Other than actor Sean Connery, few people were as instrumental in defining the look, mannerism and suave style of secret agent James Bond than illustrator Robert McGinnis. The Ohio-born artist worked on the Bond franchise early in its development and it remained an important part of his studio and legacy, even as he turned to paperback book covers, nudes and, for a large segment of his career, paintings of the American West. McGinnis, whose career started in the 1950s and continued for more than seven decades, died March 10 at his home in Greenwich, Connecticut. He was 99 years old.
Robert McGinnis signing the painting he made for the James Bond film You Only Live Twice. The painting was completed in 1967, but the artist forgot to sign it. He was reunited with the painting in 1995 and signed it at that time. Courtesy Bonhams.
McGinnis’ art journey began when he moved from Ohio to California to work for Disney, but World War II cut his time there short. He served as a Merchant Marine and later returned to Ohio, where he studied art and played a defensive lineman for the Ohio State University football team. In 1953, McGinnis moved to New York City and started taking assignments for True Detective, Master Detective and other pulps. This work led to his long run with paperback book covers, more than 1,200 of them. The subjects were often “lusty, photorealistic artwork of curvaceous women,” the New York Times noted in an obituary after his death.
Lost Patrol, 1984, tempera on Masonite, 18¾ x 44¼ in.
While his images of women, including a great number of nudes, are some of his most recognizable works, it is his Hollywood illustrations that continue to excite new art and movie fans. McGinnis created posters and marketing material for Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Odd Couple, Barbarella and many others. James Bond, though, remained his largest collaboration in the movie industry. McGinnis’ time with the spy would end in the Roger Moore era, but he eventually painted all six James Bond actors by the end of his career: George Lazenby, Connery, Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig. He not only worked on establishing the tone and design of the marketing, he also helped add to the mythos of James Bond—cool and collected, danger over his shoulder, women at his side.
Untitled rider and wagon fording river, egg tempera
Many of his works were done in egg tempera, a tricky and unforgiving medium made famous by Andrew Wyeth, who McGinnis called the greatest artist to ever live. He had a framed letter from Wyeth in his home and called it his most prized possession.
Beginning in the 1980s, the artist turned his attention to the Old West, which he painted with a larger focus on the land and less on the figure. “Robert McGinnis’ Western paintings seem to come in three flavors: spectacular landscape, furious action, and ‘There’s a story here,’” writes Art Scott in The Art of Robert E. McGinnis.
McGinnis’ poster for You Only Live Twice, 1967.
The artist describes his initial visit to the West as a fluke: “I hitchhiked out there out of high school to go to Disney. Couldn’t afford the bus trip, so I hitchhiked out on Route 66, and slept in the desert a few nights,” McGinnis says. “I went to the Grand Canyon, Capitol Reef and all those places out there. It was just so thrilling that you just can’t stand it—it’s unbearable, the beauty of the West.” —
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