Reflecting on Bolles

Bolles wasn't much for tricky or complex compositions, and my guess was that if he was offered a job that required a crowd scene or a busy composition, he would have turned it down. This lovely cover from 1936 was a bit of an exception. Bolles did some of his best work for Gay Book, a curious periodical that initially had aspirations of class, but soon descended to featuring European showgirls and fetishes. But for a time the editors paid Bolles well, and he produced some of his most inspired cover art, which received extra care by the engravers. Bolles even signed some covers and got cover credit inside the magazine. As far as I've seen, only Breezy Stories gave him cover art credit and even then only for a short stretch. By the way, this is my 100th post since starting this blog last October. The cover is another find from my recent trip to the Windy City Pulp con in Chicago and I'll post the other two gems soon. I'm off to Seattle for a few days and won't be posting anything, unless of course I happen to run into a Bolles image on the street like I did in Stockholm last month. I'll keep my eyes open.