Joseph Rudolph Nappi, working as Rudy Nappi (February 12, 1923 – March 13, 2015) was an American illustrator. According to the

National Museum of American Illustration The National Museum of American Illustration (NMAI), founded in 1998, is the first national museum to be devoted exclusively to American illustration artwork. The NMAI is located on Newport, Rhode Island's historic Bellevue Avenue in the mansion V ...

, Nappi was "a well-known commercial illustrator and widely considered one of the greatest

pulp fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhame ...

artists of his time." Nappi created the cover art for many mid-20th century

Nancy Drew Nancy Drew is a Fictional character, fictional character appearing in several Mystery fiction, mystery book series, movies, and a TV show as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwriter, ghostwritten by a number of authors and published ...

and

Hardy Boys The Hardy Boys, brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional characters who appear in several mystery series for children and teens. The series revolves around teenagers who are amateur sleuths, solving cases that stumped their adult counterpa ...

series titles. Nappi's original artwork is "avidly collected."

Life and work

Nappi was born in

Orangetown, New York Orangetown is a town in Rockland County, New York, United States, located in the southeastern part of the county. It is northwest of New York City, north of New Jersey, east of the town of Ramapo, south of the town of Clarkstown, and west of th ...

. After serving in the

Army Air Corps Army Air Corps may refer to the following army aviation corps: * Army Air Corps (United Kingdom), the army aviation element of the British Army * Philippine Army Air Corps (1935–1941) * United States Army Air Corps (1926–1942), or its p ...

in World War II, Nappi used the benefits of the

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

to go to school at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

, and then showed his portfolio to a pulp fiction publisher who hired him. He was then contracted to create the cover art for Nancy Drew No. 30, ''

The Clue of the Velvet Mask ''The Clue of the Velvet Mask'' is the thirtieth volume in the original ''Nancy Drew Mystery Stories'' series. It was Mildred Benson's final ghostwrite for the series. The plot and story take place largely in Nancy's hometown of River Heights. N ...

,'' in 1953 for

Grosset & Dunlap Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898. The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of Penguin Random House through its subsidiary Penguin Group. Today, through the Penguin Gro ...

and ended up creating cover art for over 150 Grosset & Dunlap titles over three decades, including Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and one

Bobbsey Twins The Bobbsey Twins are the principal characters of what was, for 75 years, the Stratemeyer Syndicate's longest-running series of American children's novels, written under the pseudonym Laura Lee Hope. The first of 72 books was published in 1904, t ...

. Nappi created the original covers for Hardy Boys Nos. 32–58, and 64 Hardy Boys cover artworks in total. Similarly, in addition to creating the covers for newly issued Nancy Drew titles, he created updated images for existing titles. His personal favorite was the cover of No. 4, ''

The Mystery at Lilac Inn ''The Mystery At Lilac Inn'' is the fourth volume in the ''Nancy Drew Mystery Stories'' series. It was first published in 1930 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Mildred Wirt Benson was the ghostwriter for the 1930 edition. In 1961, Harriet Str ...

''. Nappi did not read the books but his wife Peggy did, and she provided a synopsis from which he created an image. Much of his cover artwork was done using

oil paint Oil paint is a type of slow-drying paint that consists of particles of pigment suspended in a drying oil, commonly linseed oil. The viscosity of the paint may be modified by the addition of a solvent such as turpentine or white spirit, and varn ...

on board. Other Nappi clients were Scholastic (including their imprint Little Apple), Harlequin, Mills & Boon, Avon Books, Signet Books, Pocket Books, Pyramid and Belmont. Magazine work included pictures for ''Two-Fisted Detective Tales'', ''Confessions Illustrated'' and ''Shock Illustrated''. Nappi also created art for Norcross and Marion Heath greeting cards, and decorations for Keller Charles household goods.

References

External links

Flickr album: Rudi Nappi covers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nappi, Joseph Rudolph 1923 births 2015 deaths American illustrators Artists from New York (state) Art Students League of New York alumni Military personnel from New York (state) People from Orangetown, New York