Review: The Art of Ron Lesser, Volume 2: Dangerous Dames and Cover Dolls - Robert Deis, Bill Cunningham, Daniel Zimmer, eds.

I’ve become a big fan of Ron Lesser’s artwork in the past few years. Well, actually, I’ve been a big fan of Ron Lesser’s artwork for about 60 years, because that’s how long ago it was when I first started noticing it on paperback covers as I avidly looked through the new books on the spinner racks, searching for the next one I was going to read. I loved his covers—but I had no idea they were painted by Ron Lesser. In fact, one of my early favorite covers, the one on the second Dell edition of L.L. Foreman’s novel ARROW IN THE DUST, was painted by Lesser, although I didn’t discover that until decades later. I couldn’t even begin to tell you how many books I picked up because I was intrigued by the covers he painted.

A couple of years ago, THE ART OF RON LESSER, VOLUME 1: DEADLY DAMES AND SEXY SIRENS, spotlighting those paperback covers, was one of my favorite books of the year. Now I’ve read THE ART OF RON LESSER, VOLUME 2: DANGEROUS DAMES AND COVER DOLLS—maybe I should say, feasted my eyes on—the second volume devoted to Lesser’s art from editor Robert Deis and Bill Cunningham, joined this time around by Daniel Zimmer, with an assist from Tim Hewitt. Zimmer provides a fine biographical essay about Lesser and Joe Jusko, a top-notch artist himself, contributes an excellent foreword, but of course, the real appeal of this beautiful book is the art, scores of excellent reproductions of paintings done by Lesser after his days of doing paperback covers were mostly over. Most of them, as you’d expect, feature beautiful women, but there are top-notch Civil War and Western paintings as well. Lesser was always one of those guys who could illustrate anything and do a fantastic job of it. But let’s face it, his paintings of Bettie Page, Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot, and others will just take your breath away.

Then there’s my favorite section of the book: as Lesser puts it in his commentary, cover paintings for books that don’t actually exist. These might as well have come off some of those paperbacks from the spinner racks, the kind I’ve loved for most of my life. And I’d love to read those books now, even if they don’t exist. Heck, I’d write them!

If you’re a paperback lover or just enjoy some absolutely wonderful art, I give my highest recommendation to THE ART OF RON LESSER, VOLUME 2: DANGEROUS DAMES AND COVER DOLLS. It’s available on Amazon in hardback and paperback editions. I loved it.

The Art of Ron Lesser, Volume 1: Deadly Dames and Sexy Sirens - Robert Deis, Bill Cunningham, and J. Kingston Pierce, eds.

THE ART OF RON LESSER, VOLUME 1: DEADLY DAMES AND SEXY SIRENS is the latest fantastic art book from the editing combo of Robert Deis and Bill Cunningham, joined this time by crime fiction expert J. Kingston Pierce. This book really got its start from a series of interviews with Lesser conducted by Pierce. Expanded versions of those interviews are included in this volume, along with features on Lesser’s favorite models (including his wife; that's her on the cover above) and reproductions not only of dozens of paperbacks for which he did the covers but also the original paintings which were used on those covers.

In a word, beautiful.

But of course, I’m going to say more than a word. Any book with Bill Cunningham handling the production is going to be very well done, and DEADLY DAMES AND SEXY SIRENS is no exception. This is a substantial hardback volume, and the cover reproductions are some of the best I’ve ever seen. Those covers looked great on spinner racks, but they look even better at the large size made possible by a book like this.

The text put together by Bob Deis is informative and entertaining. I knew who Ron Lesser is but knew very little about him. Pierce’s interviews and Deis’s features provide plenty of background about Lesser’s life and career.

What really strikes me about this book is realizing how many of those paperbacks with Ron Lesser covers I bought over the years! I could flip through the pages and say, “Yeah, I had that one and that one and that one . . .” Clearly, Lesser’s covers helped sell those books to me. I’m certainly guilty of misidentifying some of his covers as being by Robert McGinnis, as Deis mentions is common. In recent years I think I’ve gotten a little better eye for such things. I’m happy to have those earlier misconceptions of mine cleared up, because Ron Lesser deserves all the credit he can get for being a substantial part of my reading life.

This is just the first of several planned volumes on Lesser’s career. It concentrates on the covers that feature beautiful women. Later volumes will zero in on Lesser’s work for Western, war, and adventure paperbacks. I can’t wait to see them. If you’re a long-time paperback fan and want to relive some glorious days, I give DEADLY DAMES AND SEXY SIRENS my highest recommendation. It’s one of the best books I’ve read so far this year.