Elaine I. Duillo (July 28, 1928 – July 30, 2021) was an American painter and illustrator known for her romance fiction book covers. She was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 2003.
Elaine Duillo | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 28, 1928[1] Brooklyn, New York,[2] U.S. |
| Died | July 30, 2021 (aged 93)[3] |
| Occupation(s) | Illustrator, painter |
| Spouse | John Duillo |
Early life
editElaine studied at the High School of Music and Art in Manhattan, where she met John Duillo, who became an adventure fiction illustrator and gallery painter. She graduated from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. She began her career in 1959, illustrating adventure story magazines and Gothic novels.[1]
Career
editDuillo is known for her prolific, eye-catching, realism painting[4] for romance paperback covers. Her painting style is one of "characteristically flawless draftsmanship, evocative mood and compositional power",[1] and uses "layer upon layer of transparent acrylic washes to achieve a luminous effect".[5] She is credited not only with breaking through into a male-dominated field in the early 1960s,[2] but with redefining romance art at the end of the 1970s and early 1980s, introducing more men and male nakedness into her cover art,[6] and influencing other illustrators who followed her style. She is also credited with aiding the rise to fame of the model Fabio Lanzoni when she began using him as a model, first on the clinch cover illustration for Johanna Lindsey's Hearts Aflame.[7]
She worked for paperback publishers including Ace, Airmont, Avon, Balcourt Art Service, Bantam, Berkley, Crescent, Dell, Fawcett Gold Medal, Lancer, Penguin USA, Playboy Press, Pocket Books, New American Library and Zebra Kensington.[2]
She retired from book cover illustration in early 2003.[1] In her acceptance speech for her induction to the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame, she summarized her career saying, "[T]his field has been rewarding to me and in return I've tried to elevate romance illustration to an art form. At least I hope I've been influential in changing the look of the genre… My work is mainly about creating fantasy – fantasy people, fantasy situations and fantasy settings. It is realistic, but upon closer inspection, my paintings portray a highly glamorized version of already attractive people and places that goes beyond realism."
References
edit- ^ a b c d Di Fate, Vincent. "2003 Hall of Fame Inductee". Society of Illustrators. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ a b c Munroe, Lynn. "Elaine Duillo: The Romance Begins". Lynn Munroe Books. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ "Obituary". Al Jacobsen Funeral Home. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ Harrison, Helen A. (4 August 1996). "The Art of Illustration". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ Clowe, Jeremy (4 March 2004). Women in Illustration exhibition program notes. Stockbridge: The Norman Rockwell Museum. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- Bossert, Jill; Arisman, Marshall; Billout, Guy; Cober, Alan E.; Duillo, Elaine; Hall, Joan; McLean, Wilson; Nessim, Barbara; O'Brien, Tim; Odom, Mel (March 1, 1997). Pro-Illustration: A Guide to Professional Techniques,. Vol. Book 1: Editorial Illustration. The Society of Illustrators/Watson-Guptill. p. 160. ISBN 978-0823065493. - ^ Munroe, Lynn. "Elaine Duillo Checklist". Lynn Munroe Books. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ Johnson-Kurek, Rosemary E. (1999). "'I Am Not a Bimbo': Persona, Promotion, and the Fabulous Fabio". In Kaler, Anne K. (ed.). Romantic Conventions. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press. p. 35. ISBN 0-87972-778-0.
- Selinger, Eric Murphy; Teo, Hsu-Ming; Kamblé, Jayashree (11 August 2020). The Routledge Research Companion to Popular Romance Fiction. Taylor & Francis. p. 578. ISBN 9781317041948.