The Poster Art of Robert McGinnis: Bond and Beyond

(please click on images for a fuller view) (  & click on title picture for a slide show)

You've seen those Posters. They often tell a story. They seem so full of sheer action the images threaten to pop out three dimensionally. There is poetry in action. There is usually so much happening, your eyes are overwhelmed. The men are immaculately dressed. The women are gorgeous and oh so feminine.

Coming from the numerous paperback covers that helped those pulp thrillers sell millions of copies, Robert McGinnis was brilliantly suited to design the films of that era, full of verve, immensely cool and always sexy.

Read more about the paperback covers

of Robert McGinnis in the related hub -->

It started with the stunning rendition of elegant Audrey Hepburn clutching a cigarette holder, in her little black dress, immaculately coiffed, and looking at you from the poster of Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Compared to garish film posters of that time, this had a minimalistic charm with all that white space neat fonts, and small romantic scene unfolding in the background as Audrey Hepburn charms the foreground. A classic composition.

He revisited Audrey Hepburn's style for 'How to Steal a Million'

This iconic poster brought Robert McGinnis, the ace cover artist for countless paperbacks, into the world of film. and we are all the more lucky for it. For the career in poster art that started in Breakfast at Tiffany's moved soon to what was part of a phenomena in the 60s and 70s.

Bond, James Bond.

Robert McGinnis' artwork has become synonymous with the heyday of Bond.

McGinnis' ability to render beautiful women, gadgets and action went hand in hand with the Bond epitome of cool.

Could anyone beat the Look up, Look down, Look out! poster below.

McGinnis continued to supply the poster art for Bond well into the Roger Moore era. These are now considered some of the most collectible poster art in film history.

Hollywood couldn't get enough of this style. Over the next couple of decades they kept commissioning Robert McGinnis artwork in a variety of films much to the film goers delight.

He did more bond posters, stole the hearts of cult film goers with his Barbarella poster that immortalised Jane Fonda in that outfit.

Beyond the obvious appeal of the feminine charms, he often rendered a sequence or key 'money shots' into the poster almost like a static trailer montage.

Robert's heyday of poster art was in the sixties and seventies where he did Bond, several comedies, Blaxplotation films and even some saucy posters for some soft core titillation. He has been attributed to over 50 odd posters and there are sure to be more. It is hard to get a true number as there is no clear catalogues of his work.

It has only been with the renewed interest in his paperback art and paintings that the posters are becoming collectible and enthusiasts are starting to catalogue his efforts.

I've researched many on-line stores and sources to come up with fifty of his poster attributions spanning the sixties and seventies. I've put them on the table below ..

They are a real mix of immensely popular to obscure, but always beautifully rendered and a pleasure to look at.

click on the thumbnails for a fuller view.

Robert McGinnis originally worked in Walt Disney Studios before the outbreak of war and learnt animation drawing Mickey and Donald and honed his craft at Ohio Art University. When the outbreak of war put of stop to animation studios temporarily he left and after the war joined an ad agency called Fredman-Chaite Studios illustrating many ad campaigns.

He did cover art for Dell publishers and went on to become the most popular and successful paperback cover artist ever.

His paintings of the feminine form are stunning to look at, beautifully drawn and his posters seem to follow this theme.

However his way of rendering key scenes in the movies and anchor the poster in plenty of action is a style that is unique and instantly recognisable.

This style has served well for diverse range of films. Whether it was an action adventure like Bond or a comedy caper like Woody Allen's Sleeper. along the way he has done posters for Billy Wilder films ( Odd couple, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes) , some Burt Reynolds fare, Musicals ( Annie, Sweet charity) and some Blaxplotation films ( Cotton goes to Harlem) , McGinnis was there to provide the art.

Each one exquisite and full of little delights.

(click on thumbnails for full view)

McGinnis was contacted by United Artists to deliver the concept art from thunderball along with artist Frank McCarthy.

The now classic Bond 'pose' is attributed to McGinnis as it appeared first in the Thunderball poster art. The artwork dominated billboards and hoardings and was displayed several storeys high at times Square.His Bond posters are iconic 60s and 70s masterpieces and fomr part of the graphic art renaissance of that era.

The exceptional artistry displayed in there composition, the dynamic pose and action, the attention to detail all make them worthy of admiration.

McGinnis' last bond poster was for The Man with the Golden Gun ( I think) .. the subsequent artists however were largely influenced by his styling and composition. As you can see from Daniel Goozee's poster for Octopussy.

McGinnis also did quite a few poster artwork for Billy Wilder films, and also Neil Simon films featuring the famous duo Walter Mattthau and Jack Lemmon in comedic farces.

In Dean Martin's comedic re imagining of the rough and tough Matt Helm series, McGinnis provided the artwork for the posters. 

These ' anti-bond' capers were played for laughs and spoofed the spy genre unlike the serious thrills of the novel series.

The 70s blaxplotation films got an extra dose of colour with Robert McGinnis' artwork.

The 'hip' and 'cool' got hipper and cooler!

I wonder how big McGinnis sets his canvas for these painting as the facial detail and the colour are astounding.

McGinnis provided the posters for the popular musicals 'Annie' and ' Sweet Charity' and 'Half a Six-Pence' and also gave an Elvis movie some glam.

McGinnis is synonymous with sexy art and these posters have that naughty appeal..

Although Steven Spielberg's first movie was Duel this was not a studio effort and was almost a made for TV film that had a theatrical release. His first studio movie was Sugarland Express starring Goldie Hawn and McGinnis did the poster art for this film.

Interesting who gets top billling.. how things have changed now for the 'berg.

Nobody does goofy like the wonderful Woody Allen in  Sleeper and McGinnis' poster sums it all up nicely.

Shane Black's underrated 2005 comedy noir 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' starring Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer ( I urge you to watch it if you haven't) is loosely based on a Mike Shayne pulp novel 'Bodies are where you find them' by Brett Halliday

Robert McGinnis used to do the covers for Mike Shayne paperbacks.

In one of the best in-jokes of them all, in the fil, they refer to a Mike shayne style 60s PI called Johnny gossamer , who is a star of pulp thrillers and TV. In one dlicious scene, one of the characters pulls out a few paperback from the shelf at a party and much to the delight of paperback art fans who are 'in the know', the covers weere remarkable mock ups of those old 60s style paperbacks and looked extremely authentic.

So they should, for these' mocked up' paperbacks were illustrated by none other than the grand master himself, Robert McGinnis. The Art director of the film specially commissioned these covers for that authentic 60s look.

I've shown the Original Paperback cover on which the film is based on and the four mock paperbacks from the film...

McGinnis, without doubt is a supreme artist derving of wider recognition. Jsut because he did paperback covers, ads and movie psoters doesnt take away the intensity of his talent.

His eye for colour, composition, lighting and detail are worthy of renaissance masters.

I remain, forever, in awe of his talent.

Thanks for your visit and time. Please do leave comments below and vote if you liked this hub.

If there are others amongst family and friends who may like this  do share on Twitter and Facebook.

See you again, soon.

Copyright  ©   Mohan Kumar 2011