Biografie von James AVATI (1912-2005)

Birth place: New Jersey

Addresses: NYC

Profession: Illustrator, painter

Studied: Princeton (degree in architecture)

Comments: Book illustrator, renowned for his post-WWII paperback covers. Caldwell moved to NYC in the 1930s and worked for ad agencies and as a decorative painter for a department store. After serving in the Army during WWII he went to work for The New American Library, painting a cover for William Gardner Smith's The Last of the Conquerers in 1948. Avati's earthy, realistic style worked well with the style of the authors for whose novels he painted covers, including Erskine Caldwell, William Styron, Irwin Shaw, and Pearl S. Buck.

Sources: info. courtesy Illustration House, NYC.