We’ve explored many cover motifs in pulp art, and another we’ve grown to appreciate is the use of venetian blind shadows or silhouettes. Always a dramatic addition to a cover, we could probably compile fifty of these, at least, but here are twenty examples. The artists—Emilio Freix, Robert Maguire, James Hodges, and others—use them to greater and lesser degrees, and opt for both literal and stylized renderings. For instance, the above cover from Maguire shows vertical shadows, but the sense of venetian blinds remains. As always, thanks to all the original uploaders.
Pull the blinds and turn out the lights.
Samuel A. Krasney, William Haggard, Brett Halliday, Charlotte Armstrong, Mark Halloran, Jules Roy, Michael Bryan, A.S. Fleischman, Peter Rofals, Louis Trimble, William P. McGivern, John Dickson Carr, Charles E. Fritch, Olivier Brabbins, Emilio Freix, Robert Maguire, J.D. Salinger, Lou D. Wolfe, James Hodges, Don Elliott, Earl Norman, Christopher Nicole, Carter Brown, cover art, cover collection, literature