Bonfils, Robert
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Artist.
(1922-2018) US artist who trained at the Kansas City Art Institute and the Art Institute of Chicago. Following army service in World War Two he became active as a commercial illustrator from the mid-1950s. The vigorous, pulpish paintings of this early period appeared on many US paperbacks including Sex novels from Merit Books, which led to his becoming art director and anonymous cover creator for Earl Kemp's Greenleaf Classics (see for example Andrew J Offutt; J X Williams). His work from this period has been assembled as The Cover Art of Robert Bonfils: from the archives of Greenleaf Classics (graph 2013) edited and with text by Earl Terry Kemp. Bonfils also contributed many covers to such series as Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds (see Robert Sidney Bowen) and Operator #5.
He should not be confused with the French designer and illustrator Robert Étienne Bonfils (1886-1972). [DRL]
Robert J Bonfils
born Kansas City, Missouri: 25 February 1922
died El Cajon, California: 8 February 2018
works
- The Cover Art of Robert Bonfils: from the archives of Greenleaf Classics (Golden Valley, Arizona: Goldleaf Books/The Last Stand, 2013) with Earl Terry Kemp [nonfiction: graph: introduction by Robert Bonfils: pb/Robert Bonfils]
links
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