EXTRACTS: illustrators issue 2 © 2012 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition))

83 as Senso , Invaders from Mars , The Sweet Smell of Success , and La Donna Piu Bella Del Mondo , which featured a stunningly beautiful portrait of the film star Gina Lollobrigida. Though fundamentally a realist, even at a young age, he was experimenting with abstract elements; his 1957 poster for Piombo Rovente ( Sweet Smell of Success ) featured impressively realistic portraits of Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis. Following the collapse ofThe Favalli studio in the late 1950s, Fratini joined the exodus to Milan, and The D’ami studio where he worked alongside the likes of De Gaspari, Pino Dell’Orco and Allesandro Biffignandi. After his brief sojourn at D’Ami, art agents Bryan Colmer and Virgil Pomfret got him commissions to paint covers for several Fleetway publications including Sexton Blake , Famous Romance Library and Thriller Picture Library , as well as line drawn artwork for Top Spot and Sun . In 1959, Fratini moved to London, and thoughunable to speakawordof English, he soonpickedup the language, and established himself as one of the most exciting artists in town. At a party that year he also met his future wife Gina, who was to become one of the most important fashion designers of the 1970s. She remembered him as “incredibly good looking with wonderful eyes—very attractive and funny, with tremendous enthusiasms—he just seemed to be interested in everything”. Although a modest man, he had a restless enthusiasm which ensured that he was able to move effortlessly between posters, books and ABOVE: Poster art for Piombo Rovente ( The Sweet Smell of Success ), 1957. ABOVE TOP: Fratini’s iconic artwork for From Russia With Love , 1963.