Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Reginald Heade








From goodgirlart.com/heade.html

"Reginald Heade was probably the best British "girlie" paperback cover artist of the 1950s. He was born in 1902 or 1903 - there is no record of his birth in England. He died in 1957, leaving no children, no will and no evidence of his existence other than his signatures on those gorgeous covers he produced. And in 1954, he even stopped signing his work, when the publisher of the books he illustrated went to jail on obscenity charges. Heade produced over 300 covers, most of them impossible to find. He is not listed in any British standard artist references - no one even recalls meeting him. A true man of mystery."

Heade is pretty amazing. I see quite a few similarities to Bolles- the dramatic lighting, and the large eyes and cartoony proportions. Like Bolles, Heades illustrations glow.

I don't have any Heade covers in my collection- the following images were all found online.

http://www.vintagepbks.com/headecovers.html