Magazine cover art: the rest of the story: publishing companies and art vendors alike are discovering the potential of this vintage market

Art Business News, Feb, 2003 by Julie Mehta

The best-quality reproductions come from lithographic prints, which contain blocks of solid color. Covers printed by modern, offset presses are made up of dots that can break apart when blown up. BuyEnlarge.com's prices range from $19.95 for a 20- by 29-inch "dorm-size" print to $595 for a 44- by 66-inch, heavy-duty museum-size print on canvas.

Art.com's cover art offerings are mostly from women's magazines such as Vogue, Good Housekeeping and Redbook. "Our typical buyer is in her late 20s or 30s and is decorating," said Marketing Manager Heather Vacek. "She may have a fondness for a specific publication. We get a ton of e-mails from people requesting a particular cover."

So does The New Yorker, where the continued use of illustrated covers helps drive consumer interest. While prints by noted artists like Arthur Getz and Saul Steinberg attract lots of demand, the recent covers are the biggest sellers. "Our most popular cover ever was New Yorkistan," said Mankoff. The tongue-in-cheek map of New York was published shortly after the invasion of Afghanistan in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "It may end up generating between three-quarters of a million and a million dollars in revenue. It's popular because of the events surrounding it."

Kolibri Art Studios recently opened a 10,000-square-foot gallery in southern California that will permanently feature The New Yorker cover prints. "We think they make a very special, high-end gift item. Eventually we want to add Vanity Fair and Better Homes & Gardens covers," said gallery president Herta Headrick.

The Market for Originals

A smaller but more lucrative area of the magazine cover art market is in original artwork sales. The New Yorker advertises original art on Cartoonbank.com and regularly invites collectors into its offices to view both vintage and contemporary works, which sell for between $6,000 and $15,000.

Original art sales of vintage pulp magazine covers also garner thousands of dollars, according to Daryl Danforth, who founded a Web site called The Pulp Gallery for fans of flashy detective and action magazines. "Demand for the actual paintings is also very high because so few turn up for sale. If the art was not destroyed after creating the magazines, it is kept securely in private collections," said Danforth. "It seems like so much work went into every cover back then. Each is like a little treasure."

So why aren't the majority of today's covers as memorable? "The talent is still out there to turn out great covers, but society doesn't want to put the money into it," said Pierce. "It costs money to hire illustrators. It's much easier to have someone slap a cover together in Photoshop." Magazine publishers insist covers must have star power and lots of advertising hooks to take on the growing competition on the news-stand. Whatever the reason, truly artistic magazine covers have for the most part become a thing of the past.

Ironically, despite the disposable nature of magazines, old cover art has a relevance unusual in the vintage market. "The human condition hasn't changed much. People are interested in love, ladies' fashion, humor and political commentary," said Pierce. He said the key is to expose people to this wealth of forgotten art. "Whenever people see this stuff, they always like it."