Monday, October 17, 2011

Fixler Is In



Being interested, as I obviously am, in book-cover art, I’ve long been aware of illustrator Fred Fixler (who died in January 2010 at age 86). However, it was only recently that I came to connect some of my favorite sexy novel fronts with his name, thanks to a post in the blog Pulp International. As that site explains:
Hungarian-born Fred Fixler’s first career was as a diamond cutter, but by the early 1950s his focus shifted to art, which he studied in both the U.S. and France. He began illustrating paperback covers, and for years was an illustrator for the sleaze publishing imprint Brandon House. During that time his instantly identifiable style resulted in some of the most dynamic paperback covers ever seen on U.S. book racks. ... Brandon House used Fixler as the primary illustrator for their line of lesbian paperbacks, and because of his talent, these books, which originally sold for around one dollar, go online today for in excess of seventy-five bucks. Fixler also worked in the commercial art field, and taught at schools like the California Art Institute, The Brandes Art Institute, and Parsons School of Design.
Pulp International features eight excellent examples of Fixler’s paperback cover work here. But I’ve included with this post a few more that I much appreciate. Someday, maybe I shall actually stumble across one or two of these in a used-books shop. In which case, don’t dare to get between me and the cash register ...

READ MORE: I Remember Fred Fixler,” by Gary Sohler (eFanzines.com)

2 comments:

PulpCovers said...

I love his covers! I wish I could find some more high-res scans of them. Most of the images I have found are less that 500 pixels across.

Bishop said...

He is fabulous. His style is unmistakable and plenty of energy. Thnak you!