Sleaze Art

Sleaze appeal. Midcentury modern design is one of the biggest trends in collecting. Is it appealing because it now seems old-fashioned; maybe a relic of a simpler, more innocent time? Think again! The sleaze art of the period is catching on. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, writers of popular fiction were drawn to the new field of sleaze publishing, which had a rapidly growing market and paid more than science fiction. Writers tended to stay anonymous or use pseudonyms, so the books’ cover art captured customers’ attention. Books would be reprinted with new cover illustrations every 30 days, creating a need for artists. The artists, who, like the writers, used pseudonyms or left their names off their work, put their training and anatomical knowledge to work creating designs that stopped short of being explicit. While publishing has changed since then, the amount of book covers produced and their eye-catching designs appeal to collectors of books and ephemera today.

Photo: Amazon, Mr-Magazine