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COVER GALLERY OF THE FRENCH "SAINT" NOVELS |
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Any article about the Fayard Saint series would be incomplete without a mention here of its cover artists: The first, pre-war
covers were drawn (or painted) in a photo-like realistic style, often featuring a George Sanders-like likeness
for Simon. Then came a series of covers signed by Ch. (Charles?) Boirau. Boirau is very likely the one who came up with the idea of incorporating the Saint stick figure created by Leslie Charteris in creative scenes and situations from the book. Boirau used gouache, and made the figure more three-dimensional, as if it had come out of a tube of toothpaste. He was overall more realistic, using shadows, perspective, etc. Some earlier edition covers were also drawn in a Boirau-like style, but clumsier, and just signed "Phil"? (See No. 7). Finally, another artist, Regino Bernad, took over from Boirau in 1947, and as far as I can determine, remained on the job until the last Saint book, published in 1966. Bernad did away with Boirau's three-dimensional look and realism, and concentrated instead on design and symbolism. His Saint figure was flat, but well drawn and dynamic. Bernad very likely used acrylics and had an excellent eye for color and composition. His covers, although cartoony, are extremely attractive. At first, Bernad signed with his full name and the date (e.g.: "Bernad/47"), then later simply used a stylized, rotund "B"/-". Curiously, a few covers (Nos. 23, 31 and 36) were not signed by Bernad and look like they were drawn by someone else trying to clumsily imitate Bernad's style. Bernad also handled the Nero Wolfe covers, but the Prince's look like they were drawn by the same Bernad imitator mentioned above. |
