tint to the background figures, and Mastroianni's brooding features, suggest jealousy or concealed anger in contrast to the innocence of the brightly clothed girl in the foreground.

The original painting art board is approximately 76 cm wide x 54 cm tall.