How Like a God, paperback cover 1961

Curator: This image, entitled “How Like a God, paperback cover” created in 1961 by Robert Maguire, exudes a very specific, slightly melancholic mood, wouldn't you agree? The composition is so striking. Editor: I am immediately drawn to the textural quality. It has the feeling of having been hastily made—viscous oil paints, likely very affordable student grade, are loosely applied across the surface creating varied sheens with very expressive brushwork. This makes perfect sense considering it was originally a mass produced book cover! Curator: Indeed, Maguire captures that raw emotional vulnerability quite skillfully, though perhaps predictably with such classical symbolist motifs. Look at how the male figure bows his head, hiding his face, weighed down perhaps by the implication of divine feminine power lurking over his shoulder. A modern take on classic mythic dramas. Editor: Let’s think about the material conditions. Maguire made artwork intended for widespread reproduction and consumption, thus also the development of his distinctive stylistic economy of means. The rapid strokes and suggestive forms must have saved immense amounts of time in the production pipeline. Oil paint being used on such a mass produced format also raises questions about value. Curator: Very true. Yet consider also how his image resonates with longstanding ideals of beauty and romantic turmoil—her vulnerability contrasted with the rigidity of his suit and tie. Are they symbols of love, shame, duty, or social constraints? They reverberate with literary and pictorial precedents going back centuries. Editor: It's fascinating to consider the skill needed to generate this affect so consistently in service to an exploitative paperback industry of the time! Did the artist feel complicit in churning out cheap, visually arresting book covers in order to make a living? Curator: Perhaps! He was actively participating in cultural storytelling whether or not he was always completely aware. The cover itself plays a part in forming cultural mythology, shaping our perception of desire and authority...even today. Editor: I see a picture now of Maguire amidst stacks of covers; paint fumes, pulp paper, capitalist excess! But it also illuminates something often left unsaid: Art and materiality always participate in tandem, like both sides of a cover itself! Curator: And I am left pondering how, from such commercial beginnings, arise echoes of classical themes of fate, sexuality, and existential reflection that linger still within our visual vocabulary. Thank you. Editor: Absolutely. By analyzing materials and labor practices, even something as unassuming as a paperback cover reminds us how fundamental economic structures remain interwoven with what we understand as “Art” or “Beauty."